Lifestyle
Spring 2025 Fashion Trends: Jackets, Shoes and More to Shop This Season
Easy pants, wafer-thin sweaters, go-everywhere coats and more.
Spring is a time of renewal. As temperatures rise, daylight extends and pollen froths in the air, wardrobes also undergo a turnover. Thick, woolly sweaters and heavy coats are pushed to the back of closets, making way for lighter layers, breathable fabrics and punches of color.
Those looking to refresh their spring wardrobe have no shortage of options to choose from, a fact that can quickly make shopping a daunting endeavor. To help, I spent more than 12 hours browsing websites to find worthy items in eight key categories of springtime attire.
These 48 products come from brands across the world. Some are big, but many are small, independent labels. They range in price from about $60 to $800, and were picked with a variety of body types and personal preferences in mind. Most importantly, they address a desire for simple clothing that is better than basic.
Pants With the Ease of Pajamas
Good news for those in constant search of comfort: Loose pants are still in style, and some of the season’s best come with drawstrings or elastic waists.
They include styles from high-end labels like Pleats Please Issey Miyake and mall chains like Gap. Deiji Studios, an Australian brand, offers a dark pinstripe pair and J. Crew has a sporty style with a stripe down each side. The patchwork look of a pair from Tigra Tigra, a label in Los Angeles, was achieved by working with artisans in India, while another pair, from the in-house line of the San Francisco store Reliquary, has the color and soft silhouette of a cloud.
Wafer-Thin Cardigans
Gossamer-like cardigans have been appearing more on runways and on the people who closely follow them. They are often worn as a sweet — almost ironic — foil to baggy low-rise jeans or slouchy pants that break and pool at the ankle.
The American label Eckhaus Latta, which specializes in knits and is considered by many to be at the forefront of cool sweaters, is offering several shrunken cardigans this season, including one in a coral shade called “langoustine” that was made to mimic a button-up shirt. Geel, an emerging label in Los Angeles, sells a cropped version with a hood and Guest in Residence, a label founded by Gigi Hadid, makes pointelle-knit cardigans in punchy colors like mint green and in neutrals like cream.
Go-Everywhere Coats
As the weather warms, having a polished overcoat that can be worn comfortably over a variety of items — a T-shirt, sweats, a lighter jacket or a blazer — can take some of the guesswork out of getting dressed.
A number of small labels — Kule in New York, Mijeong Park in Los Angeles and Studio Nicholson in London among them — offer calf-skimming versions in neutral shades that evoke the all-weather coats by the heritage Scottish brand Mackintosh. Notable weather-resistant options include a sherbet-colored style from Land’s End and a Banana Republic coat that comes with a matching bucket hat.
Leather Bags With a Beachy Spirit
The spring months could be described as a bridge to beach season. The same could be said for woven leather bags, which mimic the look of luxury versions by Bottega Veneta and marry the heft of a leather carryall with the carefree sensibility of a summery raffia bag.
Traditional basket weaving and other handicrafts inform the aesthetic of the Belgian brand Dragon Diffusion. Bembien and St. Agni, two labels known for sleek designs, offer versions in a range of sizes, including small cross-body bags and substantial totes. While many woven leather bags are stiff at first, they tend to soften with use.
Big Crisp Shirts
Many new styles of cotton or linen shirts — collared or otherwise — are so oversize that they toe the line between casual and formal, making them more versatile. They can be worn untucked with a pair of jeans or paired with slim slacks for a more formal look.
The French label Charvet, founded in 1838, traditionally affixes mother-of-pearl buttons to each of its designs, which are produced in solids, stripes and other patterns. With Nothing Underneath, a brand in London, offers button-ups in a selection of pastels, and Flore Flore, a Dutch brand, produces its versions in Portugal using organic Italian cotton.
Offbeat Denim Jackets
Denim jackets are generally durable, easy to layer and give a dash of Americana to an outfit. These days, there are many that break from the garment’s classic trucker look.
Meals, a label in Los Angeles and orSlow, which was founded in Nishinomiya, Japan, offer coverall jackets with deep pockets and relaxed shapes that take inspiration from vintage work wear. Other versions include a pullover boat-neck style by Toast, a brand started in Wales, and a tailored jacket with an hourglass shape by Caron Callahan, a designer in New York, which has a square neckline and can be worn in lieu of a blouse.
Breezy Full Skirts
Full skirts have long been a shoulder season wardrobe staple in countries like Japan and Italy, where they easily transition from being worn with coats and sweaters to being styled with T-shirts and sandals.
Standout versions now available include an army green skirt made with an iridescent ripstop Japanese cotton by 6397, a label in New York; a style made of Italian taffeta — and with pockets — by KasMaria, another a local brand; and an adjustable skirt that ties at the hip by Brooke Callahan, a designer in Los Angeles.
Dainty Sneakers
Newly released sneakers are embracing the proportions and details of ballet flats, moving a category long saturated with chunky shapes to a more delicate place.
Embodying this daintier style is Ralph Lauren’s so-called Ballerina sneaker, which has a tapered toe and an elasticized heel, and a new tennis shoe by Repetto, the French pointe shoemaker, which is laced with ballet-pink ribbons. Both pairs have whisper-thin soles, as do other streamlined sneakers from Larroudé and Dries Van Noten, brands whose styles appear to take inspiration from 1970s footwear.
The ethics behind our shopping reporting. When Times reporters write about products, they never accept merchandise, money or favors from the brands. We do not earn a commission on purchases made from this article.
At the start of “Mile End Kicks,” a film set in the Montreal indie music scene of 2011, a music critic in her early 20s, played by Barbie Ferreira, has arrived at her Craigslist apartment share fresh from Toronto. She’s promptly invited to a loft party by her Quebecois D.J. roommate. “Dress hot,” she’s told.
The camera scans the critic, Grace Pine, as she walks into the night. Brown lace-up brogues. Black socks over sheer black tights. A short burgundy corduroy skirt. A navy sweater with a white collar peeking out. A denim boyfriend jacket to finish the look. Hot? Depends on whom you ask.
“It’s a punchline to a joke in the script,” Courtney Mitchell, the film’s costume designer, said in an interview. “But there’s a genuine understanding to some audience members where that is what we felt sexy in, in a kind of nerdcore way.”
Montreal as an indie sleaze epicenter
“Mile End Kicks,” written and directed by Chandler Levack, is the semi-autobiographical story of a music writer who moves to the Mile End neighborhood of Montreal in the summer of 2011, a time when rents were cheap enough that artists could afford to live blocks from the venues where they played.
Ostensibly, she’s there to write a book about Alanis Morissette’s album “Jagged Little Pill.” But other items on her to-do list, such as “have actual sex,” take precedence, leading her to loft parties, poetry readings and a love triangle with members of the fictional band Bone Patrol.
The era, called “indie sleaze” in retrospect (but referred to as “hipster” by those who were there), with its messy, gritty-glam looks, is captured extensively in the film. “I never felt as free a dresser as I did when I lived in Montreal,” Levack said in an interview.
Head-to-toe in American Apparel
The clothing brand most closely associated with indie sleaze is American Apparel. Think deep V-neck tees, ’70s-inspired separates and ads featuring young women splayed in suggestive poses. “I was always digging something lamé out of my butt crack,” Levack said, not without a twinge of nostalgia.
To recreate the vibe, Mitchell collected more than 200 garments and accessories from the brand, including high-waisted jean shorts, shiny disco shorts, hoodies, bodysuits, rompers, bandeaus, oversized tees, jelly shoes and belts. She was adamant that the items date from 2011 or earlier to reflect that they had been in the wardrobe rotation for some years. She found them on a mix of resale sites including Facebook Marketplace, Poshmark and Craigslist, as well as at one Montreal dry cleaner that happened to have a trove of American Apparel dead stock.
And there was a personal history, too: Mitchell had worked at American Apparel stores while in high school and in college, and Ferreira modeled for the brand in 2012, when she was 16. They shared a deep familiarity with the clothes. “That really brings out an emotion, when you return to a beloved silhouette,” Mitchell said.
Homage to the ironic graphic tee
An ironic T-shirt coupled with a cardigan became a totem of indie style, thanks to icons like Kurt Cobain, who served as inspiration for Bone Patrol’s lead singer, Chevy (Stanley Simons). At his day job selling shoes at Mile End Kicks (a real store), he wears a plaid mohair cardigan over a pocket T-shirt emblazoned with “Time to Be Happy” in off-kilter print. “The slogan was Chevy’s tongue-in-cheek nod to his retail job,” Mitchell wrote in an email. “As if he is wearing a salesman costume while dying inside because he is ‘a real artist.’”
Two of the shirts worn by Grace belonged to Levack: a Spin magazine shirt she got as a summer intern at the publication, and a Sonic Youth baseball tee from a 2007 show at McCarren Pool, then an abandoned public swimming hole in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. But the runaway star is merch from a vacuum store, La Maison de l’Aspirateur, in Mile End — a black shirt with a hoovering elephant logo worn by Archie (Devon Bostick), the lead guitarist. “It’s become an iconic shirt for the film,” Levack said. “I’m going to screenings and people in the audience are wearing the shirts.”
Hidden gems found in vintage piles
In the Mile End of 2011, vintage clothing was a fact of life for reasons of style and necessity, and it became core to the hipster aesthetic. “These aren’t characters that are buying clothes; they’re, like, finding them in the street and rummaging through the giant clothing pile at Eva B,” Levack said, referring to a Montreal vintage institution.
One of Chevy’s most lurid onstage looks is a shimmering shot silk women’s trench — worn over a pair of American Apparel briefs, of course — courtesy of Renaissance, a chain of thrift stores in Quebec. “Everyone at those shows, whether or not you were onstage or not, you felt like you were onstage,” Levack said. “People would dress up to be noticed and to outdo each other. But it was so creative because nobody had any money.”
Pete Yorn moved to Los Angeles almost exactly 30 years ago.
“I remember it was May 16, 1996 — maybe three weeks after I graduated from Syracuse,” says the singer and songwriter known for his smart, tender folk-rock stylings. “Which means I’ve lived here longer than anywhere else. But when people ask where I’m from, I still say I’m from New Jersey.” He laughs. “I guess I identify very strongly with my upbringing.”
In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
Jersey pride notwithstanding, Yorn’s 2001 debut album, “Musicforthemorningafter,” is suffused with his experiences as a young transplant moving and shaking in a busy L.A. social scene he compares now to Doug Liman’s classic “Swingers” movie — “at least if you take away the swing dancing,” he says. “But the driving around and the going to parties — it was all the same stuff.” (Yorn’s older brothers, Kevin and Rick, are both prominent players in the entertainment business.)
The singer, who’s 51, is on the road this year performing “Musicforthemorningafter” in its entirety to mark the LP’s 25th anniversary; he’s also playing songs from throughout the rest of his career, including a 2009 duo record he made with his friend Scarlett Johansson. On July 24, he’ll release his 12th studio album, “All the Beauty.” Here, he breaks down his routine for a Sunday in his adopted hometown with his wife, jewelry designer Beth Kaltman, and their 10-year-old daughter.
7 a.m. Rise and dine
I’m like a 6:45 or 7 wake up just because I’m used to driving my daughter to school every day. I like to eat right away, and I eat the same two things every day: either yogurt with frozen berries, or there’s this overnight oats called Mush. The blueberry Mush — I can’t get enough of it. That’s what I eat before my shows too. I’ll go to a venue and the people are like, “What would you like for dinner? We have this beautiful menu,” and I’m like, “I’ll just have the Mush.”
10 a.m. Horsing around
Sunday is usually a day for something with my daughter. She’s taken a love to horseback riding — she’s much braver than I am — so I’ll drive her out to this barn near Bell Canyon, which my wife told me is actually in Ventura County. I said, “No way — Ventura County is way up there.” And sure enough, there’s this southern tip of Ventura that’s like 25 minutes from my house up the 101. Anyway, I’ll go and I’ll watch her ride the horse. I’ll be honest — I’m very nervous every time. But my wife grew up horseback riding, and my daughter, she just loves it. She can be very fickle, but this is one thing that’s stuck.
Now, I should say: If it’s NFL season, I can’t skip football. I’m a huge Raiders fan — it’s terrible. So if there’s an important game, I’ll have my Sunday Ticket on my phone and peek at what’s going on. But that’s fine — it’s understood.
12 p.m. Retail therapy
After the horse, we might go this place in Van Nuys called Iceland. It’s ironic because my wife, her dream trip is to go to Iceland the country, and the closest we’re getting to that right now is an ice-skating rink. Or I love going to the Fashion Square mall [in Sherman Oaks] — I don’t know if it’s a remnant of growing up in New Jersey or it just gives me the nostalgic feeling of being with my parents at the mall. I don’t even have to buy anything. I mean, I might end up getting roped into buying something — not a Labubu because that’s over but some sort of kawaii animal stuffy. I just like that the mall still exists in a time when it’s so easy for everyone to buy everything on their phone. My daughter was like, “Whoa, you can go in and touch things?”
3 p.m. Guilty pleasure
Here’s a naughty one: There’s a little bakery right off Ventura Boulevard called Schazti’s, and they have this chocolate banana pudding that is ridiculous. It comes in a paper cup.
6 p.m. Time to dine
If it’s Football Night in America, my wife and daughter would order Japanese or Chinese or Thai. They’d probably order that every day if they had their way — they’re obsessed. Sometimes I’ll just eat a bowl of cereal and call it a night. If there’s no game, a cool place to go that’s been there forever is the Smoke House in Burbank. I’d always seen it but had never been until a few months ago. Just a classic, old-school place — steak is great.
10 p.m. Slow for show
I’m early to bed because I know I’m gonna be up early to drive my daughter to school, which is my favorite thing when I’m home. I don’t want to miss it. I’m very conscious of how fast she’s growing up, and I know me — I’ll be sad when it’s over. We might watch a show or a movie but I’ll feel my eyes getting heavy after like 10 minutes. It takes me quite a few nights to get through an episode.
Zoe Latta, a co-founder of the fashion brand Eckhaus Latta, saw the clock on Instagram and started searching for pharma swag on eBay. “It was just a hole I got in,” she said. Latta soon rounded up some examples at “Rotting on the Vine,” her Substack newsletter, describing them as “silly byproducts of our sick sad world.”
Pharma swag feels somewhat like Marlboro Man merch — “like this very specific modality of our culture that’s changed,” Latta said, adding, “At first, I thought it was ironic and cheeky. But it’s also so dark.”
In particular, swag like the OxyContin mugs that read “The One to Start With. The One to Stay With” is regarded as highly collectible and highly contentious. Jeremy Wells, a newspaper owner and editor in Olive Hill, Ky., remembered, for example, seeing the mugs sold at a Dollar Tree in New Boston, Ohio, in the late 1990s or early 2000s. “At the same moment that the epidemic is blowing up,” he said.
“You can do a chicken-and-egg argument, and I doubt very seriously that those mugs made anybody get addicted,” he said. “But I do feel like things like those mugs did add to the mystique and the aura of seduction.” (After a protracted lawsuit, Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, has been dissolved and is on the hook to pay more than $5 billion in criminal penalties for fueling the opioid epidemic.)
“I was surprised to see how much this stuff was selling for in general — there is demand,” Latta said, pointing to a vintage Xanax photo frame listed for $230. Latta said she could imagine buying it for a friend who takes Xanax on planes (“if it was at a thrift store for under $10”) or maybe a pair of Moderna aviator sunglasses that she found, which seem to nod at Covid vaccines and the signature Biden eyewear, she said.
Pharmacore — medical-branded pieces worn as fashion — has found new expression at the confluence of identity, medicine and commerce, and at a time when skepticism toward pharmaceuticals is at a high (see: the MAHA movement).
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