The Brownaissance Is Here
Once dreary and drab, brown is now the height of mellow, earthy sophistication.
Programming note: a big, huge THANK YOU to Bobby Aaron Solomon who worked with me on my brand new, fancy header graphic, logo, and other design elements you’ll start seeing throughout the newsletter (including the cute checkboard line breaks). It was a truly wonderful, inspiring, and seamless experience — and fun to boot. Bobby is offering Substack branding/design consultations, should you be interested. You can reach him via his own Substack, The Fox Is Black.
Even before Pantone named Mocha Mousse (lol) as its 2025 Color of the Year, men’s fashion had been going all-in on sumptuous, luscious shades of brown. Everywhere I’ve roamed in recent weeks, as fall deliveries continue to land in stores, I see it, like a velvety haze enveloping me in its cocooning resplendence: sweaters in rich, nutty shades of umber and cocoa; loose trousers the color of roasted coffee beans or a loamy field after a night of cool rain; beautifully broken-in nubby flannel shirts in russet or copper; buttery brown leather jackets; and hearty outerwear in moody hues of sepia and bronze. Brown! It’s everywhere!
This was not always so. Brown was once considered dreary and drab, a shade that conjured a sense of the forlorn or woebegotten. It was the color of dusty attics, decaying, dead things, of dirt, or, worst of all, poop. Muiccia Prada or Rei Kawakubo would use brown in their collections not as an act of desire, but as a subversion, a provocation, a challenge to what we thought was beautiful and alluring. Allegedly, Anna Wintour once had a ban on the color in the Vogue offices.
But tides have changed. Now, shades of brown are accepted as the height of earthy sophistication. Consider it Evan Kinori-core or being Ven. Space-pilled. From Lemaire and Stóffa to The Row and Prada, brown now signals a mellow elegance, a soulful, sensual ease.
“Brown used to be seen as a ‘sad’ color and not something that we would gravitate towards,” says Sophie Jordan, the men’s buying director at the online retailer Mytheresa. “But there always comes a moment in the cycle where black, as a neutral, feels tired, and brown is the subtlest update. It just starts to feel right — softer, flattering, and ultimately it’s interchangeable with black.”
“It’s seen as a sophisticated color and a chicer take on a neutral,” she added.
I asked my dear friend Justin Berkowitz, who is not only very stylish but incredibly smart, what gives. He is, after all, a longtime advocate of brown himself, probably the first person I noticed to really wear a lot of it. And, as the former men’s fashion director of Bloomingdale’s (and, before that, an editor at Details), he was tasked with carefully tracking these sorts of shifts across the industry. Naturally, he had a brilliant reply. As he sees it, brown’s rise is a confluence of three main factors: first, the current obsession with vintage clothing; second, an fascination with all things ‘90s; and third, the re-emergence of the relaxed Italian tailored look.
“I think, in general, brown had really felt like something tied to the past,” he said, calling out the 70s, when brown was a trendy color, and then the 90s, when grunge and vintage shopping brought it back into the fashion system. “I think that also dovetails with the prevalence of brown in workwear and how widely available that is in the secondary market. So it felt cool, and perhaps conveyed a certain amount of cultural caché, but it did not, broadly speaking, convey wealth or moneyed status.”
Asked for a specific moment that the color began its current ascent, he had this to say. “I think the Brownaissance [editor’s note: a word so brilliant I had to steal it and make it my headline] writ large in the capital-F fashion world is really all about one brand — Prada.”
He credits two recent collections in particular, and the jackets they contained. “There was the fall 2023 menswear show, which had two suede blazers — I’ll never forget seeing them come down the runway. It was pretty clear they were commercial hits from the start, but the way they were picked up by the market and churned out in a million different ways ... suddenly everyone needed a brown suede jacket.” (You, being a brilliant reader of this newsletter, already know the leather blazer is THE jacket of the season).
The second, he says, was the barn coats Prada showed in the spring 2024 women’s show, which launched a trend that found its way, cerulean-style, onto the backs of every stylish upwardly mobile urbanite. “At that moment, it felt like literally every cool guy downtown was wearing a Carhartt chore coat, and suddenly, here was Prada showing its preppy, refined, and moneyed cousin,” Berkowitz says. “And that cousin was super-appealing to a much broader audience.”
In other words, brown didn’t change — we did. It was associated with thrift stores and vintage shopping. That used to be shorthand for cheap, old stuff, but today it has garnered a reputation as garments with patina, authenticity, and history. As such, brown has come to embody the hardworking romance of workwear and the nostalgia factor of vintage shopping.
But today, he says, a third element has pushed brown into the mainstream. “I think where that really began to change in the last five years with the culture’s sustained interest in a classically luxurious Italian aesthetic — don’t hate me, but, yes, ‘quiet luxury,’” he explained. “Brands like Brunello Cucinelli, Loro Piana, and Zegna have long traded in camel, vicuña, and various shades of brown to convey a certain sense of wealth, and suddenly, a couple of seasons of Succession later, a lot of people wanted in on that look, too.”
So no matter your style — Dimes Square trust funder in double-knees and thrashed button-ups or Gen-Z embracing the joys of dapper suiting — suddenly there was a reason to be wearing brown in all its glory.
Jordan, of Mytheresa, said that last year, the retailer embraced “smaller touch” items in brown, such as accent pieces and accessories like leather jackets and loafers, but the market has since expanded, and they are adjusting accordingly. Now she’s seeing “the color being embraced more widely into collections, expanding to denim, shirting, suede bags, and tailoring.” Brands, she says, that are leading the way include The Row, Auralee, and Saman Amel, in addition to — yup! — Prada.
I did a little gut check with the folks at Google Shopping, to make sure this wasn’t all in my head and they provided me with this little nugget of interesting data: the search term “how to style brown” is at an all-time high, with “brown cargo pants” being a breakout search over the last month (I’m happy to say I scored a pair of vintage Abercrombie cargo pants on Poshmark last month).
Meanwhile, a report from the trend forecasting agency WGSN noted that the color is, indeed, having a moment. “Brown’s rise reflects a broader shift toward longevity, versatility, and a desire for grounding, comforting colors across fashion, interiors, and accessories,” the report reads. “This matters for brands because brown’s appeal spans seasons, product categories, and demographics, making it a strategic investment for both core and trend-driven assortments.”
The report also noted brown’s strong commercial performance. “Retail data shows brown is one of the fastest-rising colors, with notable increases in both the UK and US markets.” According to their research, brown makes up 6.4% of the color assortment in the UK and 7% in the US, with search interest and out-of-stock rates rising year-over-year. Additionally, the report says that TikTok views on posts flagged with the hashtag #brown were up “significantly” in the past year.
Pantone, meanwhile, said it picked brown as its yearly color because it’s “a warming, brown hue imbued with richness,” that “nurtures us with its suggestion of the delectable qualities of chocolate and coffee, answering our desire for comfort.”
So, go forth, dear reader — paint the town brown!
You, Too, Can Wear Brown!
While our evolving feelings about brown are certainly fascinating, another great thing about it is that it’s quite easy to wear. It goes well with a great deal of other colors, and gone are the days when pairing black with brown was looked at as a fashion faux pas. As Jordan noted, it’s a new neutral and, as such, can be paired with navy, black, and gray.
“I like brown because it is so versatile,” Berkowitz says. “I’m not really a bright color guy, but I love the way brown looks with red, cobalt, mustard, and teal. Not doing it myself, but if that’s your bag, get it.” He personally prefers to wear it with other neutrals: black, camel, navy, and dark gray.
“One of my favorite ways to style brown is a fully tonal look,” offers Jordan. “It’s a styling trick that works both for day and evening looks. I find it a low-maintenance way of getting dressed but still feels put-together, and like you have made an effort, because it’s still not common to see it in a monochromatic outfit.” That said, she does think it looks nice styled with a pop or red or even paired with pink (“a match made in heaven,” she says).
“I think it’s best to avoid cliché where possible when wearing brown,” Berkowitz advises. “There’s a certain traditional kind of pairing that puts brown with olive or Fair Isle — think British country, or with shades of orange, like pumpkin spice. These don’t feel right, right now, to me.”
Instead, he says, use it as a way to “warm a minimalist palette and soften a hard edge.”
Additionally, texture is key. “Brown shouldn’t be too slick. I think it needs to feel a little earnest, organic, and, perhaps, naturally occurring.” Think fuzzy wools, pettable cashmere, or cotton canvas. “It is an earth tone, after all.”
Here are just a few of the wonderful, warm, winter-ready brown items I’ve seen online lately. For your consideration! Enjoy!
Uniqlo x JW Anderson Brushed Cotton Plaid Flannel Shirt, $49.90
Massimo Dutti Nubuck Leather Blazer, $690
Dickies Original 874 Work Pant, $29.99
Prada Wool-Blend Teddy Jacket, $4,200
Lemaire V-Neck Sweater, $520
Drakes Cotton-Wool Single-Pleat Trouser, $895
Lemaire Silk-Blend Shirt, $1,040, and Pants, $1,320
COS Leather-Trimmed Teddy Vest, $139
Miu Miu Corduroy Blouson Jacket, $3,250
Polo Ralph Lauren Wool Johnny-Collar Sweater, $228
Dries Van Noten Twill-Trimmed Cotton Jacket, $1,600
NN07 Timo Lined Suit Jacket, $685; and Kay Pleated Pant, $340
The Row Rod Casmhere Sweater, $1,450
*While I am experimenting with affiliate links, I take shopping VERY seriously, and these are all items I 100% stand behind.*
Great report. Once you are free to mix black with brown, there are no limits!
I went hard for brown these past 3-4 years and don’t regret it one bit. It just has to have depth and texture to look good, or you risk looking like you’re wearing a polyester UPS uniform.