I myself would like to see more liturgical colors introduced. One thing I love about the Syriac Orthodox is that, with a few exceptions, such as when all the Orthodox Churches use dark vestments, in Holy Week (and remember, the Eastern Orthodox typikon (technically there are more than one, but they all agree on this point, except for those used by the Western Rite parishes) only specifies light or dark vestments - everything else is up to individual jurisdictions or, very often, individual parishes and monasteries), there is no set pattern of liturgical colors.
This results, on occasion, in clergy wearing different colors, that are color coordinated. On one occasion, at St. Ephrem’s Cathedral in Burbank, Fr. Abdullahad Shara, memory eternal, and another priest who recently retired, wore a blue vestment and a violet vestment, both with red trim; the occasion was memorable because afterwards in the trapeza (dining hall) the two sang a duet of liturgical hymns in Syriac.
Here we see a colorful set of vestments worn by different bishops including His Holiness Patriarch Ignatius Zakka Iwas, memory eternal:
I would like to see more use of liturgical color in the Byzantine and Western Rites on a controlled basis within parishes and cathedrals - rather than having everyone wear identical colors, the use of coordinated colors I think is indicated. For example, both green and red are traditional for Pentecost, in different parts of the church, and there are ways of making the two colors work together, as we can see from the Syriac Orthodox example.
Some people might prefer more restrained liturgical color, so I am not calling for this on a universal basis. Rather, I think different parishes should be free to, in accord with congregational and clerical preferences, develop their use of liturgical colors.
One sad fact of the counter-Reformation was the loss of most regional uses of the Roman Rite, many of which had distinct liturgical colors and color schemes. The Sarum Rite had its eponymous blue, much beloved by the Lutheran parish of my friend
@MarkRohfrietsch , the York Rite made use of yellow, red, white and black, but not green or violet, and to this day the surviving Lyonaise Rite uses a distinct tan color of vestments on Ash Wednesday, which I quite like. Dominicans tend to wear white vestments with the proper liturgical color in the trim.
There used to be much more of this diversity, and it was greatly preferable to the current situation, where the surviving liturgical rites are overstandardized, and frequently in the case of the Novus Ordo Mass and other parishes vestments are used which are simplified, not traditional in design, or ugly (indeed an entire blog, the Bad Vestments blog, documented this phenomenon). Meanwhile too many Christians, even in members of otherwise traditional Anglican and Lutheran denominations, worship in parishes with the clergy not vested, for example, the cathedral of the Anglican Archdiocese of Sydney (this is actually a violation to the canons of the Second Council of Nicaea, which requires clergy to be vested, as the Iconoclasts tended instead to wear extremely expensive secular clothing, not unlike the prosperity gospel preachers of today, who wear expensive tailored suits and bling). With vested clergy, the identity of the celebrants is obscured, and the celebrants are more able to act
in persona Christi, with the attention of the congregation directed on Christ, where it should be. And all beautiful vestments glorify Christ, whether following a simple aesthetic such as that of the Cistercians, or a colorful flowery aesthetic such as that of the persecuted Syriac Orthodox who with their Antiochian, Armenian, Anglican, and Melkite Greek Catholic brethren are experiencing a genocide in Syria as we speak, requiring our prayers.
