Pairing a glitzy party dress with a hefty overcoat is an exercise that we Brits excel at. After all, the period between now and the year’s end poses a particular challenge: it’s a season chock full of occasions for sartorial peacockery, but the weather’s hardly conducive to stepping out in a sequined slip dress. While this balancing act has typically been reserved for the autumn/winter months, this year, anyone who had the misfortune of slogging it through the great British ‘summer’ will have found themselves faced with the even trickier quandary of dressing up to head out during a July downpour.
As if the fashion greats had heard our prayers, the spring/summer 2025 shows proffered myriad ways to wear seasonally-appropriate showerproofs with show-stopping evening looks. The bellwether moment came at Burberry, where oversized parkas with feather-trimmed hoods were insouciantly layered over midi-dresses composed of jangling sequins. It was a natural move from the rainwear expert, but what gave the look its distinction was its clash of registers, which resonated with the irreverent timbre that’s increasingly shaping the contemporary fashion conversation.
The almost-accidental styling evoked the images of late-’00s It-girls – Kate Moss , Sienna Miller and Alexa Chung – that are now moodboard fodder for TikTok kids and design studios everywhere. And while it can’t quite be pinned to current style buzzwords, like “indie sleaze” or “boho chic”, or the Oas.