You may be surprised to hear this, Gentle Readers, but I do not hate Pantone’s color of the year for 2025!

Mocha Mousse: a fluffy light brown with pink undertones.
*I* wouldn’t bestow the honor of Color of the Year upon a light brown, but I think Mocha Mousse is pleasant enough.
“Quiet luxury” is the most overused, insipid descriptor, but that’s designers’ (and manufacturers’) catchphrase right now. And that’s what Pantone is going for with Mocha Mousse. Pantone’s director, Leatrice Eiseman, describes it thus:

Huh. I think that’s giving Mocha Mousse a LOT of credit.
I don’t think the color is that weighty or complex, tbh. It’s not lush; it’s watery. It is warm but light, not dramatic, not threatening. Mocha Mousse doesn’t give you much, but it doesn’t ask much in return, either. It certainly isn’t aspirational. It’s just kind of…pretty.

Interestingly, Mocha Mousse isn’t THAT far removed from Benjamin Moore’s Color of the Year 2025, Cinnamon Slate. (I wrote a bit about that in my recent post about High Point.) That’s a lot more mauve in that color, but both are light, dusty versions of brown with pink undertones.



But back to the color at hand:

Mocha Mousse continues our slow, plodding trek away from gray towards beige/camel/brown as our neutral of choice. From cool to warm.

Mocha Mousse will probably seep into my designs in a darker, more intense form. Dry black-browns, not orange-browns. Wouldn’t espresso-y brown be gorgeous with red?




I just don’t think Mocha Mousse has the starpower to carry a room. Farrow & Ball’s Dead Salmon seems to be pretty close to Mocha Mousse, and this room just looks uninspired. And perhaps a bit dated.

This is more my speed:
I

So. Mocha Mousse? Perfectly adequate. MY browns in 2025 will be deeper, richer, and infinitely more interesting.
Annie Elliott Design is now considering projects for spring. If a joyful home — including or excluding Mocha Mousse — is on your must-have list for 2025, please contact us.