- Gucci, Margiela and Versace all move away from gaudy styles.
- ‘No-nonsense craft’, ‘rough-edged tailoring’ and ‘handmade imperfection’ all back in.
- ‘Dressing like you vacation at Mar-a-Lago doesn’t feel aspirational anymore,’ says trend analyst J’Nae Phillips
Late last week it was announced that Donald Trump had accepted a gift from the Emir of Qatar. A small token of the petrostate’s affection, the 47th president received not a classic tie pin or an object of Qatari cultural value, but a brand new private jet reportedly worth $400 million dollars.
Decked out in such lavish still that it could take years to be retrofitted for official use, the plane is an apt symbol for not just Trump’s own garish style but for the gaudy world his influence has helped to create: an aesthetic exceptionalism that has permeated fashion and design, moving the overton window on what’s considered stylistically acceptable.
That world, though, may be about to change. In fashion, the pendulum is swinging once again. And it’s swinging hard.
Like any art form, fashion is a product of the times – a response to the conditions we’re living in at any given moment. That response can sometimes be positive, but it can just as often go the other way. Over the last year or so we have seen a slew of articles heralding the return of a gaudier, sleazier, and more opulent way of dressing.
This shift has been connected to Trump’s rise. A reflection of the president’s penchant for unabashed excess: gold everything, more is more as a prevailing philosophy. Aesthetically, the result has been a trend for something we might call “greed as garb.” Wealth unashamedly worn on one’s sleeve – sometimes very literally.
Luxury Letting Go of Vulgarity
But, just as there is backlash to Trumpian politics, there is also a noticeable kick against the sartorial tendencies which ride in tandem.
Demna has replaced Sabato De Sarno at the helm of Gucci, continuing the brand’s turn from the flamboyant maximalism of Alessandro Michele to a darker, more worldly outlook. John Galliano and his theatrics have departed Margiela, replaced by Glen Martens’ sardonic sense of humour and deconstructionist approach to design. Even Donatella Versace has abdicated her gilded throne, appointing Dario Vitale – better known for his work at chicer, younger Miu Miu – and seeing the company sold to ever-elegant Prada.
This is a vibe shift. Not a sudden one, admittedly, but a slow creep across uncertain ground.
“It’s a quiet rebellion against the garish, overblown aesthetics that have dominated the past decade, often tied culturally and visually to excess.” – J’Nae Phillips
Fendi/Versace, “FENDACE” (2022)
Goodbye to Quiet Luxury
Back in the early 2020s, as the ripples of the first Trump presidency began to peter out, we saw the rise of Quiet Luxury. An understated aesthetic based on quality, subtlety, and minimalist proclivities, the trend was exemplified by brands like The Row, Lori Piana, and Jil Sander.
By 2023 it was the dominant aesthetic. But, by the end of ‘24, the epoch was over and the Boom Boom era was already declared by bellwether outlets such as SSENSE and The Cut to already be in full swing. A new gilded age, carried in on the hot and unsteady air of political turbulence, which led journalist Dora Boras to conclude, “In an atmosphere of uncertainty, style takes a plunge towards paradox. When markets are uncertain, glamour is definite.”
Already, though, the climate is cooling.
“I’ve been watching the trend pendulum alternate between ever-evolving variations of minimalism and maximalism for decades, but this moment of flux feels particularly confused,” says Steve Salter, editor-at-large for LN-CC and former fashion features editor at style bible i-D, in conversation with Eco Age.
This isn’t just about the fashion industry’s internal dynamics, however. It’s part of a larger picture of outside influence. “With creative director job security at its lowest and financial results struggling against a backdrop of socio-political woes, there’s a widespread indecisiveness of vision and growing sense of brand introspection,” Salter, who also founded the grassroots-level fashion zine This Is Ours, continues.
Amongst this uncertainty, Salter suggests, “One of the most persuasive responses has been a retreat into, and celebration, of no-nonsense craft.”
Sacai
Opulence at Saturation Point
It’s a clear through-line; a shift from palatial detachment to a more tactile, hands-on way of creating and wearing clothing.
“There’s a perceptible shift brewing,” journalist, trend analyst and cultural researcher J’Nae Philliips tells Eco Age. “It’s a quiet rebellion against the garish, overblown aesthetics that have dominated the past decade, often tied culturally and visually to excess. What once read as camp, ironic, or anarchic now risks feeling complicit in the very systems it once critiqued. The saturation of opulence — logomania, gold-plated everything, “rich bitch” irony, and designer nihilism — has reached a kind of cultural fatigue point. The visual overstimulation that once felt liberating now comes off as tone-deaf, even grotesque, in an age of escalating crises.”
This lurch toward lo-fi isn’t confined to the big leagues, however. It can be seen at labels in fashion’s upper echelons and in the scrappier work of true upstarts.
“Among smaller, more emergent labels, there’s a visible pivot toward anti-gaudiness — not necessarily minimalism, but something quieter, humbler, more emotionally resonant,” Phillips confirms, “Think rough-edged tailoring, handmade imperfection, or garments that reference workwear and domesticity over nightlife and spectacle. There’s a sort of lo-fi sincerity seeping back into the seams — designs that feel more about living than performing.”
Speaking with Eco Age, an industry insider who has worked for brands as revered as Gucci and labels as well-worn as Gap, offered an anonymous opinion that backs up Phillips’ thinking. “Stitched together, lo-fi, is very popular these days – brands such as [the conscious-focused and craft-oriented] Marfa Stance. And, of course, [Japanese cult favourite] Sacai has been doing that for a long time now.”
Having now moved out of fashion and into the wellness sector, this source offers a final thought – less about the present trend itself than about the state of the industry as a whole. “I’ve become somewhat cynical,” they say, “I’ve been in it too long and observing it for too long… I think it’s very much devoid of any meaning these days.”
Marfa Stance
It’s a bleak assessment, certainly, but it isn’t anywhere near as obtuse as it might seem. In fact, this sombre summary encapsulates exactly where we’re at right now. Post-Boom Boom, fashion houses are responding to a need for something real – a demand for fashion that reflects not just listless uncertainty, but reality. An aesthetic that recoils against shameless greed and wanton disregard, embracing hard truths.
“This isn’t nostalgia for normcore or an ascetic redux of ‘90s minimalism, it’s more of an aesthetic revulsion,” Phillips concludes, “Not just against “sleaze” but against the performative irony that enabled it. The pendulum is swinging, not toward purity, but toward authenticity — however fractured, however stitched together. If maximalism was the visual language of denial, maybe this new anti-gaudiness is its antidote: a way of dressing that acknowledges vulnerability, exhaustion, and the need to find meaning in the ruins.”
The age of Boom Boom Exceptionalism is over. “Dressing like you vacation at Mar-a-Lago doesn’t feel aspirational anymore,” says Phillips, “It feels out of step, even for those who voted for him in the first place.”
This is the epoch of Realaesthetik.
Karl Smith-Eloise is a freelance writer for Eco Age. He has worked as the EMEA Editorial Lead for HYPEBEAST and Editorial Director of FUTUREVVORLD, as a contributing editor to Highsnobiety, and for the fashion house FENDI. He now focuses exclusively on Earth-forward and ethical avenues in fashion, footwear and the broader culture.