Blazer trends used to mean a new cut every season. This year the bigger shift is in colour and in what sits underneath — how a blazer behaves as a piece of outerwear rather than just tailoring for the office. Here's what's actually changed for autumn/winter '26, and how to wear it without it reading as a costume change.
The shift: fewer colours, worn more deliberately
The current trend for blazers isn't a single new shade so much as a narrower, more confident palette overall. Where a wardrobe might once have held a black blazer, a navy one and a grey one for slightly different occasions, the move now is toward one well-chosen colour doing more of that work — worn open over knitwear as often as it's buttoned over a shirt. That makes the choice of colour matter more than it used to, because the blazer is no longer background tailoring you barely notice.
The statement colour move
The clearest colour move this season is a single confident shade used as the whole outfit's statement, rather than head-to-toe colour. The Monroe Blazer carries this furthest with a red colourway built for exactly that role — worn with black, cream, denim or grey underneath so the jacket is the one thing doing the talking. The rule that keeps a strong colour wearable rather than costume-y: everything else in the outfit should be a neutral you'd wear alone, so the blazer reads as a decision and not an accident.
The neutral blazer, reconsidered
Not every wardrobe wants a red jacket, and the neutral blazer hasn't disappeared — it's just moved away from black and navy toward warmer, more textured options. Khaki and army green are doing what navy used to do: anchoring an outfit without flattening it. The Monroe Blazer's khaki colourway and The Solis Jacket in army green both sit in this space — structured enough for the office, relaxed enough that they don't look like they're trying. If you already own a black blazer, one of these is a more useful second jacket than a second black one.
Layering a blazer over knitwear
The other real change is how blazers get worn, not just what colour they come in — increasingly over a knit rather than a shirt, which changes the fit you should be buying. A blazer cut with shirt-level ease will strain across the back and shoulders the moment you add a sweater underneath; look for a few centimetres more room through the chest if layering is the plan. A slim, fine-gauge knit is the safest layer, since anything heavier fights the jacket's shoulder line — The Alpine Crewneck and The Bennett Sleeve are both built thin enough for it. We go deeper on choosing the sweater itself in our crewneck colour guide, which pairs naturally with this piece.
What to avoid with a colour blazer
A strong colour blazer fails for one of two reasons, and both are fixable before you buy. The first is doubling the colour elsewhere — a red bag or shoe pulling attention away from the jacket rather than supporting it, which turns one statement into a competition. The second is choosing a colour close to but not quite matching something else you already own, which reads as a clash rather than a pairing; if you're not certain two shades sit together, a true neutral is the safer choice underneath. Fit matters just as much as colour here: a blazer that's slightly loose reads relaxed in black or navy, but the same looseness on a red or khaki jacket reads unfinished, because the colour is already doing the work structure usually does.
Choosing between a blazer and a softer jacket
Structure is the real difference to weigh, more than colour or price. A blazer's shoulder is built and can't be altered — buy it for the shoulder fit first — which makes it the sharper choice for anything with a dress code attached. A softer shell like the Solis Jacket gives up that structure for ease of movement and a longer wear-anywhere range, from the office to the weekend, without ever looking dressed up. Neither replaces the other; most capsule wardrobes are better with one of each than two of one. Browse the full range in Women's Jackets, and if fit or fabric questions come up while you're deciding, our Style Answers page has the specifics on blazer fit and layering room.