Feature image: Marcel Duchamp, The Chocolate Grinder, 1913 via Duchamp
Pantone’s Muse (or Color) of the Year: Mocha Mousse
Welcome. You’ve arrived at a new year brimming with fresh possibilities, simultaneously shadowed by the uncertainty of the year ahead. At the start of the new year, amidst clean slates and resolutions, we often turn to symbols of comfort and warmth like Pantone’s Color of the Year 2025, Mocha Mousse (PANTONE 17-1230), with its peacefulness, adaptability, and versatility.
“For Pantone Color of the Year 2025, we look to 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.”
Some of the “indulgent gifts” Pressman refers to are coffee, chocolate, and, this year, even pets. The Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons shared via Facebook,
“When Pantone announced their Color of the Year 2025 as Mocha Mousse, we secretly knew Pantone’s true inspiration was our adoptable shelter pup, Mousse!”
And while this adorable pup perfectly embodies ‘Mocha Mousse,’ the American Rescue Fund of the Hamptons was only poking fun. The Pantone Color Institute spends an entire year determining its annual color. A committee of color experts travels the world, gathering inspiration from a single dog and various industries, including art, fashion, interior design, entertainment, film, and social media.
This year, the tireless efforts landed on Mocha Mousse, described by the institute as “thoughtful indulgence.”
However, the year-long research efforts by the color committee are just the first step in sharing the Color of the Year. Convincing color-focused industries and the broader public is no small task. But Pantone makes a strong case. According to their website,
“With its sophisticated, earthy elegance, PANTONE 17-1230 Mocha Mousse can stand alone or serve as a versatile foundation, enhancing a wide range of palettes and applications—from minimalist to richly detailed designs—across all color-focused industries.”
Honestly? I’m convinced. Neutrals are everything these days, and Mocha Mousse perfectly embodies the trend. And really, I’m not the only one who is. Pantone has announced several collaborations with major fashion and industry players, including Ultrafabrics, Skims & Northface, and Joybird.
So, several of us are on board, meshing with mocha, but there are also quite a few skeptics. One X user @lwagabaza states, “It’s giving beige and we ran through that in 2016-2020.”
As one Huffpost article so rightly put it, “some pointed out that the color bore a certain likeness, to, well ― there’s really no delicate way to put this ― poop.”
And they’re not wrong.
Another X user @CharlesHullet wrote, “1970 called, they reclaim their color. Ah the memories. Is next year going to be avocado green?” This potentially neutral comment perhaps references a vintage avocado green and mocha brown kitchen that thrived in the seventies (pictured here).
So, really, the reviews are in, and they’re mixed: for some, the color sparks cravings or nostalgia, for others, they’re simply disgusted.
Even if you aren’t sold on its calming properties or don’t enjoy the color, as we enter this year, perhaps we should all take a page out of the 2025 Color of the Year’s book anyway.
Maybe, just maybe, this year calls for a bit of indulgence—whatever that looks like to you. Thanks to Pantone, we have a tone for the year—a starting point, an idea to make our own. So, have that bar of chocolate, and buy yourself the iced latte treat—embody Mocha Mousse whether it’s in your wardrobe, living space, or simply as a symbol of calm in an unknown year ahead.
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