Shop Your Closet and Curate a Brown Capsule Wardrobe Collection for Creating Fall/Winter Outfits

Dark chocolate brown is having a fashion moment for fall/winter 2025 and going into 2026, according to...well...everyone (e.g., You Look Fab, Bridgette Raes, InStyle, New York Times)! Even if you have a personal style that does not change dramatically with style trends, incorporating color trends into your outfits is an easy way to breathe fresh life into your outfits, add an element of currency to your looks, and participate in a fashion trend in your own way. Color trends are easy to shop for in your closet or thrift stores and can be adapted for any personal style.

While some color trends can be difficult for some people to find and/or wear (like butter yellow or chartreuse), chocolate brown is a friendlier, more versatile color that is everywhere right now. As a neutral, brown mixes and matches readily with other neutrals and accent colors, so brown pieces are unlikely to become closet orphans. The umbrella term "brown" or even "chocolate brown" spans an array of specific shades, varying in warm/neutral/cool undertones and light/medium/dark values, allowing everyone to pick a version that suits them (in terms of personal coloring, personality, or both).

If you'd like to participate in the brown trend for fall/winter, the first step is to shop your closet for brown items to create a collection that you can use for creating outfits. If you like to curate a full capsule wardrobe for the season, brown will be a player in your capsule's color palette and your brown pieces will go into the capsule (either as a core color or an accent color, depending on your preferences). But even if you like to create outfits from your entire closet, pulling together your brown pieces into a collection will make it easier for you to incorporate them into outfits. It would even make sense for many of us to physically put our brown items front and center in our closet so that we have them handy when getting dressed.

Here are 6 pieces of solid brown clothing I pulled from my wardrobe for my brown fall/winter collection. (A brown cardigan I ordered has finally been shipped and will be arriving shortly to round out this grouping.) Note that the shades of brown are not identical; I have found that these pieces mix and match just fine though.

Brown is a popular leather color so I do have a good amount of footwear (some leather, some not) in various shades of brown ranging from cognac to animal print to dark brown. I consider brown tones to be the deep version of my golden blonde hair, so I like wearing brown footwear in the cold seasons to ground my look and bookend my hair color.

Accessories are a great way to wear brown in smaller doses, and if you are wearing some brown clothing in your look, accessorizing with additional brown pieces can lend cohesion to the outfit. Since I make jewelry, I obviously have more brown earrings than any one person needs. Are you surprised that I don't have a brown scarf in this grouping? I kind of am, too! But I actually don't have a solid brown scarf (possibly the only neutral solid color not represented in my scarf collection!).

Don't forget to pull together your brown print garments/shoes as well! I don't have a lot of them, but even just one or two pieces can go a long way in creating stylish brown-based outfits. (You just saw the woodland critter T and the plaid shoes with the brown jeans in my SIA Autumn post.)

Of course any print scarves with brown in them will be very welcome in this collection, particularly as the weather gets colder. I have made up for my lack of a solid brown scarf with this baker's dozen of print scarves. Again, even one or two of them can be powerful in putting outfits together.

It's also a good idea to have any jewelry/other accessories that you like wearing with your brown pieces (especially your prints) at hand so you can more quickly finish off your outfits. Here I have shown a few of my brown prints from above with jewelry I have made to coordinate with them. The first two tops are displayed with their corresponding DIY layered necklaces, paper bead sets, and bead soup earrings. The skirt and dotted top are shown with the seed bead wrap necklaces and memory wire bracelets that they inspired me to make. You may not have jewelry targeted to specific items like I do, but if you know that you like a particular necklace with that brown leopard blouse or these shoes with your brown pinstriped trousers, go ahead and plan for that.

If you have a large wardrobe and/or consider brown one of your staple colors, you might have a rather massive collection like mine. But even if you only have a few pieces, now is the time to pull them front and center in your closet (and your mind).

In my next Brown for Fall/Winter post, I'll start sharing some color combinations and outfit examples.

Looking for some retail shopping recommendations for brown pieces? YouLookFab and The Vivienne Files have got you.

Are you a fan of the color brown for outfits? Do you have many, some, few, or no brown pieces in your wardrobe? Do you like any brown print items?

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