The all-white 'heavenly bed' overturned the hotel-industry tradition of using dirt-hiding floral bedspreads: although white shows dirt and required special cleaning, customers perceive an all-white, visibly-clean room as cleaner (and it probably is), so the look became widely copied.

causalpending

Speaker

Virginia Postrel

Evidence Quote

It was all white. A very striking aesthetic look. Which cut totally against tradition in the hotel industry, which had always said... you don't want to have colors that will show dirt.

Source

Virginia Postrel on Style 11/27/2006EconTalk
Created: 6/17/2026, 10:31:39 AM

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