Close those “in” and “out” lists, everybody. January 2025 is here and in just one week the menswear aficionados will descend on the showrooms of Europe to find out what’s actually in and out in fashion. After taking notes at Pitti Uomo, starting 11 January, they’ll train it north to a pared down Milan menswear week with Prada, Magliano, Giorgio Armani and a Gerrit Jacob party we just heard about. Then they’ll hop on that Air France flight from Linate to tackle Paris’s heavy hitter-heavy schedule. Then, after seven days of shows from Louis Vuitton, Rick Owens, Lemaire, Saint Laurent and Willy Chavarría’s Parisian debut, journalists will swoosh right into the drama of couture, where Alessandro Michele will make his haute couture debut at Valentino and Peter Copping will make an off-calendar debut at Lanvin. There’s lots of fashion coming your way — all before January is out.
But will 2025 bring any different kind of fashion than the wham-bam moments that defined 2024?
Instead of new year, new you, the fashion industry has been working off a “same you” playbook since about 2015, shuffling the same creative directors around high profile jobs and sticking to the same routine of meme-able accessories and viral runway shows to drive sales and interest. Even the global COVID shutdowns, which birthed not one, but two very well-signed decrees from fashion dignitaries, didn’t actually change much about where fashion happens, how it communicates, or the values it prizes.
In a strange way, fashion itself has fallen out of fashion. The boom times of the 2010s –when streaming fashion shows, social media discourse, and runway stunts were at an all time high – felt like an era that placed fashion at the fore of culture, leading conversations that rippled through the worlds of celebrity, media, technology and art. Fashion shows like Alessandro Michele’s quiet quirkdom at Gucci in 2014, Kanye West’s Yeezy season 1 later that year, Demna’s Balenciaga Bernie merch for fall 2017, Virgil Abloh’s rainbow road at Louis Vuitton in in 2018 that created a new paradigm for the industry: Through these multi-media runway spectacles-turned-cultural events, fashion became the lingua franca of the young, stylish and chronically online. The fashion industry, still a semi-niche pursuit, was suddenly dominating global conversation. You could see luxury Belgian janties on CNN and hear about Raf Simons on Spotify. Fashion wasn’t just for people at Soho House anymore.
Our editor-in-chief Thom Bettridge coined a term for this as it reached a climax with Balenciaga’s The Simpson’s 2021 show: merchtainment. Brands have been marketing themselves way ever since, creating easily recognisable vibes, like starter packs, for their consumers to buy into. (There’s a reason every ad campaign you have seen is full of “characters” – easier to market to everyone, whether you like rugby or Rosemary’s Baby.) That’s cool and fun, but in 2025, it’s starting to feel like merchtainment has given up the “merch” and just become memetainment, with an overload of in-jokes, referential and self-referential content, and narratives around a brand drowning out anything the brand actually makes or sells.
Hear me out: Maybe there’s something fashion can actually learn from dupe culture. The most oft-duped items of 2024 – the “Wirkin,” The Row’s jelly sandals and Margeaux bag, the Balenciaga Rodeo bag, even Uggs – prove consumers actually care about Product. The same goes for the influx of Substack shopping newsletters; fashion lovers will actually pay to learn exactly which brooch conveys the ‘ladies who luncheon’ spirit the most, which under $200 barrel-leg jean is most flattering, and which artisanal bauble is made with the most care and attention. It’s not all vibes and identities to be traded online; the pendulum is swinging back to stuff being the story.
Here, a look back at the most interesting garments designed in 2024 and what they mean for fashion in 2025.
All-In’s Reworked Pop Girl Lingerie
It’s not just the Charli xcx stamp of approval. Even before Brat, All-In had every stylist I know in a chokehold over their wide-throat, teensy-heeled boots. With a larger production run on their expertly crafted lingerie pieces, creative directors Bror August Vestbø and Benjamin Barron have translated vintage and boudoir obsessions into something purchasable online.
Phoebe Philo’s Blouson Leather Jacket
Every hot girl you know is wearing a bubble or belted leather jacket because Phoebe said so. While there are good contenders from other brands, Philo’s take on an 80s silhouette feels the most modern because it’s not totally loyal to the retro shape. Instead of shoulderpads, the shoulders swoop into the arms, the pleating is softened, and there’s still a slightly unsexy spirit to the hulky mass of it all.
Craig Green’s Multi-Material Moto Jackets
Simply un-dupe-able, incredibly freaky, and fabulous. Craig Green appears like Batman in Gotham; when we need him most he stages a fashion show and continues to reimagine the limits of what clothing can be. That Green exists slightly outside the fashion systems, but hasn’t lost his optimism also makes his work stand out as a model for how designers can be true designers while still finding ways to stay in business.
Loewe’s Feather Tees
There’s plenty of drool-worthy craft on the Loewe catwalks, but the band tees of Bach made in feathers exist at the nexus of cerebral and kooky that Jonathan Anderson constantly fingers at. A model for how a luxury brand can continue to push the limits of viable, salable design items, Anderson’s Loewe could be on this list thrice over.
Willy Chavarría’s Peaked-Shoulder Jackets
The menswear revolution of 2025 might be the revenge of the “noodle boys,” but it might also just be men embracing their sensuality. (See visible chests, exposed hipbones, and sinuous jewellery.) Willy Chavarría made the definitive hot guy silhouette of 2024: a blazer with peaked shoulders and slightly nipped waists worn by Colman Domingo, Omar Apollo and Chavarría himself with panache. It’s an evolution from 2023’s Fear of God Big Suit, and a shape that will surely impact how men dress this year.
Maison Margiela’s Second-Skin Couture
Worn by Ariana Grande and Björk, the rainbow-hued, filmy Maison Margiela dress took the naked dress and made it magical. As an exhibition detailing the making of Maison Margiela’s only runway show of 2024 showed, Galliano works with a ton of references, but on the runway the clothes never felt overly referential. A modern kind of beauty is what 2025 should be about – not just pandering to the past. This is a smart step in a right direction, mirkin and all.
Alaïa’s Dreamy Athleisure
Subtlety, comfort and beauty are the calling cards of Pieter Mulier’s Alaïa. For a collection presented at The Guggenheim Museum, Mulier flexed his design muscle to create dozens of pieces that mixed the sportiness of leggings, bralettes and puffer coats with the elegance and sexiness of Alaïa. No piece was quite as exquisite as this pillowy, cashmere skirt in pale pink. Stuffed like a duvet, it has the lightness of Alo Yoga with the chicness of a heritage French brand.
Jeans? Jeans!
The greatest design innovation happening in denim? It’s 2009 all over again (complimentary). The most interesting design innovations happening below the waist are happened to jeans in 2024. Kiko Kostadinov’s pleated-knee Levi’s for men were swiftly followed by the womenswear arm of the brand (helmed by designers Deanna and Laura Fanning) offering a brown denim three-piece suit trimmed in faux shearling. Raimundo Langlois’s ultra-ultra-low rise jeans brought back the sexiness of naughties denim, while Re/Done’s Mel Jeans proved that a perfect pant looks good on every body. The most exciting jeans prized fit over flair, tailoring waists, knees and hems to perfection rather than adding any bells and whistles.
Comme des Garçons’s Shelter Dress
The boom time of fash-tainment coincided with fashion taking a political stance. Despite politics getting more fraught with every passing day, design has gotten strangely apolitical since 2020. The rare designer brave enough to say something (while famously speaking very little) is Comme des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo, whose Spring 2025 Comme des Garçons show poignantly broached topics like violence against women and the unhoused and migrant populations around the world. What makes Kawakubo such a beacon is that she never compromises design in favour of a message, instead choosing to harmonise the evil of the world with the beauty of her vision in her work.
Honorable mention: Prada and Bottega Veneta’s Spring 2025 Runway Collections
OK, so it’s not one garment, but rather a full cast of clothes that work together not because of a theme but because of the intention of the designers who made them – and the people who will wear them. Individuality over uniformity, style over fashion, taste over trends… when two of the most forward-thinking brands are thinking about the vastness of a wardrobe, all signs point to clothes being back.