A Theory of Colours ...

I have a theory about the shades of colours. Why in the East, strikingly bold colours seems to be more popular than the soft, soothing pastel hues in the West...

Simplistic as it may sound it all boils down to the heat and the amount of sunshine we get in my part of the world. Now how does that tie in with colours - you may wonder ...

My theory is based on these observations :-


The heat affects the plants and for some reason the hotter the weather the more vibrant the colours. The vibrant, vivid green of my country's rain forests, so densed sometimes all you see is that deep shade of green;

The flowers that bloom in this part of the world are by and large, strikingly bright - shocking pink, bright reds, yellows, whites, lflaming orange ... possibly to contrast and stand out against the rich deep green foliage (or how else will they be pollinated by insects?)


Since we're by and large a product of our environment, people in the warm sunny East tend to gravitate towards brighter, attractive colours. Seen in their cultural and choice of colours in dressing (very bright, very colourful), design, building paints and even paper (I used to have students once upon a time ago handing in their assignment in neon coloured paper - so blindingly bright I had trouble reading their printed scripts!)


Because of the amount of sunshine and heat that we get in the Far East, our skin tends to be browner which (fortunately) carries off bright colours well. Bright red for example attractively complements those with dark skin. On the other hand, pastel green or even lime green on dark skin is downright unflattering. Only few (and the colour blind) can carry it off ...

Which leads to the reason why pastel colours which gives a touch of spring in its hues are hard to find in my part of the world The colourist are simply either:-
a) ignorant of such hues or uncertain how such variety of intricate hues and complements would be received by the local market
b) colour prints loud by popular demand.




Unlike the West where choices of colours are affected by the changing seasons, in the Far East where its hot and humid (most of the time), bright colours shade our lives 365 days a year. And hence, cultural preference for giddyingly loud bright colours.