8 Trends from the Spring 2025 Collections
From über practical to "is it clothing?"
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In the TikTok era, fashion feels all over the place. It’s “cottagecore” one minute, “corporatecore” the next; diaper bottoms today, pirate pants tomorrow. I often wonder: is anything definitively not in style?
Judging by the spring 2025 collections, not really.
Our old friend stealth wealth was abundantly represented, noticeably in the form of staples like eighties power suits and modest shorts. But that painstaking commitment to Not Having a Look seems to finally be softening. Color is coming back, and not just brown. Tops have gone off the rails — but so have pants, to an extent. Designers have gone wild with wires, and completely sold me on wearing a parka with everything.
Let’s take a look at eight trends from the spring runways you’ll be seeing a lot more of, including the weird and the wearable. I’ll have coverage of the most important shoes from the spring 2025 shows soon, in collaboration with my friend, stylist Diana Tsui who writes A Concept Store here on Substack.
This is the only trend I’m laying mostly at Miu Miu’s feet. Miu Miu still has outsize influence on, well, influencers. But unlike that short skirt schoolgirl look, the layered tank we saw repeatedly in the spring 2025 show seems like the logical evolution to the crazy tying of sweaters popularized by Gen Z, Gen Alpha, and select celebs in paparazzi photos. It’s replicable, whether you can afford Miu Miu or not. And a couple of dangling waist sleeves are probably at least slightly more wearable than a skirt with the dimensions of a sweatband.
This feels like a nice alternative to the diaper bottoms and “lingerie as clothing” silliness1 we see on the runways all the time. Just practical, wearable bottoms. I’m not a long shorts owner yet, but spent some time looking at this trend (which has been percolating for a while now) on TikTok and feel sold. Carolina Herrera even went for an evening version, which would make a great red-carpet statement for a celeb. The masses would lose their minds over headlines about how “so and so stepped out in knee-length evening shorts.” I nominate Katie Holmes.
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We can’t ignore suits for a few reasons. One: people are spending more time in offices, which will demand more formality. Two: Kamala Harris. She’s been wearing suits by Chloé and Dior that aren’t trendy or too oversized — but they’re still stylish and of a modern, looser, bootleg cut. If she wins, the pantsuit will be The Look of the world’s most newsworthy woman, which will inevitably be reflected in fashion.
Will skants (skirt + pants) undergo mass adoption? It seems unlikely, but it also seems like something that could be a quick-hit core. Someone famous could theoretically wear one and cause a frenzy. Again, I nominate Katie Holmes.
Fashion has been drowning in brown and beige so it was nice to see unabashedly lovely pink on the runway this season. Minimalist bias here, but I liked how Khaite and Brandon Maxwell showed it in simple cuts without frills. Pink for a woman not to be messed with.
Are these tops? I’m going with no — they’re the idea of tops. The suggestion of tops. More like decoration for the torso, like ornaments on a Christmas tree.
This may be my favorite trend of the season. Get a gorgeous, sparkly evening dress, and then — fuck it! — throw your hiking jacket over top. Down with evening coats. Dress like you’re going to the ball then hopping a cruise to Antarctica.
This also feels unlikely to undergo mass adoption (I’m not a manufacturing expert, but this seems challenging to knock off). Using wire to create surreal or unique shapes was one of the coolest clothing innovations for spring 2025. I was not the biggest fan of the Prada show that had fashion people fainting in ecstasy this season, but the floating effect, made possible with structured hemlines, was pretty fantastic.
Which trends do you like best? Sound off in comments!
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I am not against lingerie inspirations — but it often shows up on runways in a terribly unwearable and literal (and therefore, uncreative) form.
Hi, is that really you plugging the serum? I mean, that is great if they pay you to do that, but do you really use it? And love it? It is super $$$. I love your choices of what is cool/wearable/relevant from the runway. I’m deeply inspired how to dress myself (especially with what I already have in my closet)
For actresses that would look good in some variation of the Skant, I nominate Letitia Wright, Jodie Turner-Smith, Rebecca Hall, or Rebecca Fergusson