We've had a beautiful fall for a change. Previous autumns have been disappointing due to the drought. Certain weather factors have to lineup to produce the best colors, and lately they haven't, but when they do, the results are stunning and this year's foliage dazzled the eye. It's sad to see the beautiful leaves fall. Not much joy in a lot of brown wrinkled leaves is there.

I live in what was once a state forest. It's heavily forested for an urban area. I was running the trail near my house the other day and the red, gold, purple, and orange leaves brought to mind a magazine feature I wrote two years ago. That assignment taught me something about color I'd never given much thought to.

Have you ever wondered why some colors are in style and others not? That purple sweater you're wearing, for instance. It's in style. And that green car you're driving. So is it. But those brown corduroy trousers? No way. You know why? Because the Color Marketing Group, an organization in Alexandria, Virginia, decreed those colors would be hot for 2008. Brown, by the way, is on the way out, just like those falling leaves.

The Color Marketing Group forecasts the colors that will be in style. A similar group, the Color Association of the United States, based in New York, has been forecasting color trends since 1915. So there you have it. Experts gather several times a year and examine factors to gain insight as to what colors are rising and which ones are falling out of favor. And two very influential forces are the economy and concerns for the environment.

Regardless of the influences, forecasting colors is serious business. The Color Marketing Group forecasts color trends up to three years into the future so member organizations can plan product and materials introductions. Forecasting color trends allows various industries to coordinate their products for us, the consumers. Like being able to match your bedroom paint with a comforter, for instance. Now you can even get paint of your son's favorite team's colors to coordinate with his bedroom décor. Bring on that Bulldog red and black.

Colors drive our desires and actions for sure. Ever walked out of a car dealership because the color choices weren't so hot? I bet you have. In fact, 40 percent of us have walked out of a dealership because of poor color choices. If old Henry Ford were still around, he'd have to change his ways. He wouldn't have gotten much business from us today without a huge change in the color options he used to offer.

"The customer can have any color he wants so long as it's black." Henry Ford supposedly said that way back in the days of the Model T. Ford reputedly chose black because the paint dried faster than colored paints, and faster drying paint allowed him to build cars faster since he would not have to wait as long for the paint to dry.

Just look at the color options for trucks and cars today. They were chosen with a lot of calculation for the forecasting of colors is not a haphazard business. The experts don't throw darts against the wall to make their choices. They study the influential events of our lives. The recent Olympics, for instance, in Beijing will produce a host of reds and golds in our fashion color palette very soon. The company also spends a lot of time tracking colors in the fashion world. What you wear often ends up on your wall, in your car, and in your home.

The human eye can see 7,000,000 colors, and yet certain colors keep coming back like a tough football team that never says die. Some of you will remember that ubiquitous green appliance shade of the 60s and 70s, "avocado." Bring that color back and call it 'sage,' and people will buy it. That's marketing. It gets into our head.

Without a doubt, color reigns as one of the most influential elements in our lives. Color is language. We see red when angry. We can be green with envy. He's a yellow coward and on and on. Color attracts our attention and changes our mood. It speaks to who we are and how we feel. And businesses use certain colors to get into out wallets. Fast food restaurants like reds and yellows because they stimulate the appetite. So, we are not as free to make choices as we think. Or are we?

You probably own a few outfits that always garner comment whenever you wear them. "You look great today!" or "Wow! That color really brings out your eyes!" It doesn't matter how old the garment is or how many times you wear it, you feel good in it because it always gets you noticed. It brings you confidence. But here's a question for you: will you retire it to the closet because the Color Marketing Group says it is now out of fashion? I bet not.

What a relief to know that some experts don't meet each year to pick the color of next fall's foliage. One expert does that quite nicely. There's nothing that captivates the eye quite like a mountainside of flaming color or a maple afire or a lustrous gold ghenko.

Fall is fleeting though. All the beautiful colors are falling. We face a drab brown, grey winter world now, a world out of style you could say. Let's just remember that while dazzling colors can affect our mood and even how people perceive us, there are more important things in life. "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart." Helen Keller said that.

Email Tom with feedback and ideas for new columns. tompol@ earthlink.net