Lian Li used to be the epitome of clean, understated and professional looking cases, why have they decided to throw it all away with these monstrosities?

These two look pretty ugly to be honest. Lian-Li do make some great cases from time to time though; I have two of the 2005 'Legacy' models and they look really good;

http://www.overclockercafe.com/Reviews/cases/Lian_Li_PC-777/1001.htm

I have a silver one with blue case lighting next to a black one with red case lighting.

Honestly, I never found any Lian Li to be beautiful at all. Not one.

Maybe some people are biased because Lian Li cases are expensive (relatively speaking). Things with a high price tag tend to look good, the same way some people are biased to thinking food in an expensive restaurant is delicious, but actually isn't that good to the objective person.

You've never seen dual-coloured anodisation before? I guess you've never seen a case built by Soldam then. These cases, while technically quite excellent, are butt-ugly. I'd personally prefer a step back to more classic, elegant designs like the Coolermaster 201. This trend of making very practical but funky-looking cases, perhaps to cater I suspect to "gamers" is disheartening.

I have used there standard black aluminum case for my last 3 builds. I like the picture of the mini ITX they have and may have to build a little Atom/Linux rig with it.