How we went from brat green to mocha mousse

For most of this year, it was almost impossible to escape the spell of “brat green”; the bright, brash colour made famous by one Charlie XCX.

The British pop star’s now iconic album art colour went so viral that it wasn’t only her fans taking to it; brands tapped in, as did the presidential campaign of one Kamala Harris, resulting in one of the most widely discussed and visible colour trends of 2024. In the northern hemisphere, there was even reference to a brat summer. If that’s not an indication of cultural cache, I don’t know what is. 

Brat green is not an outlier as shades of green have been on-trend in recent years. We’ve seen sage green, emerald green, pistachio green and chartreuse across fashion, art and design. Interior designers generally turn to green to channel a sense of serenity that brat green seems to be the polar opposite of. It’s in your face, demanding attention. It provokes a strong reaction, and according to Charlie XCX herself, it was selected for her album art precisely because it is “off, the most uncomfortable, the most disorienting. And that’s why I chose it,” Architectural Digest quoted her as saying. 

In these “uncomfortable” and “disorienting” times, it fits right in. Based on its undeniable place in the zeitgeist, the expectation is that it was at least a contender for colour of the year, and yet Pantone, the world’s leading colour institute, has chosen mocha mousse — a shade of brown — as the definitive hue for 2025. I should note that it was strange to begin with that people have dedicated column inches to Pantone’s proverbial snub of brat green. See, Pantone’s choices are never based on what’s been, but what is still to come. Which, in my mind, renders the brat green argument moot to begin with. 

Per the colour institute’s vice-president Lauria Pressman: “For Pantone Color of the Year 2025, we look at a mellow brown hue whose inherent richness and sensorial and comforting warmth extends further into our desire for comfort, and the indulgence of simple pleasures that we can gift and share with others.” 

Mocha mousse builds on peach fuzz, which is Pantone’s 2024 colour of the year. Although we’ve seen peach fuzz on red carpets worn by the likes of Cate Blanchett, Ayo Debiri and Donald Glover, among others, I would argue that it was more of a symbolic pick than one that was going to enjoy mass mainstream appeal. Mocha mousse feels different because shades of brown have already dominated conversation in interior design and on the fashion runways of the world. Indeed, neutral shades are all the rage right now.

As far back as September 2023, Vogue Magazine touted “latte dressing” as one of the biggest colour trend for autumn 2024. If you spend much time on Tik Tok, you would have noticed the “latte” makeup trend, too, with brown eyeshadow, coupled with chocolate bronzers and cinnamon lip liners gaining steam. 

These sophisticated palettes also play into quiet luxury, the trend that refuses to die, even though its obituary has been written over and over again since it first entered the mainstream almost two years ago now. This means mocha mousse not only builds on the promise of respite that peach fuzz espoused; it is informed by trends that are already visible, and have been for quite some time. 

In many ways, brat green represents a burning desire to be carefree, and messy or rebellious, if you will. Mocha Mousse, on the other hand, represents the comfort that we sorely need. I’ve always maintained that the trends that stick around for longer, are the ones that are anchored more in our needs than our desires. Brat green taps into the angst, fury and disorientation we all feel in the midst of upheaval, increasing polarisation and the like, and so its popularity is not in any way misplaced. We want to be free from the chaos.

However, at a time when sense is no longer so common, a new world order appears to be on the horizon, and the institutions meant to protect us appear to be falling apart, I would posit that seeking comfort in the simple things, unplugging from the chaos and re-establishing a sense of security, and IRL communities (rather than those online) are things we’re not only going to gravitate towards; we will be forced to seek them as a matter of survival. 

Mocha mousse seems far more geared towards that reality than brat green, but this is to suggest that they are the flipside of the same coin — one a symptom, the other a cure.