With the massive selection available now, there's really no reason something can't be visually appealing. It's usually a matter of how much you can afford (or are willing) to pay. Choosing the what-was-the-manufacturer-thinking colors that are being closed out is a great way to save money; back when I was still paying for a house and kids' college, I ended up making some bold and spectacular fashion statements, to put it mildly. Now that I have a bit of disposable income, I tend to be a little less reluctant to pay full price and can usually find something in more muted tones.

However, I don't let appearance completely drive selection. The first, second, and third things I look at in a piece of gear is function. (Example: I had a nice grey pack that looked great, but didn't fit quite right. I replaced it with a pack that had fairly bright blue side panels, and a glow-in-the-dark set of silver load lifter straps. I liked the looks of the grey pack better, but the blue pack fits better. Not my first color choice, but acceptable. If it had been purple or orange/chartreuse, I'd still be looking.)

Usually, if you specify the functional features that are important to you, you can find a piece of gear with those features that is a color you can live with. I liked the Hubba tent so well that I even learned to live with the godawful blaze orange fly they insisted on using. The mustard yellow of my Carbon Reflex 1 is an improvement - barely - but I'll put up with it because of the weight and feature set.