It was a curious season, fall 2025. Against an unstable, precarious world, designers forged ahead making clothes for future versions of us—six months into the future, but into the future nonetheless. On the runways two themes emerged: a return to a classical femininity and a call for individuality and the end of cookie-cutter, formula dressing. Are these two ideas on opposite ends of the spectrum? Almost certainly. And, yet, this season they easily became one. See, for example, the return of the eccentric little hat spotted everywhere from the stalwarts of elegance and luxury like Giorgio Armani and Loro Piana to the madcap visions of Anna Sui and Moschino’s Adrian Appiolaza. Nothing says “we used to live in a society” like watching a classic Hollywood film or coming across vintage photos of women out in the world wearing their hats, a most important sign of propriety. Now, chapeaux communicate a certain artiness—the opposite of falling back, fitting in, and living your life the way the powers that be might tell you that you should.
As my colleague Laird Borrelli-Persson explained in her ready-to-wear trend report, the hourglass silhouette—whether god-given, man-made, or sartorially enhanced—was another way in which the classical view of womanhood took center stage this season. It’s no surprise, then, that belts played such a pivotal role in the styling of collections: Some were extra-extra long, buckled once (and sometimes twice) around the body, then left to float limply down the legs, while others resembled a corset, wound tightly at the waist over coats or dresses. At Bally, Simone Bellotti left corsets half-open so they sat closer to the hips, taking a break from enforcing their strict beauty standards. Shoes with sickly sweet bows and lace tights were other ways in which designers toyed with their new feminine visions. Of course, the more symbolic something feels, the more tempting it becomes to appropriate and reclaim it, changing its meaning to suit our real view of ourselves.
And so the exploration of femininity dovetails nicely into a desire to express a total vision of personal style. You can see it with the aforementioned hats, and also in handbags shaped like objets—a turtle, a bottle of CK One, an apple (Eve’s?), or even… spaghetti—and the not-insignificant amount of shoes designed as if they were the picture of Dorian Gray. Up top, clothes remain sensible and spotless, and down below, toes grow extra long and pointy, pumps sprout tongues that flop forward, and feet are strapped into tactical heels with belts and buckles. Elsewhere, classic pumps in a neutral non-color akin to cement were trending. Unobtrusive, they go with everything (the fact that you may need to wear them with sheer stockings that come in a plastic egg goes without saying, of course). And just because every action must have an equal but opposite reaction, see the strange emergence of very ’80s flat boots (better if they slouch), a Reagan-era revival for girls who just want to have fun.
Put Your Thinking Cap On
Wearing an eccentric chapeau might just be the biggest accessory trend come fall. If you don’t have something that “used to be your grandmother’s” then consider Altuzarra’s chain cap, Luisa Beccaria’s pillbox, or even Paolo Carzana’s millinery poetry. Just remember, as Vogue explained in a 1941 issue that “the sole aim in life of a hat is to pay you a compliment.”
