Ringing in 40 years of London Fashion Week, Spring Summer 2025 was hard evidence of the city’s enduring spirit. A week of energetic and animated runways stood proud in the face of retail uncertainty.
Though many London-based brands are coming to terms with the recent shuttering of Matches Fashion, there were more runway debuts than usual thanks to revised criteria for emerging labels showing under NewGen. “This year, we have moved away from standard criteria, such as minimum stockists, as a way to ensure that creative businesses with varied business models can showcase at London Fashion Week,” Caroline Rush, CEO of the British Fashion Council (BFC) told Vogue Business.
It’s an initiative that should prove worthy, because where would British fashion be without its new talent, its enfants terribles? British fashion has always been led by its youthful heart and disruptors; Vivienne Westwood, John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Christopher Kane, JW Anderson and, Dilara Findikoglu to name a few; all who have shaped the sartorial landscape as we know it. The BFC also intends to publish, ‘Commercialising Creativity’, a report to encourage new brands to build out direct-to-consumer channels.
Along with the experimental and anarchic, London’s designers champion attitude as the greatest accessory; that’s what SS25 was all about. It’s the idea that people and personalities should use clothes as an extension of themselves, rather than clothes proceeding their wearers. Take Oasis for example; the Gallagher brothers are synonymous with field jackets, bucket hats, football jerseys, and Stone Island (of which Liam Gallagher is now the face). Manchester’s working-class uniform, the very one that ties them to their fan base, was always an attitude—not an outfit.
Now, it’s Charlie XCX’s Brat-coded East London club kid attitude that’s defining the zeitgeist. Referenced as ‘recession pop’ or 2010s revivalism, it alludes to the messy, lived-in partywear based on feel-good hard partying when times are tough—and a pie in the face of the ‘clean girl’ phenomenon. It also explains the surge in popularity of 2010s-style bubble and ruffle skirts and dresses. According to analysts, bubble dress and skirt arrivals for SS24 were up 233%, while on Pinterest, searches including “balloon skirt outfit” were up 1765%. It’s catching on.
Jonathan Anderson reflected these youth ideals in his JW Anderson collection full of leather mini dresses, bubble hems, sequins, and welly-biker hybrid boots. Post-show, Anderson referenced “a girly independence”. “A lot of what I do in the brand is reflected on my sister or people around me in the studio,” he said. “They sort of pack together on a night out. They call each other ‘the girlies.’ There’s a toughness there that I like.”
The brands famous for orchestrating the looks for what we’ve come to know as Brat, include Chet Lo, Knwls, Masha Popova, Mowalola, and Di Petsa; all who showed this season with varying degrees of club-ishness; washed fabrics, dyed denim, low-rise waistlines, asymmetric hemlines, liquid-like slips, and pant-less looks that were ready for the partying.
London’s hallmarks for not only the night before but the morning after, were widespread in lingerie styling, hosiery fabrics and stockings, corsetry and negligee-inspired dresses, skirts and not without a hoodie, tracksuits, a leather biker or fur-lined trench for sneaking out. Tulle and ballet references were big at Simon Rocha, not just for clothing but in accessories and footwear, and sequins were common thread including at Burberry, where tinsel-like dresses were paired with parkas.
And then there’s Harry Styles, also one of mass hysteria, who informs a certain fluidity and a Bowie-esque blurring of the lines in British fashion, which makes his investor partnership with SS Daley extra compelling. SS Daley presented his first womenswear show this week with Harry-approved embellished suiting, oversized tailoring and throwback sweaters.
Simon Rocha and Erdem both extended their lines into elevated denim; Erdem’s in pale mint with crystal embroideries, Rocha’s also embellished in white-stitched, indigo denim and workwear shapes. Mint, or eau de nil, appeared to be the shade of choice, with the soft cinematic green infiltrating several collections including 16Arlington, Burberry, and Chet Lo.
All this and more in an enigmatic SS25 London Fashion Week. Read on for the city’s most defining trends.
All over organza
In our New York report, we mentioned everyday organza as a trend to watch over the coming season. London proved this true, with organza silk, tulle, and gauzy mesh ranging from gossamer layers to constructed coats and trousers. Nensi Dojaka was back from a runway hiatus with whisper-thin organza sported by her signature lingerie signifiers and delicate ruffles. Chet Lo's opening look was a transparent gown with origami pleating, and Simone Rocha’s coats and oversized tutu dresses continued to push the dreamy, feminine aesthetic.
Crystal gazing
Embellishments, beaded embroideries, and crystal adornments dotted and draped all sorts of clothing items this week. Chet Lo featured tank dresses with glass beads in the shapes of fruits, Erdem’s 1920s-style crystal embroideries were part of a masculine-feminine interplay seen on suits and as fringes. Knwls, Emilia Wickstead, SS Daley, and Richard Quinn followed suit with glittering additions to eveningwear and tailoring.
March of the dolls
Another offshoot of the girlhood ruffles, bows, and nostalgic lace, it was babydoll and micro dresses that descended on the LFW runways in droves. The silhouette was dominant in Paul Costelloe and JW Anderson’s collections, the latter notably more abstract, but leggy, leathery, and bubbly nonetheless. Emilia Wickstead’s were preppy and proper, while Natasha Zinko, Yuhan Wang and Knwls leaned toward the irreverent and playful.
Down to earth
With the country and western revival we’ve seen in recent seasons, deep reds, muddy browns, khakis and burnt oranges are gathering momentum this fashion month. These earthy, outdoorsy hues might be making their way back to the mainstream, but not in the literal gorp-style we’ve come to expect. Burberry and 16Arlington applied the colours to minimal, effortless cohesion, while Roksanda and Standing Ground applied the palette more liberally for impact in fringed, velvet and textural offerings.
Main Image Credit: Phil Oh
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