In 2024, chocolate brown reigned supreme. In the year ahead, there’s a new edible shade making its way onto fashion’s mood boards: mocha mousse.
Pantone has named the lighter, silkier shade of brown as its colour of the year for 2025. The team is confident that brown will continue to dominate both on and off the runway. While 2024 saw the rise of a deeper, darker shade, the team expects 2025’s hue to be increasingly mellow — or mocha. It’s a “mellow brown”, says Laurie Pressman, co-leader of the Pantone Colour Institute. “One thing that was top of mind for us is that there’s a lightness, a softness, a whipped quality to the brown.” For the year ahead, it’s all about comfort and warmth, adds co-leader Leatrice Eiseman. “It’s about our desire for everyday pleasures.”
Pantone’s predictions vary in accuracy, at least in terms of how they translate over to the fashion industry. In 2023, it was spot on with its ‘viva magenta’ pick, as Barbie pink took centre stage even beyond the pink carpet. This year’s ‘peach fuzz’ didn’t quite break into the fashion sphere in the same way; though when it came to beauty, blush made a major comeback.
If 2024 is anything to go by, Pantone is on the right track. This year signalled a big moment for the colour brown. Brown-hued items dominated fashion sourcer Gab Waller’s luxury requests list, she says.
The colour dominated the runways, too. Karis Munday, analyst at retail intelligence platform EDITED, highlights Miu Miu, Gucci and Saint Laurent as the three key shows that embraced brown on the Autumn/Winter 2024 runways. Per this season’s arrivals, Saint Laurent increased its brown mix by 7 percentage points year-on-year to 19 per cent, and Gucci by 5 percentage points to account for 13 per cent of arrivals. Brown was the most-invested colour at Miu Miu, making up 19 per cent of new styles, driven by an uptick in bags, Munday notes.
Fashion’s brown boost was bolstered by beauty’s own brown fervour, says Waller, noting Rhode’s role in the hype. “Their brown phone case [was] an immediate hit,” she says. The related trend of using food and drink themes to label trends has driven mentions of “chocolate” and “espresso” to dominate brand communications, Munday adds.
Here, Pantone’s choice of mocha mousse is well aligned. “There’s this whole ‘foodification’ of colour that we’ve seen come into being,” Pressman says. “It’s not just a matter of taste. It’s also talking about our surroundings, our clothing — when you look at a colour and you say, ‘Oh, it’s absolutely delicious,’ it’s not necessarily just because it’s edible, but because it’s so appealing to you.”
Pressman also points to the shift towards minimalism and pared-back luxury, expecting brown to have staying power here. On this, she’s aligned with the fashion crowd. “Brown resonates with the current appetite for chic minimalism and elevated luxury,” says Mytheresa chief buying officer Tiffany Hsu. “Its versatility allows it to complement the ‘luxe wardrobing’ aesthetic, pairing seamlessly with other staples of refined dressing.”
In 2025, will fashion get on board with mocha mousse?
Suede supremacy
As winter kicks into gear, early 2025 is likely to pick up where 2024 is leaving off: a brown suede obsession.
In 2024, suede was the top-requested iteration of brown, Waller says. She credits the wave to the January 2024 release of The Row Margaux 15 bag in mocha suede. “I can confidently say that it was the Margaux style that really escalated the trend,” she says. Interest piqued post-summer, and Waller highlights Prada’s brown suede Top-Handle bag (specifically in the medium size), Saint Laurent’s Le Penny loafers in dark chocolate, Manu Atelier’s Le Cambon bag in deep brown suede (“the current It-bag”) and Gucci’s brown suede ankle boots as standouts. “As of today’s date, I am still receiving requests for these styles,” she says.
Searches for brown suede are still on the up. In October, searches for “brown suede” increased 250 per cent, according to Madé Lapuerta, who runs Data But Make It Fashion on Instagram, an account analysing fashion trends via her purpose-built AI software.
It was a win for brands. After releasing brown suede handbags as part of its Autumn/Winter 2024 collection (released in the latter half of the year; a similar time to when brown was picking up the pace, Lapuerta says), Prada grew 35 per cent in popularity from August to October, she calculated. Suede is where Hsu expects brands to continue to play with these shades — including in the lighter, mocha form.
Will it stick?
Pantone isn’t alone. Fashion experts anticipate that brown will stay the course in the year ahead, leaving room for mocha mousse to gain ground.
Hsu expects brown to remain influential in 2025, just with a different look. “The trend is evolving, with lighter fabrications and pastel tones gaining prominence. These elements suggest a shift towards a softer, more ethereal interpretation of the colour palette,” she says. Lapuerta agrees, noting the versatility of brown as an earthy tone. She highlights the classic Burberry scarf, which has been having yet another moment in the sun. (Lapuerta calculated an 85 per cent increase in popularity on 10 November from the week prior.)
As for what form this might take, Waller is watching to see whether brown (especially suede) will make its way to embellishments. “With personalisation being such a huge trend of 2024 — and what will likely continue to trend into the new year — it will be interesting to see if the brown dominance trickles into personalised accessories,” she says.
Even so, Waller feels the colour’s reign will eventually wane. “I personally feel that it will slow down once SS25 hits, especially as we saw a lot of lighter colourways walk the season’s runways — light pink being a key colour,” she says. “Come summer, the cosiness of brown will trickle out, and more playful colours will arise again.”
That said, Munday notes that brown was a key supporting colour to the citrus and pastel palettes that dominated the SS25 runways, pointing to Versace and Ganni as examples. She expects that this will give it longevity beyond autumn. This was part of Pantone’s rationale, too. Eiseman calls mocha mousse a “foundational shade”, suited to pairing with other, lighter hues. Mytheresa’s Hsu is confident in brown’s appeal for resort, pointing to its uptick in swimwear and linens.
Waller is watching Mrs Prada — who helped push brown to the fore in ’24 — for confirmation. “It continues to be all eyes on Miu Miu,” Waller says. “If brown walks their runway next season, it’s safe to say that it will be here for a while.”
Editor
Madeleine Schulz
