Skip to main content
  • Main menu
Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation
  • Home
  • Study
    • Explore
    • Try
    • About
    • Multimedia
  • Lemelson Center Books
    • Research Opportunities
    • Archives
    • Lemelson Center Research
    • Symposia & Conferences
  • The Color Revolution

The Color Revolution

December 8, 2014

The Color Revolution (2012) by Regina Lee Blaszczyk offers a fresh perspective on the myriad ways innovations in color affect our lives, revealing innovators’ interactions with science, industry, and art that influenced consumer choice and business practice.

Twitter Facebook Tumblr Email Print

When the fashion industry declares that lime green is the new black, or instructs us to “think pink!,” it is not the result of a backroom deal forged by a secretive cabal of fashion journalists, designers, manufacturers, and the editor of Vogue. It is the latest development of a color revolution that has been unfolding for more than a century. In this book, the award-winning historian Regina Lee Blaszczyk traces the relationship of color and commerce, from haute couture to automobile showrooms to interior design, describing the often unrecognized role of the color profession in consumer culture.

lemcen_books_TCR-cvr-final-9780262017770-edit.jpg

Image of Book Cover - The Color Revolution

The book jacket art originally appeared as advertisement in Fortune magazine for the Monsanto Chemical Company, September 1946.

Blaszczyk examines the evolution of the color profession from 1850 to 1970, telling the stories of innovators who managed the color cornucopia that modern artificial dyes and pigments made possible. These “color stylists,” “color forecasters,” and “color engineers” helped corporations understand the art of illusion and the psychology of color. Blaszczyk describes the strategic burst of color that took place in the 1920s, when General Motors introduced a bright blue sedan to compete with Ford’s all-black Model T and when housewares became available in a range of brilliant hues. She explains the process of color forecasting--not a conspiracy to manipulate hapless consumers but a careful reading of cultural trends and consumer taste. And she shows how color information flowed from the fashion houses of Paris to textile mills in New Jersey. 

Today professional colorists are part of design management teams at such global corporations as Hilton, Disney, and Toyota. The Color Revolution tells the history of how colorists help industry capture the hearts and dollars of consumers.

About the Author

Regina Lee Blaszczyk is Professor of Business History at the University of Leeds in the UK, and Associate Editor at the Journal of Design History. Her seven books include Imagining Consumers, Producing Fashion, and American Consumer Society, 1865–2005.

Lemelson Center Studies in Invention and Innovation
Available from the MIT Press

Tags

  • Lemelson Center Studies in Invention and Innovation (Relevance: 3%)
  • Color (Relevance: 2%)

Related Stories

Regina Lee Blaszczyk speaks at a program about color and fashion design.
Beyond Words

Podcast: Regina Lee Blaszczyk and the Color Revolution

Regina Blaszczyk traces the effects of inventions in colors on American businesses and consumer goods from cars and clothes to butcher shops.

Invention Stories

The Color of Invention

Colors fill the world, yet they aren’t in themselves tangible things that can be held in one’s hand. Colors are imbued with meanings, though they possess no inherent significance. How do we study this ethereal thing we call color?

What do you think about the story ?

VIEW 2303 Matching Results

Found 2303 Stories

  • Agriculture and horticulture (Relevance: 5.1237516283109%)
  • Air and space (Relevance: 7.251411202779%)
  • Chemistry (Relevance: 3.126356925749%)
  • Food and drink (Relevance: 2.9092488059053%)
  • Industry and manufacturing (Relevance: 7.4685193226227%)
  • Maritime (Relevance: 3.126356925749%)
  • Medicine, health, and life sciences (Relevance: 4.4290056448111%)
  • Military technology (Relevance: 3.5605731654364%)
  • Mining and drilling (Relevance: 3.9079461571863%)
  • Patents and trademarks (Relevance: 12.02778983934%)
  • Photography, film, television, and video (Relevance: 3.300043421624%)
  • Power generation, motors, and engines (Relevance: 3.6908380373426%)
  • Research and development (Relevance: 3.0395136778116%)
  • Telegraph, telephone, and telecommunications (Relevance: 3.4303082935302%)
  • Textiles and clothing (Relevance: 2.9092488059053%)
  • Transportation (Relevance: 6.2092922275293%)
❯
Go to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History website

About Menu

▼
Open menu
▲
Close menu
  • Explore
    • Invention Stories
    • Places of Invention
    • Blog
    • Beyond Words
  • Study
    • Research Opportunities
    • Archives
    • Lemelson Center Books
    • Lemelson Center Research
    • Symposia & Conferences
  • Try
    • Spark!Lab
    • Spark!Lab Network
    • DO Try This at Home!
    • Encouraging Innovative Thinking
  • About
    • Events
    • Exhibitions
    • News
    • Who We Are
    • FAQ
    • Donate
  • Multimedia
  • Tags
  • Surprise Me
  • Search
  • Open Drawer
Copyright 2019, Smithsonian Institution, All Rights Reserved
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
Twitter Facebook Tumblr Email Print