Fashion
The 15 Looks That Defined Fashion In 2025
Rain or shine, the girls and guys showed up and showed out.
As the earnestly dorky cast of Rent famously asked in “Seasons of Love,” “How do you measure a year in the life?” Trying to take stock of a year’s best sartorial moments is a task both daunting and, to a certain extent, hopeless. There are simply too many events, galas, premieres, afterparties, and street-style moments to comb through. So, what makes something “defining” when there were probably 100,000 outfits seen and scrolled by on the Internet? Yes, headline-grabbing looks made our final list, but a few more subtle ones shifted trends, announced new stylist-star partnerships, or cemented tidal waves in the fashion world. Most importantly, though, is the ability to recall the look based solely on description without even looking at it: That’s the hallmark of a definitive moment.
2025 saw the birth of Y2Chaos, the continuation and degradation of Brat summer, the renaissance of Britpop, several other salient music drops, and the return of slimmer jeans (that are definitely not skinny). There are plenty of looks we had to chop from the list because yes, while they were pretty, will we look back and remember them of as this moment? Probably not. Sometimes, the most important looks are the ones that will ring true in a few years’ time, like Addison Rae’s single-glove styling trick or the tartan heard ’round the world on PinkPantheress. But, for now, we’ve chosen 15 looks we can’t get out of our heads. Keep reading to see what fashion landed and stuck this year.
Kendrick Lamar’s Game-Changing Denim
We literally gave the man a NYLON Nights Award for this look, but it bears repeating: This might be the most influential outfit worn this year. Not only did he embarrass Drake in front of hundreds of millions of viewers, but he provided the denim-trend refresh the industry needed. Puddling denim might have its last breath soon, if Celine’s jeans have anything to do with it.
Doechii’s Star-Making Underwear
Doechii also won a NYLON Nights Award for this Grammys performance, and this look has been stuck in my mind ever since. She wore a handful of Thom Browne outfits that evening, but the simplicity, subversive sexiness, and downright camp of the jockstrap and bra took her from fashion lover to icon.
Charli XCX’s Burn-It-Down Y2Chaos
The question is not “Is Brat summer over?” but rather, “How can Brat live on forever?” This McQueen skull-scarf top is a good place to start. The brand’s classic Y2Chaotic accessory was experiencing an uptick thanks to the ascent of indie-sleaze-adjacent style, and this look hammered home how styling hacks abound with a simple swatch of silk can make anything into a top. It also was, in the Britpop pantheon of 2025, as English as it gets.
Cole Escola’s Deferential Glamour
Buying an outfit a celebrity wore from years past can sometimes read as inauthentic. Leave it to Escola, however, to honor Bernadette Peters by not only recreating her ’90s gown with the help of Wiederhoeft, but also wearing her exact hair. This was the winning look of the night, and the best way Escola could’ve been dressed to win Best Actor in a Play.
Rihanna’s Pre-Met Gala Mic Drop
Who could forget the first photoshoot she did with A$AP Rocky on the streets of Harlem to announce her first pregnancy? The only way to top that is to, on the day of the Met Gala, arrive to your hotel in Miu Miu with your belly exposed, a cloche hat and faux-fur stole in tow. She stole the night before even hitting the red carpet.
Chappell Roan’s Heady Costume
I’ll admit, it takes a lot to leave me breathless when it comes to fashion nowadays — but this costume, hand-made by Gunnar Deatherage for the Sziget Festival in Hungary, instantly left me awed. It’s a feat to design something quickly that also works for the stage, but to craft a look with four different Chappells that are couture-level and hilarious? Our redhead hats go off to her entire team.
Addison Rae’s Effortless Versace Pull
Versace’s Spring/Summer 2026 show by Dario Vitale (alas, now a one-hit wonder) divided fans and fashion insiders alike with its flagrantly gay, ’80s-leaning maximalism. It did not put Rae off — quite the opposite. Just 24 hours after the show walked in Milan, Rae wore this crystal silver-and-gold bra-and-panty set for her show in Nashville. It’s sexy, irreverent, and the single-glove styling takes it from pop star to pop icon.
Jenna Ortega’s New Naked Dressing
Naked dressing saw many levels of commitment to the bit this year (remember Zoë Kravitz’s cheeky Saint Laurent for the Vanity Fair Oscars party?), but our proverbial hats go off to Ortega, who was the final boss of them all. This Givenchy not only fits her like a dream, literally and metaphorically, but feels new in a way a simple sheer dress does not.
Amelia Gray’s Cheeky Strut
Speaking of naked dressing and cheeks... Gray made her Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show debut this year and showed why she’s one of the most in-demand faces (and bodies) of the moment. Her sizzling-hot dress left little to the imagination, and her attitude and now-classic stomp sold the look.
PinkPantheress’ Anglomania
Pink had what we could consider her third breakout moment this year. She went from bedroom-pop diva to full-out British pop star with her album Fancy That, and she leaned full-force into the Britannia of it all. Plaid was far and away the pattern of the year, and what better way to hammer it home than to a full crowd at Glastonbury in tartan bloomers? It’s so pitch-perfect, it feels illegal.
Zoë Kravitz’s Trend-Shifting Off-Duty Look
We sung her praises for styling this shirt two ways in two days, but this look takes the cake for several reasons. Not only was she one of the first to wear this Saint Laurent Icarino bag, but this was one of the first looks her and her new stylist, Danielle Goldberg, crafted together. It hits on the sporty-lite trend with the No.21 shorts, embraces the sleek, buggy opticals favored by the style set, and also shows you can switch any ‘fit from schleppy to sexy with a peep-toe heel.
Ayo Edebiri’s First Chanel Statement
The Spring/Summer 2026 runway season had about a dozen debuts, none more anticipated than Matthieu Blazy’s at Chanel. Lucky for us, we didn’t have to wait to see what his vision would entail thanks to house ambassador Edebiri. The jacket gave a modern twist to the classic Chanel tweed, and it felt fresh without straying away from what makes a great Chanel suit.
Timothée Chalamet & Kylie Jenner’s Ode To The Aughts
While one particular musician tried to make orange a thing this fall, it took a ping-pong movie to make it stick. Chalamet’s brand of Y2Chaos got the Jenner seal of approval with the couple’s second red carpet together, and leave it to Chrome Hearts to make Chalamet the most opulent ping-pong paddle case we’ve seen yet.
Alexander Skarsgård’s Silly Big Boots
Men’s fashion was ultimately mediocre this year, with a few shows and standout stars flexing their chameleonic properties. Skarsgård, through it all, was just having capital-F fun. His star role this year as a biker dom in Pillion provided a no-brainer way of method dressing that reached its fever peak at Cannes, where the most talked-about boots found their way onto the sexiest Swede on the French Riviera. The allure of a well-placed, well-timed fashion moment can seem effortless, but it takes hard-won skill to make it look this easy — and silly.
Lorde’s Elemental Minimalism
Virgin is Lorde at her most transparent, and her fashion went from sunny and celestial for Solar Power to gritty and gender-bending for her fourth studio album. Her surprise Glastonbury set saw her in a simple white T-shirt and jeans, but the shim-sham adorning her shoes, arm, belt, and, yes, her metallic bra, gave this a talisman-heavy feel, one rooted in keepsakes and mementoes to ground her. It signaled a new way for stars to show up on stage, that is, with as little adornment as possible, the better to scream-sing “Green Light” with Ella.
