For the spring 2025 season, designers had an overarching message: Ignore Trends. Find Your Personal Style. Fittingly, the round-up of accessory trends here is filled with more than a few contradictions: big leather shopping bags that can fit your entire life in, and small gold minaudières that can maybe hold a lipstick; enormous floppy hats that add an air of drama, and structured pillbox-inspired hats for a dose of funky severity (it’s a thing); ultra-feminine shoes inspired by Cinderella’s glass slipper, and groovy high-top sneakers made for hitting the boxing gym.
While trends were once things that everyone needed to ascribe to, now it makes more sense to think about them as windows of time in which you can easily add an essential building block to your wardrobe. If you have preppy tendencies that you enjoy subverting, for example, now is the time to invest in a pair of sheer mesh oxford shoes, or platform loafers; and if your idea of a classic bag is one that is super bold and makes a statement, well, look no further.
The idea is to pick and choose what fits you best, to look at your closet and see a reflection of you and not a mirror image of trends throughout the years. Prada said it best in its show notes this season: “Infinite options proffer infinite opportunities.”
Big Floppy Hats
A classic—in some cases, couturish—sun hat blown-up times a million. Made for bright summery days, but suited for any occasion where one may want an air of mystery.
Boxing-Style Sneakers
Sneakers continue to be an essential part of a modern-day wardrobe, and now a genuinely refreshing take on the look is finally on offer: a slim hi-top modeled after the sneakers boxers wear, as seen at Stella McCartney, or a slimmer version of an all-terrain hiking sneaker, like Loewe. In other words, sneakers made for real active lifestyles.
Printed Patterned Bags
It’s a well-kept fashion secret that a boldly-patterned bag that seemingly goes with nothing, actually goes with everything, and will make people immediately Ooh! at your adventurous style.
See-Through Shoes
Ever since the non-shoe shoe became a thing post-pandemic, designers have been exploring other ways to “disappear” the shoe completely. For spring, there are see-through acrylic heels and PVC details that achieve the same dainty effect as a Cinderella glass slipper, but without its actual fragility.
School-Ready Oxfords and Loafers—With a Twist
For those for whom subverting preppy style is a full-time job, here’s a trend you can really sink your teeth into. Oxfords, brogues, winklepickers, and loafers got major makeovers this season with unexpected materials, sky-high platforms, and hardcore embellishments.
Modern Pillbox Hats
We used to live in a society where chapeaux were de rigueur. No one likes being told what to do or how to dress, but now that we live in a hat optional world, it’s time to reevaluate the wonders of the pillbox and the instant oomph it can instantly add to your ’fit.
Big Shoppers
We have a collection of basic canvas totes for daily runs to the grocery store and the pharmacy. But for spring, tastemakers are urging us to swap them out for a huge bag—ideally leather, but canvas and tech-y nylon also look great—that can fit all your daily essentials and anything else you may pick up while out and about: books, magazines, a bushel of apples. You know, real life stuff.
Classic Flat Leather Sandals
I know, you’re probably thinking, Flat leather sandals for spring? Groundbreaking, but this season designers really did dream up a bunch of different ways to enliven the wardrobe staple. Just look at Hermès’s sandal/clog hybrid, or Isabel Marant’s almost-a-gladiator-but-not-really style for proof.
Statement Sunglasses
When choosing your next new pair of sunglasses ask yourself one thing: Do they make a statement? Are they almost obnoxious but also incredibly cool? Will they automatically elevate everything else I’m wearing when I put them on? If the answer’s “Yes,” then that’s the look for you.
Backpacks
Backpacks experienced a bit of a soft launch this season, so we’re sure they’ll become an even bigger trend the next time around. They’re practical, they allow you to practice a bit of nonchalance (worn on one shoulder), or flex your so-uncool-you’re-cool muscles (worn over both shoulders), and, of course, they’re a nod to childhood. All important things in 2025.
Shoes With Lace-Up Details
As previously discussed, sneakers are everywhere and at this point, it’s hard to imagine they’ll ever go away. But perhaps you’re the kind of person who’d literally never be caught wearing a sporty style? Fret not as designers have added lace-up details to kitten heels, wedges, flats, and everything in between.
Tiny Gold Bags
Think of these little numbers as slightly practical gold jewelry.
Anatomically Correct Shoes
Every uncool shoe eventually becomes an It shoe. First it was Crocs, then Uggs, and now those weird little toe shoes have come to the runway. The designers at Coperni took inspiration from the popular Vibram styles preferred by the tech/gorpcore crowd in Silicon Valley, bringing their mary-jane take to Disneyland Paris. Over at Schiaparelli, the anatomically-correct foot shoe crafted by Daniel Roseberry descends from Elsa Schiaparelli’s obsession with anatomy, while Beate Karlsson’s boots at Avavav have just four toes, which only adds to their strange allure.
