What Will The Future of Fashion Look Like?

Fashionista is all about the future of fashion: the people, trends and industry shifts we believe will go on to define it. Fashionista is also a place where future leaders begin their careers — in an industry that’s not easy to break into. The Fashionista Future Self series is dedicated to those of us still working to achieve our goals.

In some exciting news, it will culminate in the launch of our first-ever, limited-edition product collaboration with Bluboho: two pieces of jewelry you’ll be able to wear forever, that will serve as a tangible link to your future self. Coming Oct. 22. (Pre-order the moonstone charm bracelet here and envelope charm here.)

The Spring 2025 season of Fashion Month left us dreaming about a boho resurgence and a flood of asymmetrical hems. But September’s runway marathon didn’t just give us style inspiration — it also outlined the industry’s possible next steps.

Sure, we don’t have a crystal ball at our fingertips, but we’ve got some well-informed thoughts on what fashion’s future may hold as we get closer to a new year. Amid waning size inclusivity, the Spring 2025 runways increasingly combined entertainment with fashion and spotlighted a rise in unexpected brand collaborations. Creative director shakeups continue to dominate industry discourse (most recently with Kim Jones exiting Fendi). With high-ranking positions open and fervent speculation as to where some designers will end up, this year’s game of designer musical chairs is sure to continue into 2025.

Below, we’ve rounded up our predictions for what’s next in the industry, including the strongest style trends, the creative director appointments and exits to watch, luxury fashion’s continued expansion into beauty, an influx of entertainment crossovers and puzzling collaborations, a growing appetite for fresh talent and more.

Trends That Will Shape How We Dress

Bubble and asymmetrical hems
The early-aughts trend of bubble hems was strong across all cities, particularly in London on the runways of Simone Rocha, Erdem, JW Anderson and more. They could be found on pleated mini skirts, satin balloon pants and even peplums. Asymmetrical hems, including handkerchief styles, high-low skirts and peekaboo leg slits, were also omnipresent, suggesting that even, straight hemlines are a thing of the past.

Leather (& leather alternative) jackets
A more tailored take on leather (and leather alternative) jackets were all over the Spring 2025 runways. Instead of rugged, vintage-looking motorcycle styles, we saw refined, perfectly fitted button-up jackets, oversized structured blazer silhouettes and more uniquely stylish takes on the classic wardrobe staple — all of which have wide appeal.

Imperfect, individualistic styling and “defective” designs
Designers like Acne, Balenciaga, Peter Do and Victoria Beckham incorporated intentional “defects” into several runway looks this season, preparing us all for a very confusing fitting room experience come Spring 2025. Examples include collars on button-down shirts extending past the shoulder to become a makeshift sleeve, blazers with missing halves altogether and skirts that look like folded-down blouses, using the hanging unused sleeves for accents rather than their typically functional purpose. A similarly unique effect was achieved through layered, oddball styling at shows like Prada, Miu Miu, Bottega Veneta, Valentino and Chopova Lowena, suggesting the rise of a DIY, individualistic, Carrie Bradshaw-esque approach to getting dressed that feels in opposition to quiet luxury.

Double waistbands and peekaboo undies
Reminiscent of ’90s rappers and several iconic Calvin Klein campaigns, double waistbands and peekaboo panties were all over the Spring 2025 runways. Rather than boxers, briefs and G-strings styled poking out from under trousers, skirts and other bottoms, the effect was often stitched in, making the illusion a permanent piece of each look.

Designer Musical Chairs Continues

Photos: Getty Images

All year, there’s been an ongoing industry-wide game of creative director musical chairs. And based on floating rumors and insider knowledge, these high-profile design switch-ups are bound to continue in the coming year.

To recap: Givenchy tapped Sarah Burton; Alessandro Michele joined Valentino, Haider Ackermann replaced Peter Hawkings at Tom Ford; Peter Copping took the reins at Lanvin; Michael Rider succeeded Hedi Slimane at Celine; David Koma now helms Blumarine and Alberta Ferretti hired Lorenzo Serafini. But there are plenty of vacancies — and rumored looming exits — that the industry is curiously eyeing: Chanel has yet to name Virginie Viard‘s replacement; Dries Van Noten hasn’t named one for its retired founder. There’s also Y/Project, where Glenn Martens stepped down; Jean Paul Gaultier, where Florence Tetier exited and, most recently, Fendi, which Kim Jones has exited.

There are also rumblings that John Galliano is leaving Maison Margiela and heading to Fendi — though others believe the Italian house has its eyes on Valentino’s former creative director, Pierpaolo Piccioli. Other whispers include Slimane and Simon Porte Jacquemus auditioning for Chanel and Jonathan Anderson leaving Loewe for Dior. Daniel Lee‘s status at Burberry is also a question mark in the wake of declining sales. (In a press conference in July, however, Burberry Chair Gerry Murphy said Lee isn’t leaving his role.) Some believe that Sabato de Sarno’s days are numbered at Gucci. 

It’s anyone’s guess as to which major fashion house will make a big personnel change next, but there’s clearly more news to come in 2025, along with valid concerns around why these brands continue to predominantly hire white men for these positions.

Runway Meets Beauty

If the Spring 2025 collections were any indication, big-name fashion labels are going to be particularly keen on expanding their beauty footprints in the year ahead. Take, for example, the Celine and Balmain offerings.

For Balmain’s runway show, creative director Olivier Rousteing highlighted the brand’s new cosmetics line and fragrances, drawing inspiration from the beauty range with rather literal translations appearing throughout the collection. He covered dresses in embroidered red nails and lips, created bags in the shape of Balmain perfume bottles and incorporated perfume bottles and lipstick tubes into shoes.

Per a statement from the designer at the time of the show, “There are several other designs that playfully reference the packaging, palette and powders of the house’s recently launched Balmain Beauty collection, including a final runway grouping, with a range of minimalist silk sheaths reflecting the multitude of tones within the Balmain Beauty palette. And it’s those last looks that spotlight what is, without any doubt, my favorite modern Balmain icon: the inspiring diversity of beauty that is constantly celebrated inside our inclusive Balmain Army.” Balmain Beauty, backed by Estée Lauder, officially launched in 2024, but is clearly poised to be a big focus for the company in the near future.

(Former) Celine Creative Director Hedi Slimane also used Spring 2025 collection as an unofficial beauty campaign, albeit more subtly. (The brand has expanded its fragrance collection in recent years, and is officially rolling out its color cosmetics range in October, the first in the house’s history.) Presenting the collection via a short film and imagery rather than on the runway, the house showed models wearing thick, inky black cat eyeliner (inspired by French singer and actor Juliette Gréco), which makeup artist Aaron De Mey created using Les Yeux Celine, an eyeliner from the new cosmetics range. Per the brand, the models also wore its new perfume Un Été Français, which was also the title of the film.

Another example of fashion’s growing fixation on beauty as a business expansion strategy is runway darling Bottega Veneta, which rolled out a new fragrance collection during Fashion Month. The first under current Creative Director Matthieu Blazy, the range is “rooted in house heritage” and “inspired by Bottega Veneta’s origin city of Venice, as well as the house’s signature leather weave, the Intrecciato,” per a press release. The five-SKU fragrance range has made waves on social media for its beautiful aesthetic glass bottles that sit atop green marble bases.

For fashion’s legacy houses that have built their brands on ready-to-wear and accessories, this intentional expansion into color cosmetics and fragrance — under the leadership and artistic guidance of the lauded designers who helm them — is clearly a trend we’re going to see gain traction well into 2025 and beyond.

Fashion and Entertainment Continue to Merge

As brands continue to view their runway shows more as marketing opportunities and less as insider industry events, entertainment has become a bigger priority. For Spring 2025, this showed up via: the CFDA‘s streaming partnership with Rockefeller Center; unconventional show formats like Rachel Antonoff and Susan Alexandra‘s dog show; runway theatrics at Collina Strada, Wiederhoeft and Harris Reed; Wu-Tang Clan performing at Tommy Hilfiger‘s show at the Staten Island Ferry; and, of course, Coperni‘s Disneyland Paris spectacle.

On top of packing their front rows with squads of celebrity ambassadors and muses, many brands also partnered with digital creators to produce TikTok-ready video content, often featuring interviews, that feels more like mainstream entertainment. See: Gucci x Amelia Dimoldenberg, Prada x Charli D’Amelio and Tory Burch x Liana Satenstein and Reece Feldman, to name a few. Outside of fashion month, we’re seeing brands like Marc Jacobs and Loewe produce more and more viral content with creators and celebs, a rise in sports partnerships like LVMH‘s recent F1 deal and the grand return of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, streaming on Amazon. Rest assured, the lines between fashion and entertainment will continue to blur as brands develop new ways to vie for our attention.

Strange Collabs Are on the Rise

Producing a runway show is a major expense for any fashion house; for independent designers, especially in today’s economic climate, sponsorships can be a deciding factor as to whether it’s even possible to participate in Fashion Week. Marquee sponsorships from massive car and beauty companies have dried up in recent years, so we’ve seen brands get a bit more…creative with brand partnerships, resulting in unexpected, seemingly incongruous runway collabs like Chopova Lowena x Hellman’s Mayonnaise, Kate Barton x Goldfish, Brandon Maxwell x Walmart, Luar x Amex, LaQuan Smith x Samsung and Sandy Liang x Android. 

This year has also brought us several surprising link-ups between designer darlings and fast-fashion companies. Whether you see these collabs as recession indicators or designers just exploring new avenues, you can expect them to continue — and perhaps get even weirder.

The Unfortunate Decline of Runway Inclusivity

After a few years of incremental improvement, progress around size diversity on runways has clearly stalled — per Vogue Business‘s reporting, 0.8% of Spring 2025 looks presented across New York, London Milan and Paris were plus size. (Milan continues to be the worst offender — only four designers cast at least one plus-size model.) Outside of brands (emerging ones, generally) already known for their inclusivity efforts, many designers cast straight-size models almost exclusively, affirming fears that diverse casting would be viewed as a trend that designers and casting directors would turn their backs on once the body positivity movement lost steam. (With a few exceptions, commitment to age and racial diversity has fared better.)

With widespread economic instability and slowdowns in luxury spending, one could also argue that brands are presently too focused on profits to put resources into inclusive casting and extended sizing. But with the rise of 2000s fashion trends and Ozempic, all of this fuels concerns that the industry is going back to celebrating extreme thinness as the standard of beauty — a dangerous message that will no doubt be internalized by aspiring models and consumers alike.

All Eyes on Indie Brands

The closures of beloved brands like Mara Hoffman, Calvin Luo and The Vampire’s Wife this year have brought to light how difficult it is right now for independent designers to thrive — or even survive. At Spring 2025 Fashion Month, while there were some names missing from the calendar, there were also a number of emerging brands who were able to generate real buzz and excitement with their (probably fairly low-budget) shows, like Hodakova, All-In, Diotima, Willy Chavarria and S.S. Daley. It’s still likely that more closures, pivots, acquisitions and (strange) collaborations are on the way, even though emerging designers and fresh talent are crucial to the industry’s creative future as they bring new perspectives and innovation (and an opportunity for legacy houses to hire outside the same five white men).

On the bright side, its also likely that this will all inspire powerful industry figures to find ways to provide promising up-and-comers with the support they need. A recent, unconventional example: In September, Self-Portrait launched a new residency program with Christopher Kane, whose business has been on pause since last year. The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund also brought back its Americans in Paris initiative. More of this in 2025, please.

Tune into the Fashionista Network to join the conversation with fashion and beauty industry leaders. Sign up here.

Source: Fashionista.com