It’s essentially a rite of passage for every generation to “discover” things that countless generations “discovered” before them. And alongside sex and the joys of a pub garden, fashion is probably one area that is most at risk of falling prey to this phenomenon – in fact, the whole trend cycle is essentially one long exercise in communal amnesia. So let us all take a moment to accept that the one pairing fashion folks have declared the outfit formula of spring 2025 is not original, nor is it new, interesting or, to quote Miranda Priestley, “groundbreaking”. But, then again, maybe that’s what makes is so great.
Yes, a shirt and jeans broke the internet when Kate Moss traversed the runway for Bottega Veneta’s spring/summer 2023 show and, yes, Charlie XCX may have donned a striped shirt and skinny jeans for her big Billboard shoot in 2024. But they did so because of the very fact that this simple pairing has a long-standing pedigree in the It-girl’s wardrobe.
In the ’70s it was the Jane Birkins and Farrah Fawcetts who put the nonchalant pairing through its paces, opting for free-loving flares and slim-fitting shirts. Fast-forward to the ’90s, and it was Naomi Campbell, Princess Diana and Cindy Crawford who repped double-denim and waist-cinching silhouettes with their dashing-through-the-airport style. Then, in the Noughties, we flipped-back to flares, except this time they came with pubic bone-grazing waistbands, boho button-ups and ballet pumps. Kate Moss we salute you.
For 2025? Oversized is king. This fashion week, off-duty models and fashion editors alike repped oversized, corporate-coded shirting that looked like it had been stolen from a junior associate at JP Morgan. The colours? Whites, pale pinks, stripes and city-boy blues reigned supreme. Denim-wise, despite fashion’s attempts to (re)discover skinny jeans, it’s clear that the mantra remains: the baggier the better. But whatever you do, don’t wear a heel – take your cues from the ’90s jet-setting supers and stick to low-key flats, such as sneakers, loafers or ballet pumps. Less Posh and Becks, more Sofia Coppola.
Silhouettes flux and colourways come and go, but in its purest form, a shirt and jeans is the so-basic-it’s-brilliant outfit pairing that has become gold standard for a reason. And as they say, if it ain’t broke…
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