The jury may still be out on Pantone’s 2026 Color of the Year—except, let’s be honest, it isn’t. It’s already been quietly dismissed by anyone and everyone for obvious reasons. The annual reveal has become less of a cultural compass and more of a ceremonial gesture, detached from how people shop, dress, and live now. Color trends, once aspirational, now feel strangely out of touch.

And yet, color still matters. Hugely.

Just look at brown.

 

Chocolate. Espresso. Cocoa. Brunette. Whatever name you gave it, brown dominated 2025 with the kind of authority only a “new neutral” can command. We didn’t just wear it—we pined for it. We scrolled, saved, searched, and sighed over brown-toned everything: leather jackets, knitwear, handbags, nails, makeup, interiors. Brown felt grounding. Sophisticated. Adult. It was the antidote to trend fatigue and the chaos of hyper-virality.

Then, almost overnight, it was everywhere.

What began as a subtle shift turned into full saturation. Suddenly, brown wasn’t a thoughtful choice—it was the default. Walk into any store and the racks told the same story: chocolate trousers, espresso coats, latte knits stacked in careful gradients. The desire was fulfilled so thoroughly that it became impossible to escape.

And therein lies the problem.

Trends today aren’t just something we observe—they’re something we’re funneled into. What’s available shapes what we wear, and what we wear reinforces what’s available. The feedback loop is tight, efficient, and quietly suffocating. When every brand is responding to the same data points, color stops being expressive and starts becoming compulsory.

Brown didn’t just trend. It crowded out choice.

 

This isn’t about hating the color itself. Brown had a good run for a reason. It offered warmth in uncertain times, seriousness without severity, luxury without flash. But when a trend becomes omnipresent, it stops serving style and starts dictating it. And that’s when fashion loses its emotional charge.

The real question isn’t whether brown will fall out of favor—it will, inevitably. The question is what we’ve lost in the meantime.

When trends become so deeply embedded in retail that alternatives disappear, we begin outsourcing our taste. We stop asking what do I want to wear? and start asking what’s available? Subtle difference. Massive consequence. The result is a generation of consumers fluent in trends but disconnected from personal preference.

It’s no coincidence that many people feel “bored” with their wardrobes despite constant shopping. If every choice has already been pre-selected, where’s the satisfaction in choosing?

Looking ahead, 2026 promises “the full spectrum.” Color forecasters will talk about duality, contrast, expression. But access doesn’t guarantee agency. You can offer every color imaginable—if they’re all filtered through the same trend logic, the outcome doesn’t change.

So how do we get out of the cycle?

Not by rejecting trends entirely—that’s unrealistic and frankly uninteresting. Trends can be inspiring. They can open doors. But they should be a starting point, not a cage. The shift happens when we stop treating trends as instructions and start using them as tools.

That means resisting the urge to buy something simply because it’s everywhere. It means pausing long enough to ask whether a color actually feels like you, or just like the moment. It means noticing what colors you reach for when no one’s watching, when there’s no algorithm to impress.

It also means accepting a little friction. Personal style isn’t frictionless. It shouldn’t be instantly validated or endlessly shoppable. The best-dressed people aren’t trend-proof—they’re self-aware. They know when to participate and when to opt out.

Brown may have been the color of collective comfort. But comfort, when overdone, becomes complacency. Fashion doesn’t need another authority figure telling us what hue defines the year. What it needs is curiosity. Individuality. A willingness to sit with uncertainty long enough to make an authentic choice. The future of style won’t be dictated by a color card or a trend report. It will belong to those who remember that taste is something you practice—not something you purchase.