diff --git a/Documentation/pretty-formats.txt b/Documentation/pretty-formats.txt
index 0a8a948e6f..3d87d3edd5 100644
--- a/Documentation/pretty-formats.txt
+++ b/Documentation/pretty-formats.txt
@@ -124,6 +124,7 @@ The placeholders are:
 - '%Cgreen': switch color to green
 - '%Cblue': switch color to blue
 - '%Creset': reset color
+- '%C(...)': color specification, as described in color.branch.* config option
 - '%m': left, right or boundary mark
 - '%n': newline
 - '%x00': print a byte from a hex code
diff --git a/pretty.c b/pretty.c
index 343dca556c..b1b86202e1 100644
--- a/pretty.c
+++ b/pretty.c
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 #include "string-list.h"
 #include "mailmap.h"
 #include "log-tree.h"
+#include "color.h"
 
 static char *user_format;
 
@@ -554,6 +555,17 @@ static size_t format_commit_item(struct strbuf *sb, const char *placeholder,
 	/* these are independent of the commit */
 	switch (placeholder[0]) {
 	case 'C':
+		if (placeholder[1] == '(') {
+			const char *end = strchr(placeholder + 2, ')');
+			char color[COLOR_MAXLEN];
+			if (!end)
+				return 0;
+			color_parse_mem(placeholder + 2,
+					end - (placeholder + 2),
+					"--pretty format", color);
+			strbuf_addstr(sb, color);
+			return end - placeholder + 1;
+		}
 		if (!prefixcmp(placeholder + 1, "red")) {
 			strbuf_addstr(sb, "\033[31m");
 			return 4;
diff --git a/t/t6006-rev-list-format.sh b/t/t6006-rev-list-format.sh
index 86bf7e14ba..59d1f6283b 100755
--- a/t/t6006-rev-list-format.sh
+++ b/t/t6006-rev-list-format.sh
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ touch foo && git add foo && git commit -m "added foo" &&
 test_format() {
 	cat >expect.$1
 	test_expect_success "format $1" "
-git rev-list --pretty=format:$2 master >output.$1 &&
+git rev-list --pretty=format:'$2' master >output.$1 &&
 test_cmp expect.$1 output.$1
 "
 }
@@ -101,6 +101,13 @@ commit 86c75cfd708a0e5868dc876ed5b8bb66c80b4873
 foobarbazxyzzy
 EOF
 
+test_format advanced-colors '%C(red yellow bold)foo%C(reset)' <<'EOF'
+commit 131a310eb913d107dd3c09a65d1651175898735d
+foo
+commit 86c75cfd708a0e5868dc876ed5b8bb66c80b4873
+foo
+EOF
+
 cat >commit-msg <<'EOF'
 Test printing of complex bodies