It smells like ’90s grunge spirit over in fashion land this season, as every fashion week attendee and her frazzled assistant were sporting Kurt Cobain-inspired layered shirting outside the shows. 30 years on from its rock ’n’ roll roots, the “overshirt” may have transmogrified into the hetero male’s wardrobe equivalent of a safety blanket – in the words of Ali Woods’s viral Tiktok video, “I’ve had women say I look good and blokes haven’t called me a wanker!” – but take away the quilted gilets and JP Morgan stash and there’s hope yet for the nostalgic staple that was once championed by such bastions of cool as Noel Gallagher, Courtney Love and Kate Moss.
Hedi Slimane first proposed a layered shirt revival for his first Saint Laurent collection back in 2013, an edit which was heavily inspired by the grunge movement, but it wasn’t until Matthieu Blazy’s sophomore collection for Bottega Veneta – almost 10 years later – that the style started to regain momentum in the high-fashion sphere. Skip forward to 2025 and layered shirts are everywhere, including in the lumberjack-red checks in the spring collection of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s The Row, a brand usually known for its clean-lined appeal – surely the definitive sign of an overshirt revival. And, sure enough, we’ve lost track of the number of fashion folk we’ve seen using a loose shirt as a smart layering trick for the tricky transitional spring weather, whether it’s with denim, miniskirts, dresses or trousers.
Print-wise, the classic plaid is a no-brainer, and we plan on taking a leaf out of the Bottega playbook and layering an oversized check shirt over a white tank top and baggy jeans this March. However, we also have our eye on more preppy iterations – think classic white and pinstripes – that can liven-up a tailored blazer or add a new dimension to a crew-neck cardigan. But the best thing about this trend? You are more than likely to already own the items needed to recreate a runway-ready look. We also recommend venturing into the men’s department of charity shops for well-made, classic shirting that comes already sized-up.
So if you’re wondering how to transition your summer staples into the spring months, allow us to propose an overshirt. Just, whatever you do, keep it away from your male friends.
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