Exuberant Luxury Is the New Fashion Trend You Need to Know
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Saturday Night Live star Chloe Fineman recently took to her front-facing camera for what she jokingly described as a PSA. “There is no such thing as a capsule wardrobe,” she said. “You’re not capsuling, curating...you’re just buying.” Fineman’s tone may have been arch, but she was tapping into a collective frustration with prescriptive personal style—if the 1.2 million views she racked up are anything to go by.
The past few seasons have centered around the idea of less: sedate, elevated basics; staid minimalism; and buttoned-up trends like “quiet luxury” and “old money,” or the even more austere underconsumption-core and de-influencing. We’ve been barraged with listicles about the ideal capsule wardrobe, scores of “investment pieces,” and Wirecutter-style coverage of “the only X you’ll ever need,” dutifully collecting sensible loafers and office-appropriate top-handle bags in timeless shades of oxblood and dove gray.
Which is why the pendulum had to swing back sometime. For spring 2025, the aesthetic was more “exuberant luxury.” Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons battled the algorithm, in the parlance of Prada’s show notes, to bring us combinations that evoked the most dizzying of childhood dress-up games: a sequined silver dress with a yellow-rain-slicker chaser, or a bookish argyle sweater paired with a skirt that dripped metallic hardware. They asked a question that came up over and over this season: What did you want to wear before you knew there were fashion rules, and before the concept of “personal style” had crystallized in your mind?
The spirit of play extended to runway shows like Bottega Veneta’s, where guests were seated on animal-shaped beanbag chairs and designer Matthieu Blazy opted for rabbit motifs, elaborate headpieces, and vibrant scarf dressing. Or Marni, where Francesco Risso presented a collection heavy on sequins, feathers, oversize florals, and fanciful hats. At Valentino, Alessandro Michele made an audacious runway debut with layer-cake ruffles and sparkly accessories; Anthony Vaccarello injected jewel tones and rich textures into his Saint Laurent lineup; and Jonathan Anderson reached new heights of whimsy with his Loewe and JW Anderson shows.
Could fun finally be coming back into fashion? Jalil Johnson, a stylist and the writer of the Substack newsletter Consider Yourself Cultured, hopes so. “Because there’s so much tension in the world, play is a natural thing to relieve the tension,” he says. And it was hardly a coincidence that so many houses, from Fendi to Valentino to Jil Sander, nodded to the 1920s, a playful, fancy-free period that marked a brief reprieve from global turmoil.
The turn toward all things lighthearted, he says, also “hints at people wanting variety.” Those who have already assembled their capsule wardrobe might ask themselves, “Can I add in a stripe? A sequin? A funky shoe? Is there a way to add some interest to the look?” Novelty, whether it be Tory Burch’s pierced bags or Chloé’s nostalgic jelly sandals, is a sure seller.
Brigitte Chartrand of Ssense, whose official title is Vice President of Womenswear Buying and Everything Else, notes that “we definitely saw a resurgence of great creativity for spring,” naming Blazy’s collection as a standout. This season, she says, she is focused on “bringing in these emotional pieces to our assortment to add more playfulness to how people dress. We hope to spark some creativity in everyone’s day-to-day.”
“The customer is extremely smart right now. They can tell when they’re being sold [to],” Johnson says. “You can’t just send a black sweater down the runway and expect it to sell. To really entice people, we have to bring them something fresh, something really new.” For example, Valentino. When he saw the pre-fall collection in store in Paris, Johnson says, “I had this insatiable urge to shop, shop, shop, shop.”
This story appears in the February 2025 issue of ELLE.
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