Fall 2025’s Chicest Trends Are Maximalist In The Best Way

After years of quiet luxury and understated fashion taking center stage, Fall 2025’s biggest upcoming trends are proving to be the loudest they’ve ever been. And it’s about time.

Gone are the days of neutral tones and block colors. This season, it’s all about prints. Animal skins are still going strong, and no one species is leading the pack. Predatory felines, slithering snakes, and even chill, farmland cows are all equally on trend this season, sharing territory on runways and celebs’ closets alike.

This season, the spotlight is also fully focused on an unsung hero in the style department: Nana. Grandmacore, featuring granny’s favorites, will play a major role this fall. Polka dots, for example, the most retro of all patterns, are making a comeback in the clothing, swim, and accessory spaces. A-listers such as Kylie Jenner and Olivia Rodrigo are already having a “polka dot summer,” and the trend will transition well into fall. Wallpaper florals, another grandma-cosigned pattern typically seen in interior design, will also bloom on clothes this season.

All these and even more fun trends, color stories, and layering hacks ahead. Fall 2025 is the time for main character energy — embrace it and stand out.

When suiting first hit the style radar in 2024, celebs like Cynthia Erivo and Selena Gomez embraced the boxy tailored style. That said, the CEO-inspired ethos will only continue to grow come fall with a slight tweak: the season’s take on suiting will have a touch more femininity. Consider trading trousers for skirts with sheer elements or swapping boxy toppers for cinched waist blazers and button-downs, à la the runways of Calvin Klein and Balenciaga, respectively.

If you’re still enjoying the thrill of the pantsuit, by all means, continue to strut in them — just try incorporating romantic touches. Add soft elements like a silk blouse or necktie, or pin a boutonniere onto your power suit like Cynthia Erivo. It’s the perfect balance of masculine and feminine.

If plaid brings back memories (or, let’s be honest, PTSD) of school halls, SATs, and queen bees, don’t worry. Fall 2025’s take on the checked pattern is far from academic.

Designers have been elevating the style on runways, adding innovative dimension to the rigid print. Dries Van Noten and Comme des Garçons, for example, sent models down runways in voluminous, draped plaid confections, while the likes of Anna Sui and Miu Miu both injected vibrant hues into the typically drab style.

Naturally, fashion’s finest also started taking a liking to plaid. Sydney Sweeney gave it a grown-up take in a pantsuit (with a matching necktie), while Taylor Swift embraced the pattern in spicy corsetry with interesting curves. Trust me: this isn’t your schoolgirl uniform of yore.

It was only a matter of time before lace made its escape from cheugy prison. Back in the 2010s, millennials embraced the delicate boho-chic fabric in all colors of the rainbow (I admittedly owned lace dresses in tangerine and Barbie pink). Lace’s 2025 comeback, however, is a lot more elegant in streamlined silhouettes and neutral, monochromatic hues, as seen on the Anna Sui and Chloé runways.

Modern takes are also far, far more risqué. If millennials wore lace pieces over slip dresses, fashion’s chicest are now exposing skin and lingerie under the see-through material. Try the spicy route and flaunt your panties under a lacy LBD like Florence Pugh, or make like Daisy Edgar-Jones and rock a lace bra as a top.

If you’ve heard of living the “soft life” on TikTok, fashion’s equivalent is dressing it. That looks like an overdose of ultra-feminine, romantic elements like bows, lace, furs, doilies, and more. It’s maximalism but in a lady-like, doll-esque cosplay.

Exhibit A: The soft-life’s biggest influencer, Nara Smith, paired a pastel pink fur coat with a butter yellow mini, lace tights and gloves, and bow-clad shoes. Meanwhile, Julia Fox cosplayed like a high-fashion doll in a dress that incorporated a balloon skirt, a satin bow, and a lacy, exaggerated collar. On runways, Acne Studios, Fendi, and Valentino have all taken to the explosion of patterns and textures.

This trend is more about flaunting your styling prowess, than anything else. And the key to success is taking delicate, girlish pieces you already own, and pairing them together.

Florals are such a spring and summertime staple, there have been movie lines written about it. This year, the trend will continue to bloom well into fall. Only, come the cooler months, floral patterns will be more muted, low-key, and familiar. Enter: your grandmother’s wallpaper florals.

The likes of Tory Burch, Givenchy, N°21, and Giambattista Valli have all turned their Fall 2025 runways into gardens, sprouting small, gentle blooms copy-pasted (like wallpapers) across garments. The florals are calming, versus chaotic, and the colors are toned-down versus vibrant. Take the garden-party trend to the next level by adding more floral accessories, like jewelry in the petaled design, or shoes with 3D appliqués of a floral print.

If you’re chronically online, you’ve likely heard of TikTok’s “red nail theory,” which posits that those with crimson manicures are viewed as more confident and, therefore, attractive. Let me make a new proposition for fall: the “red fit theory.”

Care to test this? The styling hack is easy — whatever ruby shade you prefer, commit to it in a head-to-toe look. Chanel, Issey Miyake, and Alexander McQueen’s runways can be the blueprint (or, err, redprint) with models sashaying in fiery monochromatic numbers — with several matching scarlet accessories to boot.

It’s wearable, too. On the celeb front, Selena Gomez wore a cherry dress, blazer, and pumps. Naturally, the Rare Beauty founder finished off her look with matching lipstick. If you don’t have red accessories (yet), as long as your look is predominantly scarlet, like Ayo Edebiri’s, you can strut along with confidence.

Admittedly, polka dots are difficult to style, especially since the retro pattern can look so old-fashioned. Grandma’s go-to print, however, is totally back on trend, as seen on the runways of Sandy Liang, Fendi, and Vivienne Westwood.

The easiest way to give the spots a 2025 upgrade is by wearing it with a spicy twist. Think: sheer plunging dresses, minidresses, or even bikinis as tops à la Kylie Jenner. You don’t need to stick to traditional color palettes, either. Simone Ashley rocked hers in brown and white.

Spots are meant to be fun, so if you’re up for it, consider going the whimsical route and take a cue from Moschino’s runway. The label’s Fall 2025 show paired pieces that mixed and matched spot sizes and colors. It’s dizzying in the best way.

It’s a jungle out here this season, and, for the first time in a while, no one animal print is leading the pack. Tigers, leopards, zebras, snakes — if you can find it on clothes and accessories, rock it.

The runways are a perfect diverse example. Marine Serre, for instance, tapped into tiger prints, while Roberto Cavalli honed in on the mighty leopard. Duran Lantink, meanwhile, served it cross-bred, mixing a cow’s spots with a zebra’s stripes.

Follow Zendaya’s lead and wear a coordinated short suit for maximum impact, or, if you aren’t feeling too bold, incorporate a piece covered in a loud pattern into an otherwise toned-down ’fit.