Fashion trends 2025: 'Clean girl' aesthetic steps aside for eye-catching prints
Spring from Kate Spade New York features textural lace in a daisy motif, meanwhile, it's all about the puff treatment at Anthropologie. Credit: Kate Spade New York; Anthropologie
So long to last season’s "quiet luxury" elevated yet subdued movement. Hello to a new, fresh fashion moment for 2025 that leans heavily into unbridled femininity with plenty of lace, ruffles, flowers, crochet, wild prints, bubble hems and some major sheerness.
And, overall, there’s a mega-nod to boho, but this time around it's a bit luxed up. This is a "see-me" season with a happy flair and retailers are not holding back. So says Joanna Mazzella, the owner of Mint boutiques in Mattituck, Westhampton Beach, Stony Brook and Southampton who explains this year's clothing is becoming an extension of your personality.
Boho
Credit: alice & olivia; Cinq à Sept; Young, Fabulous and Broke
Sets or separates
Credit: Kate Spade New York
Standout prints
Credit: alice & olivia
"It’s a little more ‘look at me’ and includes new ways to express yourself," she says. Of particular interest to Mazzella are quirky, unexpected prints "that will spark a conversation." Mazzella says tunics, halters and bubble (puffy hems on dresses and skirts) with a '90s influence are back.
In terms of the seasons color palette, her predictions include "tons of buttery yellow, watermelon and lots of red." Add to that mix, "chocolate brown," says Janelle Lloyd, Bloomingdale’s fashion director. It’s "the new black, and pastels of all shades will be everywhere from shoes to bags to clothing." As for the boho blast, Lloyd says, "Just about every brand has its own take on the boho blouse this spring. We’re also seeing an explosion of drop waist dresses and bubble hems."
All the newness aside, what about your everyday jeans? Mazzella believes that the wider barrel leg will continue to be strong, while Bloomingdale’s Lloyd is seeing a shift. "Baggier fits continue, but we’re also seeing slimmer silhouettes. High waist or low slung — anything goes. Plus, denim on denim looks will be a staple."
Over at Gallery Couture in Manhasset and the Loop store in Port Washington, owner Afshin Haghani sees a whole new attitude afoot. "Sexy is the new demure," he says. "It almost seems like more is more. People are getting dressed to show and be seen. What’s new next year is a softer, slightly sexier, ‘let’s enjoy life’ feel," he explains, calling out "sorbet shades."
Fancy is in, according to Haghani. "People are desperate for dressier clothes. There are plenty of celebrations and dresses are what they’re missing most." He notes a move toward matching sets. "Our customers like the versatility of wearing them together and also separating the pieces to create different looks," he says. And he calls out the pervasive use of sheer and textural open-weave fabrics — "lace, tulle, macramé," sometimes daringly bare and completed by (and also without) built-in underpinnings.
At Grey/Ven in East Hampton, director of sales Kathy Walker, projects exaggerated proportions "as a top fashion trend for 2025," and she’s feeling a merge of romantic, fluid fabrics with bold shapes.
And "dramatic femininity" is how Gabrielle Sunshine, owner of the Penny Lane store in Huntington, pegs the new vibe including "layered chiffon and lace," sometimes balanced by more structured pieces such as utility jackets.
And she’s way over the more subtle direction fashion took last year. Emphatic, she says, "The clean girl aesthetic is dead. May she rest in peace."
