We Called It: Pantone’s 2025 Color of the Year Is Brown
We saw it all playing out eight months ago.
Paint companies started rolling out their spring color palettes with an imaginative variety of browns, and we thus concluded that brown—yes, drab old brown—was poised to be the most popular color of 2024.
In the following months, our prediction played out seemingly right on cue: “mocha” was the word on everyone’s lips at press previews, earth-toned monochromatic moments dominated the runways, and designers were flexing brown tones in everything from kitchens to bedrooms (even Kelly Wearstler’s Instagram has been feeling like an all-out bronze fest). But if there’s anything that solidifies that bet, it’s Pantone’s opinion on the matter. Today, the renowned color authority dubbed Pantone 17-1230 Mocha Mousse its 2025 Color of the Year (COTY).
It’s not the sultry near-black we might have foreseen, but rather a creamy, warm hue that vice president of the Pantone Color Institute Laurie Pressman describes as “an unpretentious classic,” yet at the same time, “sophisticated and lush.”
“Pantone 17-1230 Mocha Mousse extends our perception of the browns from being humble and grounded to embrace the aspirational and luxe,” Pressmen tells ELLE DECOR. “Infused with subtle elegance and earthy refinement, it presents a discrete and tasteful touch of glamour.”
The decision to crown brown from the nearly 20,000 colors in Pantone’s color library is a first for the color company, which has tapped into our collective values through color since its 1999 inception. For Pressman, the ruling sprung from a collective desire for the warmth of color—a progression of Pantone’s 2024 COTY, a comforting (if not perky) Pantone 13-1023 Peach Fuzz.
But this year, it goes beyond playful blushing hues, to something more timeless. “It is a foundational shade that creates a base upon which to combine with other colors,” she explains. “Infused with a sensorial warmth it evokes a feeling of the comfort of home whether appearing in soft touch weaves, cushy velvets, on flooring or a painted wall.”
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