Okay, so I need everyone to stop talking about chocolate brown for one second. I know, I know, it’s been THE color of the fall season according to literally every trend piece out there (mine included, if I’m being honest). But Elizabeth Banks just stepped out in a look that made me sit up and go “wait, that’s actually better,” and I don’t say that lightly.

The Look That Changed My Mind

Banks wore a rich, wine-colored mockneck sweater tucked into a leather midi skirt in the exact same deep burgundy shade. Head to toe. No breaking it up with a neutral bag or a pop of color. Just burgundy on burgundy on burgundy, and somehow it didn’t read as “I got dressed in the dark.” It read as intentional. Polished. A little bit rich-mom-energy, if we’re being real about it.

And look, I get why chocolate brown took off. It’s warm, it’s easy, it goes with everything. But it’s also… kind of boring? There, I said it. Burgundy does everything brown does in terms of being a “neutral” you can build a whole outfit around, but it comes with this built-in moodiness that brown just doesn’t have. It’s the difference between a color that whispers and one that murmurs something a little more interesting.

Why Monochrome Actually Works Here

Here’s the thing about wearing one color top to bottom – it only works if the shade has enough depth to it. Burgundy has that. It shifts depending on the fabric, the lighting, whether it’s matte leather or a slightly fuzzy knit. Banks leaned into that texture play instead of fighting it, and that’s honestly the whole trick. You’re not matching, you’re layering variations of the same mood.

So Is This Actually a Trend, or Just… Elizabeth Banks Having Good Taste?

Fair question. Celebrities wear one nice outfit and suddenly it’s a “moment” – we’ve all seen that cycle play out a hundred times. But burgundy’s been creeping up all season. It’s shown up on runways, in street style shots, on basically every fall color forecast that isn’t just repeating “chocolate brown” on loop. This look just happened to be the one that made it click for me.

“Burgundy is the luxe-looking fall color that feels like a neutral, but with a twist.”

That’s basically the whole pitch, and it’s true. It reads expensive without trying. It works with black, with camel, with denim, with gold jewelry, with basically anything you already own. That’s the appeal of a good neutral in the first place – it plays well with others – and burgundy just happens to do it while looking a little more expensive than your average tan sweater.

The Part Where I Tell You You Don’t Need to Spend a Lot

Now, Banks’ actual outfit is probably not cheap. It never is. But the beauty of a mockneck sweater in a good color is that you genuinely do not need designer prices to pull this off. We found a similar mockneck on Amazon – the Auselily Mock Turtleneck – for $23. Twenty-three dollars. That’s less than what most people spend on a coffee habit in a week, and it gets you 80% of the look.

Not gonna lie, this is the part of these stories I actually love writing. Everyone can screenshot a celebrity outfit and sigh about their budget, but when there’s a real, wearable, under-$25 version sitting right there on Amazon? That’s the stuff worth sharing. Pair it with anything dark – leather leggings, a denim skirt, even black trousers – and tuck it in the way Banks did. Tucking matters here, by the way. It’s what makes the whole thing look put-together instead of like you just threw on a sweater.

What This Actually Means

I think burgundy is going to be everywhere by November, and I say that as someone who’s watched this exact pattern play out with olive green, with rust, with basically every “surprise” fall color that ends up flooding every mall by Halloween. It’s got the neutral-adjacent flexibility people want, plus just enough personality to feel like an actual choice rather than a default.

So keep the chocolate brown if you love it, I’m not the color police. But if you’re standing in front of your closet feeling a little uninspired this fall… maybe reach for the wine-colored sweater instead. Elizabeth Banks might be onto something here, and for once, it’s something you can actually afford to copy.