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It’s rich! It’s yummy! It’s oh-so-cozy!
Pantone’s Color of the Year reveal is like the Spotify Wrapped of fashion. Yet, rather than reminiscing, forecasters look forward to the year ahead, breaking down exactly how we’ll be feeling, dressing, shopping—encompassing it all in just one shade. For 2025, Pantone has chosen Mocha Mousse, a light brown shade that evokes a yummy, warm sensation, just as its name suggests.
"The driving thought behind this year was this whole everlasting search for harmony,” says Laurie Pressman, vice president at the Pantone Color Institute. “The positive sense of peace, calm, and balance, and this culture of connection and unity; the sense of the synthesis of our mental, spiritual, and physical well-being.”
While brown shades are often an afterthought—overshadowed by other neutral tones like black, white, or navy—this year, the popularity of chocolate brown has proven that the lackluster shade can actually be quite groundbreaking. “We’re seeing the perception of brown go from being humble and grounded to aspirational,” says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director at Pantone Color Institute.
And that’s not a coincidence: Over the past few years, the rise of the “quiet luxury” trend and more minimalist brands, from Khaite and Kallmeyer to The Row and Toteme, have put a focus back on the core neutral shades in our closets, elevating them from canvasses to the main attraction. Fashion designers have followed suit for spring/summer 2025, promoting the mocha mousse agenda. For example, brands like Fendi, Acne, and Gucci showed maxi dresses and asymmetrical one-shoulder frocks that featured mocha mousse as a protagonist, not a supporting character.
“People want things that are practical wearable, or something special that doesn't go away after five minutes, things that are seasonless,” says Pressman. "[Mocha Mousse] can be a foundational shade yet, at the same time, can be worn on its own.”
Before you start planning your 2025 wardrobe, here’s a full breakdown of how to wear Pantone’s Color of the Year, Mocha Mousse.
Hot Pants and a Blouse
The no-pants trend is going strong for 2025, and one way to tone the innate showiness of this style is to go for a mocha-like shade. A classic button-down shirt, like the one pictured above from Max Mara, is a perfect match for this piece, elevating it to a more wearable territory. Feeling cold? Just add a floor-length wool coat in a similar mocha shade for maximum coziness.
A Wool Coat and Wine Red Accessories
This pairing is exactly the type of “aspirational” combo that Eisman referenced. Wine red is a color associated with luxury and wealth, helping boost the brown shade further. Gold accessories will also help level up the mocha color, bringing in more of that warm and fuzzy feel.
A Lace Frock
Brown may not be the color you think of when it comes to summer months. But Spanish designer Alejandra Alonso Rojas made sure it's a key shade of summer 2025 with this crochet dress. The head-to-toe mocha tone—paired with matching underwear—makes it easy to wear the shade, even if you're not into brown.
Look of the day
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A Bomber Jacket
Black is the traditional color for outerwear, but swap it for a warmer, lighter shade, like mocha mousse. A matching bag and similarly toned pants are ideal additions. For a contrast, resist the urge to go for black boots and instead style it with distressed chocolate brown moto boots for an added edge.
With a Pop of Color
Leave it to Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons to show the cool girl mocha mousse formula for spring/summer 2025. And that’s all about a pop of color. Instead of a luxe shade like wine red or olive green, a Pepto-like pink pair of skinny pants (I know!) brings a unique take to the mocha brown top.
Fuzzy Mittens
Listen, I get it: brown is not everyone's tune. But if you still want to wear the It-color of 2025, a pair of fuzzy gloves is a small detail you can add to your outfit. Even if you don't want to actually wear gloves, the styling option shown above is a unique way to bring them along for when it gets cold enough.
An Asymmetrical Dress and Gold Jewelry
As Eisman said, brown is often considered a "humble" shade, more attuned to academia-like loafers and businessman briefcases than luxe resort wear. But as Gucci's Sabato de Sarno showed, it can be: an asymmetrical one-shoulder dress in mocha mousse paired with gold bicep cuffs and a bracelet is the vacation uniform you can rely on for 2025.
Monochrome Coziness
A classic is a classic for a reason, and when it comes to neutral shades like brown, wearing them head-to-toe is a go-to formula. A mocha-like sweater and knit maxi skirt can be your 2025 spring uniform, made better by burnt brown booties, a leopard print handbag, and gold accessories.