Autumn Has Already Declared The Most Popular Shade Of The Season – And It’s Universally Flattering

Whatever your preference when it comes to percentage, dark chocolate shades are trending for autumn 2024, with delicious arrivals hitting the high street left, right and centre that means the outlook for the foreseeable is decidedly sweet.

M&S's new autumn drop contains a leather-look co-ord in dark chocolate that looks a lot more expensive than its combined price tag of £69. I'm also considering a pencil skirt for the first time in a long time because of a leather knee-length style in oxblood, which is actually deep red but has dark brown undertones that give it a chocolatey appearance (£149).

Arket is practically a chocolate factory this autumn, with a wealth of winter coats, knits, trousers and boots - my, the boots! - in the kind of brown that signifies a particularly refined palette when it comes to cocoa beans. (Milk? Nah you're alright). COS, Massimo Dutti and Reiss, who has cornered the market when it comes to dark chocolate biker jackets, also have plenty of options that will prove tempting.

Speaking of leather, the shade perhaps owes part of its success this season to another trending item: suede jackets, which have similarly taken over the high street with cult versions at Gant, Massimo Dutti and Soeur. The New York Fashion Week street stylers have been wearing (or trying to get their hands on) the chocolate version by Madewell x Alexa Chung, which comes with matching skirt in a hue described as 'dark roast'.

Elsewhere, A-listers have already cottoned onto chocolate. It's something of a perennial shade at Saint Laurent, whose sheer chocolate pencil skirts and lace-trim camisoles have been repped by Laura Harrier, Zoë Kravitz and Emily in Paris's Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, who wore the combination on the cover of this very magazine (hot chocolate indeed). Gigi Hadid's take was a chocolate knit jacket that brushed the upper thigh buttoned over a mini skirt and styled with mock-croc boots in - what else? - 70% cocoa. Cosy yet undeniably cool, it's the best way to up your chocolate intake this autumn.

Shop: The Best Chocolate Brown Pieces For Autumn 2024

Natalie Hammond is Grazia’s Senior Fashion News Editor. She loves winter, hates summer and can often be found writing about the weather (and what on earth to wear).