Hmm.  I can't repro in Chrome Dev or Canary.  Does restarting Chrome help?  Do you still see the problem if you try this in Chrome Canary?

Restarting doesn't fix the issue.  I checked and there isn't an update to Chrome available.  I'm not on Dev or Canary, but using the default build of Chrome (stable?)  To clarify, I'm not using Google's own High Contrast extension, but using Windows 10's own High Contrast theme.

I noticed the issue with the recent update when all the extension icons showed up in the menu.

Right, I understand that you're using the native high contrast theme, and that you're on the latest stable version.  I'm specifically asking you to test with Canary.  It installs alongside your existing Chrome install (so it doesn't touch it) and can be safely uninstalled afterwards.

Installed the latest Canary build and it has the same issue.

Strange.  I'm mystified as to why I don't see this with Canary on my Win 10 install, even after restarting Chrome.

Does changing your Windows theme to e.g. the default Windows theme and then back help?  I doubt it, but I'm grasping at straws.

Can you provide a screenshot of the whole Chrome window?  It looks as if everything is in a strange greyscale in your image above.  Maybe somehow the display is set to a very low bit depth?  Do any other apps exhibit problems?

If you download an old version of Chromium, e.g. https://www.googleapis.com/download/storage/v1/b/chromium-browser-continuous/o/Win%2F300014%2Fchrome-win32.zip?generation=1413519707244000&alt=media , unzip it, and run it from the unzipped directory, does it exhibit the problem?

Okay, I'm kicking myself for not thinking of trying the default Win 10 theme.  Apparently it's a Windows 10 bug, and a new one since it has been receiving updates recently.  Default theme fixed the problem.  I guess that means Microsoft mucked up the High Contrast theme, although I don't see why or how.

Although, I should add that I don't see the issue in other programs when using the High Contrast theme, so I can't say for sure what the issue is.

Wait a minute.  You're using High Contrast Black, not High Contrast White, aren't you?  Somehow I was thinking the latter.

I can repro this problem with the former.  Also interestingly, changing the text color in the theme manually (e.g. to red) and applying does not cause Chrome to use the new text color, even after restarting Chrome.

So in general we're kinda respecting the theme text color, but not completely, and we're not respecting the theme background color at all.

I'm somewhat surprised this is a recent regression.  Let me ask the test folks for a bisect.  This is pretty big, we need to fix this ASAP.

Correct, using High Contrast Black.

Thank you for looking into it!