Fashion month has officially come to a close for the spring/summer 2025 season with the end of Paris Fashion Week—the last chapter in the four-city fashion month tour. This season, I had the opportunity to attend PFW so was able to see the shows in person, chat with attendees to unpack the buzziest moments on and off the runway, and see the most noteworthy looks and trends that are set to shape the direction fashion will take next year.
With shakeups at some of the most major fashion houses, there have been some big changes at the top that are shaping where fashion is headed. Alessandro Michele presented his debut runway collection at Valentino which was one of the most anticipated shows of the week, while Chemena Kamali showcased her sophomore collection at Chloé. There are also more changes to come, which had everyone talking as showgoers awaited rumored announcements. Some of those arrived at the tail end of fashion week, including news that Hedi Slimane is stepping down from Celine and Michael Rider—the former Creative Director of Polo Ralph Lauren—will be taking the helm at the French fashion house. Everyone was eager to hear news about who would be moving into the open Creative Director role at Chanel, but no appointments have been confirmed yet.
What we do know is the direction fashion will be taking in 2025, or at least a glimpse of where it is aimed. The mood of the week was all about bringing back personal style and individuality and a sense of opulence back to fashion—a swing to the other side of the spectrum from quiet luxury and hyper-minimalism that has been dominating fashion. There was also a sense of joy and fantasy and lightness that has been missing from fashion in recent years that returned in full force, and is only set to grow as new creatives bring their perspectives to heritage houses. Ahead, more on the biggest spring/summer 2025 trends to know from Paris Fashion Week, and where style will go next year.
One thing is clear: 2025 will be all about individuality and the return of personal style, which stood out at Prada in Milan and carried through in Paris at brands such as Dries Van Noten and Valentino. For his debut runway show at Valentino, Alessandro Michele presented a maximal, more is more collection that was eccentric, opulent, and focused on looks that varied from model to model. In one, you might find a bourgeois polka dot blazer paired with a large sun hat and trousers. In another, a printed jacket and ruffled satin skirt styled with a fluffy stole, lace tights, and a beanie in a nod to new bohemian style. While the pieces in the collection were all a tribute to the Valentino archives, the styling suggested personal ways to wear them that brought a sense of individuality to the forefront of the fashion conversation. Expect pieces like pillbox hats, colorful skirts, and conversation-starting jackets incorporated into looks, or perhaps even worn together all at once.
The idea of this season's soft power dressing became crystal clear in Milan at Bottega Veneta, where powerful suiting was reimagined in relaxed silhouettes that at once felt strong, yet sophisticated and elevated—a sense of soft power dressing with a feminine-meets-masculine take on working girl style. This almost immediately picked up again at Paris Fashion Week, when Saint Laurent closed out the first day of shows with a strong collection showing looks styled with oversize tailored suiting worn with ties, thick-rimmed optical glasses, and big leather aviator jackets thrown on top. Stella McCartney, too, had an almost romantic take on suiting that infused draped skirts with blazers and trench coats. Loewe hammered this home, even tapping into a similar color palette of soft dove grey and chocolate brown.
Think pink! At least, that is most certainly what designers are thinking about when it comes to colors for spring. Throughout the past few seasons we've seen the major color trends focus on red, then burgundy, and now we'll be moving into shades of pink. The trends are truly spanning the spectrum of the red color family. We saw the powder pink trend take off in New York, where brands including Khaite and Alaïa endorsed the frothy, light colorway. In Paris, we saw these same hues prevail, as well as bolder shades of fuchsia that were dominant on the Hermès runway.
Elegance has one of the biggest fashion buzzwords of 2024. The return of pieces such as A-line skirts, bouclé jackets, pillbox hats, and elbow-length leather gloves has ushered in a nostalgic sense of elevated and sophisticated dressing that has inspired even the coolest insiders of the downtown fashion set. While I thought this sense of elegant fashion had already reached its heights, the latest collections from brands including Celine, Valentino, and Carven prove otherwise. It's a very bourgeois, very uptown take on fashion that is resonating in a major way and set to continue forward for spring.
Minimalism has been at the forefront of fashion for seasons and seasons. So much so that it's hard to trace back the origins of its dominance. Light, romantic, frothy pieces haven't been "cool" in a while but it seems that the tide is turning for spring/summer 2025. Florals have been reimagined in new forms, including voluminous hoop skirt dresses at Loewe and the sculptural tops and dresses at Victoria Beckham that almost appeared as if they were molded to the body. At Chloé, too, diaphanous chiffon gowns walked the runway in florals and solids alike, and had a clear romanticism to them.
Bring on the opulence. At least that is what designers are suggesting for fall, with collections that feel like they are the opposite of quiet luxury. Luxurious brocade jackets and jewel-toned ruffled skirts at Saint Laurent, heavily beaded metallic blazers and feathered dresses at McQueen, and puff-sleeved jackets at Louis Vuitton in bold prints all seem to suggest a return to a more-is-more approach to fashion centered around lavish textiles and risk-taking fashion choices. With all of the pared-back style that has dominated fashion in recent years, neutrals have become the standard and minimalistic style has become the uniform of choice, but why play it safe?
The return of lingerie dressing feels linked to the comeback of hyper-romantic style. One of the last major moments when boudoir dressing took hold of the fashion space collectively was spring 2016 when Phoebe Philo debuted lace-trimmed slip dresses in her collection for Chloé, and romance was a throughline in the fashion world. For the spring/summer 2025 collections we are seeing that make a return—at Balenciaga, looks with exposed bras, at Chloé there were almost nightgown-like pieces, and at Miu Miu we saw reimagined lingerie in dress forms.
We have been tracking the rise of sporty influences in fashion and it's safe to say that they are on the rise. It's hard to determine whether it's the impact of the recent Olympics or fashion's growing ties to the sports world or even the next iteration of streetwear on the runway, but the sporty impulse is present regardless of where it's coming from. The latest way that this is playing out is the rise of the nylon windbreaker on the runway. We saw a similar style in The Row's pre-fall 2024 collection, which went on to inspire editorials and land in the closet of Kendall Jenner. Now, new versions will influence the direction sporty style will take on and off of the runways for spring 2025.
