Avocado Green and Harvest Gold - the defining home décor colors of the decade. Anyone who lived in the '70s will remember these colors well. In fact, there was a very defined set of colors during this period (rust, brick, sand, brown, gold and orange) that colorized almost everything in our world: cars, fashion, décor, appliances, you name it - they all had that distinctive color palette of the '70s. Look at the picture below. It's instantly identifiable as being from the '70s - not by the hair styles or clothes - but by the color palette. Well, the guy smoking on an airplane is kind of a giveaway... but you get my point. The '70s definitely had its trademark colors.
The San Diego Padres sported a brown and mustard color combination. I guess it was better than the infamous Astros orange rainbow jersey... then again, maybe not.What is truly perplexing (and I have long wondered this, and will be indebted to someone who can answer it) is why movies and TV programs were also filmed in earth tones. Not only that, but they were also grainy and had the film quality of a Polaroid. How is it that older movies like The Wizard of Oz all the way up to 1969 are in vibrant Technicolor, and then as soon as the '70s start, everything becomes about as colorful as dishwater? How did film colorizing technology take a giant step backward from brilliant to washed out brown? It's almost a cliche to say something like "it has that grainy seventies feel", yet I'd like to know why everything went grainy in the '70s.
Watch a colorful episode of "I Dream of Jeannie" then watch a 1974 "After School Special" and you'll think you've developed an eye disease which renders everything in the world a muddy shade of brown. I mean, a lot of big budget movies in the 1970's look like snuff films. Why? I'm not alone in my confusion - the question was posted on Metafiler, but the answers don't quite satisfy.
Whatever the reason, by the early '80s, films regained their vibrant colors and the most popular décor colors became "Southwestern soft teal" and "dusty rose". (gag!)
A big thanks to Plaid Stallions, my favorite curator of the '70s, for inspiring this train of thought.
Additional thanks to Found in Mom's Basement and Retrocrush for a couple images.
A related post on retrospace- Historical Fact: In the 70's Everything Was Sepia
