All linked products are independently selected by our editors. If you purchase any of these products, we may earn a commission.
Unlike, say, a graphic tee from an Instagram ad or the workout leggings your favorite TikToker is currently raving about, a handbag usually isn’t a random impulse purchase. Considering it houses your most prized possessions (i.e., driver’s license, credit cards, etc.), the accessory serves as one of the most important building blocks in your wardrobe. In addition to its functionality, it has the potential to amp up your outfit game tenfold.
The ascendant 2025 handbag trends strike the balance between practical and attention-grabbing, seeing you through any occasion on the docket. For the office, the up-and-coming silhouettes run the gamut, from the oversized slouchy carryalls (spotted at Proenza Schouler) to briefcase-esque totes (seen at Hermès). For an evening out on the town, set your sights on the high-shine purses, as modeled on the Chanel and Louis Vuitton runways. And a quick weekend trip? Perhaps one of the chic backpacks demo’d by Miu Miu, Bottega Veneta, or Coach will strike your fancy.
Scroll ahead for a rundown of five of 2025’s buzziest bag trends.
2025 Handbag Trends: Fringe Bags
The boho renaissance isn’t exiting the chat in the coming months — at least, not if luxury labels have anything to say about it. Fringe bags, in particular, are shaping up to be especially in demand amongst the style set. Nordstrom’s Associate Fashion Director, Linda Cui Zhang is here for it: “Fringe adds movement and a crafty element to classic bag shapes,” she says. The likes of Isabel Marant, Michael Kors, and Tory Burch are diving headfirst into the trend, showcasing fringe-heavy creations for spring. These bags are sure to add personality and intrigue to every outfit, in all their free-spirited, funky glory.
Suede has already dominated fall wardrobes, especially when it comes to outerwear. There’s also an appetite for suede carryalls, confirms Will Cooper, GMM Designer at Saks.
“It has been a few years since we have seen suede prevalent in handbags, and our customers are loving them!” he says. “Based on its popularity, many designers are expanding their offerings in suede bags for 2025.”
On the runways, we’ve seen colorful iterations be a throughline for spring — at Burberry in hunter green and JW Anderson in navy blue, as well as Miu Miu (in brown) and Stella McCartney (cream). Style tip: Team the purse with another luxe texture, like leather or velvet, for extra oomph.
2025 Handbag Trends: Green Bags
Brat Girl summer and Wicked sold the fashion scene on green in 2024. Designers don’t seem to be leaving it in the new year, especially not when it comes to the handbag department. Case in point: green carryalls in various mood-enhancing shades at shows like Loewe (olive), Prada (apple), and The Row (emerald).
“The color registers well on functional totes and multi-pocket shoulder styles, especially in deeper mossy, olive greens,” Zhang explains. “It’s a dimensional, heritage hue that brings a utilitarian feel to outfitting.”
Don’t be afraid to flex your styling muscles by pairing your punchy purse with equally vibrant accessories.
2025 Handbag Trends: Office Bags
Picking a work bag is no easy feat. On the one hand, it needs to fit all your office essentials — laptop, planner, lunch. And on the other? It needs to look chic. Luckily, designers have been proposing some elegant contenders that check all of our boxes.
Typically known for its edgy totes (see: the beloved City bag), Balenciaga switches sartorial gears for spring with its sleek, sophisticated black leather look. Meanwhile, if a briefcase-like style better suits your 9-to-5 style, look no further than Hermès’ brown structured option. Or, if you’ve taken a liken to slouchy silhouettes, Proenza Schouler has just the roomy tote for you. Kick your old carryall to the curb in favor of one of these polished new designs.
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
All linked products are independently selected by our editors. If you purchase any of these products, we may earn a commission.
In any given year, there are a few banner moments that bubble up in the fashion world well before they take over the zeitgeist. (One obvious example: Valentino’s entirely pink fall/winter 2022 collection showed more than 16 months before Barbie hit theaters and Barbiecore became inescapable.) While there are myriad elements that factor into the trend cycle, spring collections are typically most indicative of the moments that will define the following year. And if the latest crop of shows is any indication, there’s no shortage of (style) optimism in 2025 (in spite of…everything).
There are more than enough trends that feel like walking contradictions. (For example, traditionally grungy plaid takes on a more refined approach at Bottega Veneta and Burberry.) Still, many sartorial threads point to a more whimsical, almost idiosyncratic take on dressing in 2025: Once-sharp suiting is softened; athleisure enjoys a palpable, office-ready refinement; and undeniably joyous, more-is-more magpie moments rule at brands like Schiaparelli, Prada, and Louis Vuitton. (It’s impossible to take yourself too seriously in a bubble skirt.)
Some may posit that we’ve over-indexed on fantasy — however, there are plenty of more wearable trends set to ascend in the new year that you can start shopping now. Discover them ahead, along with the exact styles we’re eyeing for 2025 dressing.
A typical capsule wardrobe features black, white, and perhaps a pop of navy but designers are expanding the definition of neutral. We’ve reached meme-levels of saturation on brown suede, and the most mellow of the earth tones — rich camels, chocolates, butter yellows, and even burgundies — seem to be having their moment in the sun.
At Hermès, camels step in where creams or blacks once dominated, while Bottega Veneta’s ultra-saturated wine red finds its way to dresses and blazers. The latter hue peppers collections from Tibi, Simkhai, and Tanner Fletcher, too. For its part, Max Mara relies upon deep chocolate browns and khakis for the better half of its most recent offerings. For a truly modern take on the trend, try mixing each with black — it’s refined, elevated, and just the right amount of unexpected.
Fashion Trend 2025: Bubbling Up
If the unlikely comeback of the bubble skirt — an ‘80s relic and much-slandered, socialite-favorite silhouette of the early aughts — is any indication, fashion has traded its love affair with the ‘90s for the decade prior.
The item entered the sartorial ether earlier this year but spring/summer 2025 sees its test run evolve into a fully fledged curve obsession. At Stella McCartney, toga-like dresses drape over the shoulder and sweep the torso to reveal a bubbled-hemmed mini. Similarly, Nicklas Skovgaard — an early adopter of the trend back in 2023 — offers generous iterations of his signature silhouette. Meanwhile, hoop skirts, impossibly voluminous dresses and a general embrace of curves make their way into collections from JW Anderson, Who Decides War, Erdem, Loewe, and Junya Watanabe (though time will tell if those are runway exclusives).
Fashion Trend 2025: Power Leg
Every season introduces a true, capital-F Fashion trend. Fall 2023 saw the rise of hot pants. Before that, it was the micro-mini. Spring/Summer 2025 is shaping up to be the season of the power leg.
Designers love a hybrid (see: the scarf coat), and while this trend isn’t exactly rooted in practicality, it’s nothing short of fun. Victoria Beckham, Bottega Veneta, Polo Ralph Lauren, Courrèges, and Coperni are all riffing on the same idea in varying iterations: Beckham slices a pair of burgundy trousers from shin to mid-thigh to reveal a sliver of black satin shorts, Coperni put Amelia Gray Hamlin in a slim-legged style, and Matthieu Blazy dressed models in a three-way pants-shorts-skirt hybrid that reveals only one calf in full. The favoritism lives on at Courrèges and Proenza Schouler, where asymmetrical silhouettes, which also included skirts, showcase a single gam.
Credit should go to Eckhaus Latta and Maryam Nassir Zadeh, who each had one-legged looks in their respective spring 2023 shows — 2025, though, may be the year it finally goes mainstream (hey, a girl can dream).
Fashion Trend 2025: Sheer Genius
The sheer trend has had a chokehold on fashion for a few seasons now, but designers aren’t just leaning into it for spring/summer 2025 — they’re building entire collections around fluid, diaphanous fabrics that are made to move.
At Totême, Dries Van Noten, Marina Moscone, and Simone Rocha, gossamer-light silks that catch the slightest breeze take center stage in the form of twisted tulle skirts and sheer, sheathlike overdresses cut on the bias that lend an ephemeral feel to a simple silk gown. Sure, we’ve seen the soft power of a layer of tulle, romanticized to show the female form; even more relevant are the gauzy maxi dresses, button-downs and flowing pants that let underthings shine through.
Fashion Trend 2025: All The Accoutrements
It’s as if bag charms were just a foreshadowing. Never mind that Nicolas Ghesquière’s Louis Vuitton spring/summer 2025 and cruise 2025 collections are lessons in over-layering, or that Ann Demeulemeester found inspiration in a Bella Donna-era Stevie Nicks for its most recent outing. The vibe for the new year is more is more is more is…well, you get it.
A direct challenge to quiet luxury, it’s as though designers finally discovered the antithesis of that oft-maligned Coco Chanel quote — and they found it in bows, brocades, bowling bags, and other magpie moments that would typically age you. The only rule is that there are no rules, so go ahead — wear the stripes and the polka dots and the sparkles with the three necklaces.
Fashion Trend 2025: Sporty Spice
As a concept, athleisure — which began as a trend among Los Angeles twentysomethings of wearing leggings and sports bras outside of Pilates — has morphed into a full-blown style profile. For spring, it’s finally dipping its feet into office-appropriate territory, as pioneered by Miu Miu, Ralph Lauren, Tolu Coker, Tommy Hilfiger, and The Attico.
We’re seeing colorblocked windbreakers paired beautifully with evening wear-forward midi and maxi skirts (a banner silhouette of the season). Meanwhile, funnel-neck anoraks, jersey-style tunics, track separates, short-sleeve polo dresses and details like a contrast half-zip offer a more subtle take at Lacoste, Ganni and Ferragamo. Miu Miu is even turning its now-infamous boy shorts into a sport-utility version of the trend, so you know it’s real.
Fashion Trend 2025: Soft Suiting
After consecutive seasons of sharp tailoring comes a welcome turn toward softness. Saint Laurent’s billowing, oversized suits lead the charge, though it isn’t hard to find softer edges, slouchier trousers and silken suit shorts, if you’re looking for them. (See: Dries Van Noten, Stella McCartney, Carven.) While lapels are still cut with precision, bottoms enjoy a drapey, almost juvenilely baggy fit, as though some of the models at Loewe and Tibi had popped on their dads’ Wall Street uniforms two decades too soon. They’re pieces that would struggle to keep their shape off the hanger — which is exactly the kind of softness we’re craving.
All linked products are independently selected by our editors. If you purchase any of these products, we may earn a commission.
Remember a time when a coat was just a coat? In late 2021, Toteme, the influential label by OG Scandinavian style blogger Elin Kling, released its Scarf Jacket to the world. It was a relatively simple design — a neutral-hued wool coat featuring a built-in scarf and contrasting embroidery — but within months the garment had become a street-style star in its own right. Now, every brand seems to be grappling with how to soup up their outerwear with built-in wraps, shawls, and scarves. Next up? The cape coat.
Designers and contemporary labels alike are Frankensteining jackets of all kinds with cape silhouettes and capelet sleeves to save us from having to layer ourselves. During New York Fashion Week’s recent Fall Winter 2025 shows, it was a legitimate game of Where’s Waldo? when it came to spotting cape-coats on the runway. (As the race is on to define this term, let’s go ahead and refer to them as “capoats” for now.)
At Ulla Johnson, a crowd including actors Beanie Feldstein and Rebecca Hall nodded approvingly as a dark emerald green denim jacket and a drawstring-accented khaki chore style floated past with buttoned-on capelet sleeves. The opening look at Altuzarra featured a decadent ankle-length black cape-adorned coat. Similarly, at the celebrity-thronged Calvin Klein show, cape-coat hybrids caught the wind on male and female models alike.
Maria McManus, a favorite of Sarah Paulson, Caitriona Balfe, and Christy Turlington, presented a heather gray coat that had the appropriate attachment to do the swaddling for you. (The sustainably-minded New York-based Irish designer said she was preoccupied with creating pieces that would ensure the wearer felt cocooned and protected, given everything that’s going on in the world right now.)
Capoats also abounded at Carolina Herrera, where Wes Gordon went the ladylike route in a gray opera cloak embroidered with golden flowers. At LaPointe, oversized square-shaped additions jazzed up a teal trench and a shiny brown utility jacket, while Marina Moscone offered us a cape-like take on a satin-lapeled tuxedo blazer.
Khaite’s Catherine Holstein gave us a glimpse at what the cool girls will be lusting over, with her fur shrug-slash-topper-meets-shrunken-trophy jacket offering. A similar fuzzy idea was seen coming around the bend for Australian label Scanlan Theodore, in the form of a luxurious cape attachment in glossy black faux fur and leather. A neutral-hued take was also a highlight at Kallmeyer, where sophistication was the order of the day, as was a colossal cashmere shawl over at Mexican designer Stephanie Suberville’s brand Heirlome.
Novel styling ideas on the runways showed that you don’t have to rush out and buy new outerwear, either.
Over at Tory Burch, the genius stylist Brian Molloy used a brooch (another big runway trend) to pin one sleeve asymmetrically across the chest of dresses and cardigans with cap sleeves — a move that’s worth experimenting with at home. And Jorden Bickham, styling for TWP, expertly refashioned a crewneck chocolate brown sweater into a semi-cape-style shrug over a velvet dress. Now why didn’t we think of that?
If you’ve already got the shoppies and don’t want to wait until next winter to try the trend, why not get ahead of the curve with these main character-ready outerwear pieces.
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
All linked products are independently selected by our editors. If you purchase any of these products, we may earn a commission.
I think we all let out a sigh of relief — or maybe even giddily yelped — as we cozied up to watch The White Lotus season three premiere on February 16, eager to escape reality (at least for an hour). “There’s a wish and hope and fixation on traveling and escaping, and maybe right now, even more people look to a show like The White Lotus, and imagine that they could go on some escape,” says the HBO Max series’ costume designer Alex Bovaird. “I think people need more fun and magic and mystery in their lives.”
Bovaird, who has crafted the show’s now-iconic and viral costumes for the past three seasons, tells Refinery29: “There’s a lot of things that contribute to outfits, looks, and styles becoming iconic on the show. The performances are really good, the cinematography is beautiful, and the scripts are wonderful. So I think it’s all that magic,” adding: “It’s that kismet of being on the right show at the right time.”
Perhaps it’s even more fitting that Bovaird has now collaborated with H&M, a brand she admires (and shops for the designer partnership). While White Lotus-themed collabs have been rolling out, this is the only one the costume designer directly worked on — and the one she feels best reflects the series’ costumes. “The collection was born out of the exact same mood boards I had for the show,” she shares.
“The collection is directly inspired by season three in Thailand. There are bits and bobs of each character in [it],” Bovaird says, pointing to an “escapist aesthetic” that suits a “prim and proper lady” (perhaps Victoria, played by Parker Posey), a “mad, roving adventurer,” and a “sultry, pouting, mysterious girl.”
The H&M x The White Lotus resortwear collection, which launches on February 20, features luxe floral, lace, and crochet styles designed to transport you to a tropical vacation in Thailand. Bovaird explains: “I could put these clothes on those characters in the show if I wanted to.” The goal was to create styles that seamlessly transition from day to night or can be thrown on after a long beach day. The 33-piece range includes matching sets, swimwear and coverups, and tons of easy-breezy accessories.
“I think the accessories are really amazing. I love the sandals, the beaded necklace, and the beach bag — it has a little pouch attached to it, so you can put your keys and credit card in there,” Bovaird says. She also shares her favorite apparel from the collection, noting that while the pieces are suitcase-ready, they’re also easy to mix into your wardrobe before summer arrives. “I like the frill trousers with the oversized shirt in the black and green print. That’s something I definitely would wear and go to work in.” She also predicts the flouncy black mini dress will be a customer favorite.
Touching on more character-inspired pieces, Bovaird highlights the “sexy, sultry beachwear” influenced by Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon) and a mix of long dresses and coverups “a little bit more like Sex and the City,” inspired by the season’s trio of friends: Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan), Kate (Leslie Bibb), and Laurie (Carrie Coon). There’s even an ode to the late Tanya McQuoid (famously played by Jennifer Coolidge) via a pink and purple kaftan.
Bovaird says season three especially emphasizes resort guests dressing up for dinner — evident from the first episode, where female characters wear dramatic dresses, statement earrings, and luxe wedges — so she helped create shoppable versions to encourage others to “be bold and be daring and maybe be a slightly more romantic version of yourself.”
Shop the collection to channel your favoriteWhite Lotuscharacters — whether or not you have a tropical vacation on the horizon.
