February 25, 2026
So New York Fashion Week is behind us, and I saw ABSOLUTELY NONE of it… We’re not about fashion, we’re about personal style! But it’s always fun to see what colors Pantone chooses to highlight from the rainbow of things that are shown on the runway…
This year, if you like brown or green, you’re going to be happy!
With no further ado (because this post takes quite long enough as it is!) I share with you the anointed colors for next fall, with some suggestions for an accessory splurge. If you already have something in one or more of these colors in your stash, it might be time to build yourself a wee “accessory family” to liven up your neutrals..
Clover purple cashmere cardigan – Boden; opal and pink sapphire earrings – German Kabirski; bracelet – Karma & Luck; scarf – Jessie Zhao New York; evening bag – Simitri; sneakers – New Balance
Iced orchid heather cashmere sweater – L.L.Bean; earrings – Swarovski; brooch – Chanel Joan Elkayam; scarf – Artifact.; wire mesh bag – Brunna.Co; orchid flats – Franco Sarto
Cardigan – Seasalt Cornwall; earrings – The Pink Reef; bee brooch – Fable England; scarf – The Met Store; sneakers – Puma; woven tote bag – Madewell
Sweater – Hobbs London; earrings – Anthropologie; bracelets – Nordstrom; scarf – Emily Carter; bag – Old Trend; boots – Quince
Brown clove cashmere cardigan – Nordstrom; earrings – Joiana Jewelry; brooch – By Anthropologie; bag – Radley; scarf – Mango; driving loafers – J.Crew
August Peridot cardigan – J.Crew; earrings – Uchi & Soto; bracelet – Latelita; scarf – Emily Carter; velvet flats – Vibi Venezia; bag – Longchamp
chartreuse marl sweater – J.Crew; earrings – Anthropologie; calcite bracelet – Lexi Jewelry; scarf – Echo; flats – Naturalizer; bag – Oryany
Faded sage sweater – L.L.Bean; earrings – Anthropologie; small flower lapel pin – Brooklyn Brigade; cotton bandana – Squaïr; flats – Birdies; bag – Tumi
earrings –Auree Jewellery; smoky seaglass brushed cashmere sweater – J.Crew; brooch – The Met Store; silk neckerchief – Elizabetta; sneakers – Adidas; bag – Longchamp
Seaboard blue sweater – L.L.Bean; earrings – The Pink Reef; butterfly brooch – Fable England; cashmere scarf – Lost Pattern NYC; sneakers – Adidas; bag – Polo Ralph Lauren
If I were adding something to my wardrobe today, I’d be wicked tempted by those browns! Those of us with brown eyes can wear brown to good effect, I’m told.
Trends I’ve noticed in the shoe world – shoes with separate slots for your big toe – kind of like you were going to wear a thong sandal OVER your shoe. Jelly shoes. Mesh shoes – tons of them. Mary Janes – essentially ballet flats with a strap quite near your ankle, rather than mid-foot. Especially Mary Janes in velvet.
All that said, fully half of all of the shoes that I find when exploring the corners of the internet are what I call sneakers. Gym shoes. Athletic styles. After I saw half of the women in Paris in sneakers, I surrendered too.
Which tempts you, and which turns your stomach? And can you tell the difference between Acacia and Green Envy? And are you instantly unwilling to consider any color with “envy” in the name?
love,
Janice
p.s. Ten years ago, our wardrobe was navy and beige, accented with purple, bright blue, and bright green. Lots of options there!
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I have to say that any of these colors would absolutely spruce up your OG Common Wardrobe…or any wardrobe of neutrals, for that matter. It would provide a wardrobe pop that would look good with most basics.
Me? I’m not in love with any of them. The browns I could do….but I see these as a neutral too. The purples and greens just didn’t ‘hit’ for me and the blue is yummy, but is screaming Spring, rather than Fall.
Sometimes Pantone comes out with shades and I find them all yummy. Sometimes, not so much. For me, this was a miss, but I am positive this will speak to many women.
Love the Festival Fuchsia Collection. I do have issues with shades being somewhat color blind. To me some of these colors are indistinguishable. The scarves are just amazing.
Some of the colors ARE impossible to distinguish! Looking for beautiful things to match or to tone was… challenging, as always. But I really love these doing these posts.
love,
Janice
Yes, I can tell a difference between those two greens, both of which are too yellow for me to wear. I love Festival Fuchsia, Foxglove, Burnt Olive (really? it’s sage!), Neptune Green, and All Aboard blue. That butterfly brooch from The Met is stunning!
Yes! I looked at that and said, ‘That’s sage!’ too….
Interesting that these are so… colorful. Not what I think of for Fall/Winter! But anything that makes more peridot & sage available is a win for me. 😊 Interestingly, on my screen when I look at the Pantone site, the color values come out quite differently – acacia is a citrus/lime with a lot of yellow, and green envy is a muddier peridot. Burnt olive is more a traditional dark olive. Ah, reality screened!
Will be interesting to see what turns up in the stores, and I adore looking at your accessory collections, in any color!
Janice,
Oh good ! I need to replace some of my worn out browns ! I’ve been waiting for their return to the marketplace ! It frustrates me that we “ Warmies” often have to wait years for our colors to be featured, while black is ubiquitous always ! I’m getting too old to have to do waiting !
I’m with Shrebee about browns. I’ve been able to build a pretty decent base of browns and tans in the last 3 years, but it shouldn’t be this hard. The ladies ar my local Talbots tell me the browns fly out the door when they’re in stock.
As for the rest of the colors? Meh. Anything dusty or faded can go home with someone else. I can hope that a more saturated version of that blue shows up. A pretty bright, clear blue turns out to be a pretty good neutral in my closet. I like it with coral, flamingo pink, red, better yellow, apple green, cream, Kerry green, tangerine.
These colors me don’t do much for me, although the “accessory splurges” Janice put together make them more attractive. The Pantone page shows both these “Top 10 Standout Colors” and five “Seasonless Shades” aka neutrals which are more appealing. Here’s the link:
https://www.pantone.com/articles/fashion-color-trend-report/new-york-fashion-week-autumn-winter-2026-2027
Ditto that the scarves are really beautiful! None of these colors really speak to me, maybe the fuchsia and Foxwood and all aboard but I wouldn’t run right out and buy something in any of these colors. like you, Janice I have very brown eyes, but I haven’t worn anything brown since I was a freshman in college and let me assure you that was a very long time ago. Well, maybe taupe. What I wish for is many more shades of gray.
I like every single one of these colors! Thanks so much for the post.
My favorite is Red Mahogany, followed closely by Arabian Spice. However, the only one here that I’m sure I could wear next to my face is All Aboard. I’ve never worn anything close to Neptune Green, but now that I’ve seen it I’m very interested. I think I’ll try earrings, a scarf, or a tank top in that color and see if it works. I’d love to add a French Five in that beautiful green.
Funny – remember a while back we were talking about our best colors changing as we age? I have two tops in “Festival Fuchsia” that used to look great, but now all of a sudden they don’t. Either I’ve washed them so often they’ve faded, or the AHA toner I recently started using has subtly altered my skin tone.
I just looked at the Pantone site after several of you mentioned how different the colors are there. On the Pantone site, I like Arabian Spice best of all, don’t like Red Mahogany any more, love Burnt Olive, don’t care for Neptune Green (looks like my old Girl Scout uniform from the 1960s), and think only All Aboard looks the same there as it looks here.
Green envy & acacia don’t look the same on the Pantone site as they do here. Judging from your photos I’d go with green envy from Pantone site I’d choose acacia. I love the cornflower blue and the fuchsia but again not what I ( or a fuchsia plant) would call that shade!
Your selection of accessories is lovely regardless of Pantone!!
I try to match the Pantone RGB indicators, which in theory would give me exactly the same colors. HA!!! This is something that computers don’t do well, in my humble opinion!
love,
Janice
As someone with autumn coloring I’m here for brown and green. As to ‘envy’ that’s more Kelly or emerald-not chartreuse/lime I think.
Y’all can have the All aboard and that yellow if I can hog the olive and sage.
My first though was some of these are incredibly similar. As I go gray and lose contrast I’m finding I prefer less jewel tones and more grayed/browned tints. And prefer to wear my darker ‘autumn’ colors year round
I have to say that I do like ALL of these colors, albeit some are definitely hard to distiguinsh between. Having been drawn to muted colors forever, these appeal to me as most are muted. I could do some damage shopping this post today!
Neptune Green and All Aboard are lovely. I can see building a summer seaside wardrobe based on those with white as a neutral.
A lot here. I have decided I have plenty of clothes and am going to concentrate on accessories. I’ll play along. Favorite color, All aboard. Least favorite colors, the yellow greens (pretty scarves, though). Capsule I would be most likely to wear, Red Mahogany. Capsule I would be least likely to wear, Fuchia.
Foxglove and fuchsia are what I am most drawn to. They resemble colors I have really slowly been adding to my blue wardrobe. But, I am truly gobsmacked by how much I absolutely love each and every one of the brown family accessories. I think the brooches are particularly captivating!
I like mahogany, burnt olive, and Neptune green the most.
You’ve chosen some very pretty pieces.