There was a strong sense of déjà vu this Autumn/Winter 2025 season.
On Dior’s runway, Maria Grazia Chiuri revived the cult-status “J’adore Dior” tee – last seen in John Galliano’s Spring/Summer 2001 show, now styled with a cropped bolero and trimmed in lace. At Chloé, Chemena Kamali brought back the beloved Paddington bag, its signature chunky lock updated with charms that speak to today s maximalist, chaotic customisation trend. At Alexander McQueen, the iconic skull scarf — a symbol of mid-2000s subversive chic — also made a comeback, with @databutmakeitfashion reporting that interest in the piece has surged by around 79 per cent daily since the March runway show.
Fashion’s love affair with the 2000s has been simmering for some time. In February, Balenciaga reintroduced its iconic Le City bag — once the uniform of 2000s It-girls and off-duty models — via a campaign that cleverly repurposed early 2000s paparazzi images of Paris Hilton and Natasha Poly, digitally altered to feature the contemporary Le City bag. Meanwhile, Louis Vuitton resurrected its cult 2003 collaboration with Takashi Murakami in two blockbuster drops across January and March. The campaign featured Zendaya as its face, included a global pop-up tour and even offered complimentary repair services for original pieces.
As more brands turn to their archives in search of hits, this wave of fashion nostalgia is proving to be far more than sentimental. It’s a strategic growth lever for heritage houses looking to stay culturally relevant, emotionally resonant and commercially successful — particularly among Gen Z and younger millennials for whom the Y2K aesthetic is both retro and aspirational.
“They’re capitalising off of products that did well in the past because they’re trendy, and they know people will buy them,” says Gabriel Rylka, founder of archival vintage resale platform Break Archive. Having been sourcing Y2K archival pieces since 2021 to much demand, Rylka’s not surprised by the reissues — though he’s wary of the ripple effects on the pre-loved luxury market. “When I first founded Break Archive, we sold the classic Murakami x Louis Vuitton pochette for £985. Now, we’re listing it for £1,500, because LV’s re-release has driven up both our buy price and demand.” Still, he notes, it’s a far cry from the £3,500 Louis Vuitton is now charging.
With every trip down memory lane, there’s a risk: the more fashion mines the past, the more it potentially dulls the shine of the now. And with pre-loved prices still significantly undercutting retail, will nostalgia-fuelled reissues backfire if consumers turned to the secondhand market instead?
Nostalgia: The ultimate eye-catcher
At the heart of the current wave of luxury reissues lies a craving for safety, simplicity and familiarity. “Nostalgia continues to be a massive driver for consumers who enjoy the comfort blanket of harking back to perceived better times,” says Emily Gordon-Smith, content director and sustainability lead at global intelligence firm Stylus. In a climate of economic anxiety and geopolitical instability, the early 2000s — a time of pre-recession optimism, splashy consumerism, and paparazzi-fuelled celebrity culture — offers a kind of wistful escapism that feels both emotionally soothing and culturally resonant.
For brands, the appeal of nostalgia is twofold: it provides consumers with a comforting return to the familiar, and it offers a relatively low-risk strategy built on past success. Many of the pieces being revived today were once breakout hits — during its original run, for example, Chloé’s Paddington bag was so in-demand that as Sarah Mower reported in a 2009 Vogue article, “every one of the 8,000 made in spring 2005 was spoken for before it reached the store.”
But, Gordon-Smith cautions, “For nostalgia to truly resonate, it needs to be framed in a fresh context.” She points to Burberry as a leading example, highlighting how the brand has reimagined archival staples with contemporary relevance — pairing heritage trench coats and classic checks with bold silhouettes, unexpected fabrics, and collaborations with British talent like Jason Isaacs and Olivia Colman in 2025 to give the pieces renewed cultural charge.
Moreover, as luxury consumers increasingly prioritise heritage storytelling amidst the luxury slowdown, “reissues can support compelling narratives around heritage and brand archives,” says Gordon-Smith. “But that storytelling must be tailored for a new audience.” It’s why she says Louis Vuitton tapping Gen Z fashion icon Zendaya to front its 2025 revival of the Murakami collaboration was an astute move that fused millennial nostalgia with Gen Z cool, earning the campaign both viral traction and critical acclaim.
So far, the strategy has paid off. According to LVMH’s Q1 2025 earnings report, the Murakami reissue was cited as a “tremendous success”. Interest extended beyond the new launch — searches for both vintage and new versions of the Murakami collection surged, with Ebay reporting a 290 per cent global increase and a 170 per cent per cent jump in the UK.
But therein lies a growing challenge: many consumers don’t wait for re-releases — they head straight to resale platforms in search of the originals. “When an iconic fashion item is reissued on the runway, it creates immediate demand,” says Noelle Sciacca, director of fashion and strategic partnerships resale platform The RealReal. “Instead of waiting an entire season for new production, fans often rush to find the original version on resale platforms.”
Instagram content
This effect is measurable. After Dior’s runway featured the return of the J’Adore Dior tee in March, searches for Dior shirts jumped 180 per cent in just one week on The RealReal. Likewise, when the Alexander McQueen skull scarf reappeared in recent collections, demand for the accessory surged by 127 per cent on the platform. Sciacca also notes that Chloé, under Kamali’s creative direction, has seen a surge of renewed interest — particularly in its early 2000s It-bag, the Paddington. Searches for the Paddington have increased sixfold in the past year, and up 54 per cent the week following the Fall 2025 show.
“Reissues serve as gateway pieces. For Gen Z, especially those discovering luxury for the first time, a reissued item offers credibility, nostalgia, and a chance to participate in a cultural moment without the effort or price tag of sourcing originals,” says Thomas Walters, Europe CEO and co-founder of influencer marketing agency Billion Dollar Boy. “But Gen Z are also value-driven, sustainability-conscious consumers. They view secondhand as a badge of authenticity, not compromise. The fact that platforms like Depop and Vinted are thriving in parallel with reissues is no coincidence.”
This dynamic presents a delicate balancing act for brands: how to evoke nostalgia without simply fuelling the secondhand economy. Although the demand is also translating to higher resale prices (the average selling price for the Paddington has doubled in the last year, while prices for Chloé bags overall have increased by 4 per cent, confirms Sciacca), it’s still considerably cheaper than going direct to source. How can brands maintain desirability?
One approach is to subtly reframe the product: Balenciaga and Chloé, for example, relaunched their Le City and Paddington bags with modernised hardware and charm-laden customisation, aligning them with today’s obsession with personalisation and maximalist accessorising as part of the growing chaotic customisation trend.
What happens when nostalgia reaches saturation?
While nostalgia can be a powerful tool for brands, it can lead to diminishing returns. Nike’s recent experiences serve as a cautionary tale. The company s heavy reliance on retro releases, particularly the Air Jordan 1, Air Force 1 and Dunk models, has led to market saturation and consumer fatigue. The oversupply of these once-coveted models has diluted their exclusivity, leading to discounted prices and a diminished brand aura.
Analysts pointed out that Nike s focus on re-releases has come at the expense of innovation, allowing emerging brands like On Running and Hoka to capture significant market share. On Running, for instance, has introduced new styles like the Cloudmonster and Cloudboom Echo 3, focusing on cutting-edge technology and design. Hoka has also expanded its lineup with models like the Mach X and Clifton 9, appealing to both serious runners and casual consumers. As a result, On Running has seen a 29.4 per cent year-over-year increase in net sales, while Hoka saw its net sales grow by 27.9 per cent to $1.81 billion in fiscal 2024.
“For luxury, the stakes can be even higher, especially for labels built on forward-thinking design and exclusivity. These brands trade on innovation, aspiration, and cultural leadership, without that they may be perceived as lacking in creative vision which is a core brand currency in the fashion industry,” says Walters. He adds that it’s essential to balance revival with reinvention – for example, integrating reissues into broader storytelling arcs, as opposed to treating them as standalone revenue streams. It’s why Dior’s ‘J’adore Dior’ revival worked for him. “Not because it was literal, but because it was used with irony, influence and intimacy. It felt plugged into today’s discourse rather than looking backwards,” says Walters.
Ultimately, the most successful reissues are those that don’t just trade on memory, but reframe it. They understand that while heritage is a powerful asset, it needs to be in dialogue with the present — and ideally, the future.
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