Happy Tuesday everyone! This week’s color is Gingerbread, a spiced brown with a subtle red undertone. Also perfect for my winter series, naturally.
Psychology
This shade signals comfort, tradition, reliability, and craft. The brown base feels sturdy, handmade, and tactile, while a subtle red undertone adds warmth and soft confidence that gives it warm presence.
History
Long before it became a holiday cookie, gingerbread was a symbolic and ceremonial food. In medieval Europe, it was made with honey and rare spices like ginger.
Because spices were expensive, gingerbread carried an air of luxury, ritual, and celebration, not everyday indulgence.
By the 15th and 16th centuries, gingerbread became more recognizable in form. And decorative, figure-shaped gingerbread gained popularity in European courts, most famously during the reign of Elizabeth I (fun fact, she’s credited with inventing the modern gingerbread man).
Over time, gingerbread became closely associated with winter traditions, folklore, and storytelling, especially in Northern Europe.
This is where the warmth of gingerbread cemented itself culturally to hearths, holidays, and handmade detail.
And through the years this nostalgic warm brown with a red undertone has continually resurfaced across all types of design whenever comfort and grounding is needed. Let’s talk about it!
Fashion
Hermès Spring 2026 Ready-to-Wear
The glossy reddish-brown leather in these three Hermès Spring 2026 pieces feels polished yet grounded, balancing heritage craftsmanship with a modern, sculptural tactility.
Brunello Cucinelli Spring 2026 Ready-to-Wear
And in these two Brunello Cucinelli’s Spring 2026 looks, the gingerbread shade in combination with the taupe tones feel soft and breathable. Natural materiality, ease, and understated warmth.
Interior Design
Huge fan of this color in interior design, especially through wood.
On which note, I had to — you can see that the reddish-brown does more than decorate this gorgeous winter ski lodge interior as it holds heat visually, amplifying firelight, softening shadows, and making the space feel lived-in.
And in these two interiors, gingerbread takes on a sleeker, more architectural role. Here, warm brown leather, wood-paneled walls, and deep cocoa accents replace ornament with material-driven impact.
Branding
Gingerbread tones appear most often in branding rooted in craft and material honesty, typically used by food, beauty, and heritage brands to signal warmth, authenticity, and tradition rather than trend.
Pantone® & More
If you’re interested in working with this shade, I’d go with “Ginger Bread” Pantone 18-1244 TCX. I’ve also included HEX, RGB and CMYK details below!
HEX: #8D4B2F
RGB: 141, 75, 47
CMYK: 0, 47, 67, 45
As always, thank you for reading! If you enjoyed reading, please give this post a like so I know what you guys want to see more of :)
Or tell me, which color should I feature next? See you next Tuesday!
I started out thinking I didn’t care for the color Gingerbread, but it’s actually quite nice when it’s used well!
As colors are one of my favorite things, I have quite a few favorites, but I would enjoy seeing a piece on Glaucous blue or periwinkle sometime! Whenever I see an aesthetic image in these colors, it looks so ethereal.