8 2025 Fashion Trends To Help Channel Your Main Character Energy

2024 may’ve seen the first inklings of a pivot from quiet luxury to a more ostentatious, loud aesthetic, but 2025’s biggest fashion forecasts will blare the volume to maximum capacity. Gone are the days of minimalist, sophisticated neutrals and “very demure, very mindful” ensembles. The trends that will dominate the next year are maximalist and flamboyant and practically guarantee that those who embrace them will be the main characters in everyone’s stories.

Colorful prints are back, particularly ’70s-inspired retro patterns. Think: psychedelic swirls, graphic patterns, and once-cheugy paisleys. If it’s not a chaotic print, it’s chaotic styling, with layers upon layers entering the fold once again. Sartorial nostalgia extends well into the ’80s with eclectic and gauche pairings, like ruffly tulle skirts, color blocking, and kooky silhouettes.

In the new year, boldness won’t just be a visual technique, it’ll be an attitude. For instance, lingerie will continue to be an outfit’s focal point — only, instead of bras, panties, and whale-tail thong straps, a wider selection of intimates will be thrown in the mix. Consider camisoles à la Zoë Kravitz, babydoll dresses like Sabrina Carpenter, and bandeau bras as tops, a Kim Kardashian favorite.

Ahead, see these and more trends to be on the lookout for come January so you can get a head start on a chic new wardrobe.

Similarly to the early aughts, when layering clothes meant stacking multiple lace-trimmed tank tops, 2025 will see a return to piling on the layers. The major difference is that the contemporary update will be a lot less frumpy and a lot more tailored.

The Spring/Summer 2025 runways provided a range of styling techniques to try. The easiest way into the trend would be à la Rabanne with a stack of basics in extremely similar patterns. Coperni’s runway mixed pieces that wouldn’t traditionally go together, while Miu Miu’s catwalk saw models wear multiple pieces in innovative configurations, including cinching a sweater cinched around a tube top atop a tank.

There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to this trend. You can wear as many of the same pieces as you wish, as long as you style them differently. Take Rihanna, for example, who wore two jackets in one look: one styled traditionally; the other wrapped around her waist for added dimension. Your permutations are unlimited.

2024 was all about TikTok’s “wrong shoe theory,” a styling hack that posits one should wear shoes that don’t match one’s outfit aesthetically. Come 2025, it’s the “wrong jacket theory” all the way, with sporty jackets over cocktail dresses taking center stage.

The styling hack was majorly employed in Spring/Summer 2025 runways. Burberry and Rabanne went the monochromatic route, where bedazzled dresses were balanced out by oversized anoraks. Meanwhile, Chloe, Prada, and the Attico all had dresses paired with a contrasting vivid jacket. Even Bella Hadid has cosigned the trend.

Following the dawn of the no-pants trend, the biggest style stars will be eschewing a different item of clothing: tops. And their naked item of choice? Bandeau bras. Kim Kardashian and Zendaya are the trend’s leading ambassadors, often rocking the tiniest strips of fabric.

Pair the style with tailored trousers à la Sportmax, Prada, and Grace Ling’s models, or consider the billowy skirt-pairing route like in Alaïa and Stella McCartney’s shows. Plus, you probably already have one lying around in your closet, so no extra monetary investment is necessary.

Color is so back, even when it’s muted. And the biggest color trend? Pairing at least two delectable pastels together. Ombré pieces in aqueous fabrics brightened up the Spring/Summer 2025 catwalks of Chanel, Bach Mai, Coperni, and Versace.

The no-brainer guide to this trend is shopping for pieces that already infuse multiple sorbet tones. A DIY cheat, however, is color-blocking. Do like BLACKPINK’s Jennie Kim and pair a sky blue sweater with the itty-bittiest green undies.

The fashion industry just gave your grandma’s kitschy floral wallpaper its coveted seal of approval. A spinoff of cottagecore, the hazy pastel flowers typically seen on interior decor cross-pollinated into the buzziest fashion runways — Chloe, Loewe, and Bally among them.

Though they resemble kooky decorative paper, that’s where the similarities stop. In strapless sculptural masterpieces or tailored suits at Rabanne, these modern silhouettes are far from drab. That’s why budding style stars Greta Lee and Ayo Edibiri have an affinity for the look. It’s nostalgic and romantic, but also potentially whimsical. Grandmacore is upon us.

Thanks to fashion’s most daring, who practically wear lingerie as outerwear, the line between the boudoir and the public is all but blurred. Sabrina Carpenter, the Kardashians, and Sydney Sweeney, for example, have all but normalized wearing corsets, bustiers, and babydoll dresses to all sorts of events.

While previous seasons have focused on bras and thongs, designers are wrangling the entire contents of one’s lingerie drawer. Apart from the usual underwear at Nensi Dojaka and GCDS, Simone Rocha debuted spicy babydolls, while Valentino sent models down runways in lacy silk sleepwear. Dip your toe into the trend by copying Zoë Kravitz’s sleepwear-inspired co-ords. Or, if you’re feeling extra frisky, channel Carpenter and wear babydoll dresses everywhere.

Styles from decades past will make a glorious comeback including retro patterns from the ’70s. Graphic prints in earth tones (see: browns, mustards, oranges, and greens) will keep your looks hella groovy as seen on the runways of Gucci, Ahluwalia, and Miu Miu.

The most recognizable and beginner-friendly print is the formerly cheugy paisley. The swirls have been embraced by Beyoncé, Emily Ratajkowksi, and, most recently, Cynthia Erivo. The design has also cropped up at multiple shows including Valentino, Etro, and Leonard Paris, ensuring the pattern’s hold in 2025. Pro tip: Consider one in a sheer fabric or plunging neckline for it to feel extra modern.

The ’70s aren’t the only decade worth looking to; the fashion industry also has a hankering for the ’80s — particularly, Madonna’s heyday circa “Material Girl.” Like the queen of pop’s most popular era, the trend dabbles in pops of color, ruffles, and ultra-poofy silhouettes. Bach Mai, Saint Laurent, and Ganni went the flouncy skirt route, while Richard Quinn went the color-popping puffy sleeve path. Regardless, they’re all bold and showstopping, like the queen of pop herself.

One of the most recent examples is Ariana Grande, who, during Wicked’s highly-talked-about promo tour, rocked a balloon-like dress that could’ve been plucked straight out of Madonna’s music video.