In a 2019 Dazed interview, the late Virgil Abloh predicted that the 2020s would sound the death knell for street style. “In my mind, how many more T-shirts can we own, how many more hoodies, how many sneakers?” he posited. “I think that fashion is gonna go away from buying a boxfresh something; it’ll be like, hey I’m gonna go into my archive.” As we settle into the 2020s and hypebeast codes and logomaniacal dressing continue to dwindle in popularity, Abloh’s forecast feels increasingly astute. Earlier this month, we published our annual GQ Fashion Awards, where we highlighted the resurgence of prep, a new retro sneaker trend, and the overall meme-ification of the fashion industrial complex.
2025 was a dynamic year for menswear that felt at once futuristic and recycled. (There were so many buzzy, career-defining debuts, we created a mediaeval map in order to track all of the shifting heads of state.) Celebrities leaned into the themes of their upcoming projects via kinkwear, greens, and borrowed gems. The flip-flop—or “mandal,” if you’re freaky—experienced a much-needed renaissance, with exposed piggies running amok on the runways of New York, Paris, and Milan. Boat shoes, once an emblem of the regatta set, are now donned by city-dwelling creatives and straight-laced types alike. Meanwhile, harsh spotlights on the “performative male” archetype forced those who were perhaps experimenting with their style and self-expression to shelf their Labubus and pearl chokers for the foreseeable future. (Sometimes call-out culture really does wonders.) Quarter-zip sweaters and iced matcha lattes, a hyper-capitalist combination that had heretofore thrived only within tech-startup circles, became a semi-ironic go-to for upstart netizens; meanwhile, financially successful Hollywood hunks started wearing towering, five-panel caps styled with a douchey dent. Many of these trends are, arguably, evergreen and can stay in one’s wardrobe for years to come, but several must be laid to rest. Here, we take an even deeper deep-dive into the trends of 2025.
Boat Shoes
Sheesh, remember Sperrys? Once a staple of maritime uniforms, later the physical embodiment of debonair douchiness, boat shoes feel like a weirdly fitting comeback for 2025. This most recent wave of the style first stomped down the runway of one Miuccia Prada back in late 2023—as modeled by pop star Troye Sivan, no less—in its full brown-and-tan 2013-prep-school glory. Several brands, including Sperry itself, have since released new versions to match the sensibility of the day, with touches of moccasin here and swaths of loafer there. At the GQ offices, boat shoes are quite popular—a coastal, off-duty-ish alternative to the sometimes-stuffy penny loafer.
Charli XCX and Benito Skinner attend a Coachella event in April.
Joe Scarnici/Getty Images
Emma Corrin, wearing Miu Miu, during Paris Fashion Week in March.
Arnold Jerocki/Getty Images
Neckties
An old favorite, the necktie, roared back into the mainstream during the latter (chillier) half of this year, a move that was cemented in June, when designer Jonathan Anderson dressed some of our favorite actors in outfits we’d typically spot on characters in a workplace sitcom for his splashy Dior menswear debut. (Robert Pattinson in particular looked devastatingly slacker-ish in baggy pleated khakis, a striped shirt, and a tugged-at white striped neck tie.) It’s an unexpected look to covet, the ol’ schoolboy uniform, but in a post-streetwear era, it makes sense that counterculture mirrors corporate ennui, the true bane of society. Now that ties are once again a part of the daily uniform, they’re being styled every which way: power clashed, scarfed up, and tucked into pants.
Walton Goggins, in Saint Laurent, at GQ‘s Men of the Year 2025 party in November.
Michael Buckner/Getty Images
Robert Pattinson and LaKeith Stanfield, both in Dior, at Jonathan Anderson’s debut Dior Homme show in June.
Anthony Ghnassia/Getty Images
Fireman-Clasp Jackets
With the prep revival came an erudite dedication to combing through the design archives of the style’s originators. Ralph Lauren, naturally, experienced quite the year in terms of outsized interest in his vintage pieces—namely, jackets designed with fireman clasps. Initially, this trend felt particular to TikTok, but the utilitarian spin on the (sometimes maligned) chore coat, the fireman-clasp jacket found its way anew into the collections of Loewe, Aimé Leon Dore, and Heron Preston this year, when they were subsequently recreated by fast-fashion retailers and covered by the style sections of both the Times and the New York Times. The teddy-ish style now sweetly holds together the outfits of influencers and former hypebeasts/current preppies alike. Those who had been secret, longtime fans of the unique closure and collectors of Ralph Lauren’s version of it cursed the internet for exposing their gate-kept grails.
In September, a hyped North Face and Aimé Leon Dore collab featured several clasped styles.
Courtesy of North Face
Fireman-clasp jackets, like this furry one seen at Milan Fashion Week in January, can be funky, too.
Photo: Christina Fragkou for GQ
Torpedo Sneakers
Up until just a few years ago, the chunkiest sneakers garnered the most sartorial envy—think of the Balenciaga Triple S or the ongoing collaboration between MM6 Maison Margiela and Salomon. But this year proved sole-crushing for footwear, with barely-there styles like the Prada Collapse and Dries Van Noten’s retro runners increasingly encasing the feet of stylish men and women. The torpedo sneaker felt like the logical next step, so to speak, after a toe-forward summer. Plus, something about wearing a paper-thin trainer in the dead of winter feels inherently luxurious. (No need for slush-proof tactical boots if you’re taking Ubers everywhere.)
A pair of cherry-red torpedo kicks on the Dries Van Noten runway in September.
Victor VIRGILE/Getty Images
Jacob Elordi, wearing svelte Nike sneakers, in LA in October.
Sony Pictures Entertainment/Getty Images
Labubus
I first spotted a Labubu on a trip to Mexico at the end of spring, when I saw a stand full of knockoff versions of the mischievous elfin creature, I thought, How sweet! An evil little monster for macabre children. (Me, formerly.) Upon my return to New York City, I was shocked by the seemingly overnight invasion. The Labubu was suddenly everywhere: hanging from Cher’s Chrome Hearts bag, posted on David Beckham’s Instagram, and in the grips of Marc Jacobs’ bejewelled claws. The Labubu explosion was so aggressive that there was no time to hop on the trend train because it was already overflowing with fresh (and faux) acolytes. And those new recruits were quickly chastised for using the impish gremlin as a vehicle for, sigh, virtue signaling.
In June, Marc Jacobs clipped Labubu (shaped like a shrimp tempura!) to his Birkin.
Gilbert Carrasquillo
Ben Stiller posed with a Zoolander Labubu in October.
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Dirtbag Caps
It was only a matter of time before high-crown hats found their way into every guy’s wardrobe, regardless of the wearer’s political affiliation. For the past 10 years, we’ve primarily seen the silhouette in bright red on the tops of heads of demagogues demanding healthcare cuts and spewing anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, but this year, the beluga-ish hat silhouette expanded its consumer base—to Hollywood’s hunkiest hunks (and thus the countless LA men who strive to dress like them). Several actors, including some of this year’s biggest fit wearers, such as Harry Styles and Jacob Elordi, have made the lofty lid their own. It’s certainly been an interesting year of rebranding for the provocative and towering chapeau.
Jacob Elordi arrives in Venice in August.
Jacopo M. Raule/Getty Images
Jeremy Allen White (wearing a normal hat) and Austin Butler (wearing a Silver Lake chapeau) at a Rockies-Cubs game in May.
George Gaza/Getty Images
Quarter-Zip Knits
By now, quarter-zip knits and matcha comprise an ongoing, internet-specific joke, leaving many of the style’s usual wearers (and the beverage’s steadfast sippers) scratching their heads. Though the style is now largely associated with irony-pilled netizens and woefully unaware tech bros, quarter zips can still look elegant and cozy. So feel free to enjoy your grassy cups of matcha freely, but you may feel less like a meme, socially, with a simple cappuccino or Celsius instead.
Jonathan Bailey, in Dior, at Paris Fashion Week in October.
Neil Mockford
Jason Gyamfi, right, kicked off the “quarter zips and matcha” movement in his viral TikTok in November.
Courtesy of Jason Gyamfi
Grungy Tee-Over-Long-Sleeve Layering
“In 2007 if you wore a long sleeve T-shirt under a regular T-shirt it meant that you liked music,” goes a widely circulated, oft-copied X post by writer Anne T. Donahue. Indeed, the combination of a short-sleeve tee layered over a long-sleeve tee could be interpreted as cartoonishly one-note, in the way that pleated skirts belong on cheerleaders and horn-rimmed glasses should be permanently affixed to the faces of poindexters. The layered styling trick evokes the spirit of a sensitive heartthrob in a turn-of-the-millennium teen drama. For example, Chad Michael Murray’s character in Dawson’s Creek, Charlie Todd, lived in the combination and was, of course, a misunderstood musician. As the timelessly boyish intricacies of Y2K styling continue to surface, this pairing felt like an obvious (and timeless) one to revisit.
Josh Hutcherson layered up on the Tonight Show in November.
NBC/Getty Images
Billie Eilish performing in LA in January.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Flip-Flops
It’s no secret that this year was a fabulous one for feet. Rick Owens launched an OnlyFans, the Row released a nearly $700 thong sandal, and Vibram’s FiveFingers continued their ascent from crunchy to chic. The flip-flop trend harkens back to the golden days of mall culture, when puca shells and frosted tips were synonymous with high-school social capital and it was always summer at your local Hollister. The ubiquity of toes on the streets of New York this summer felt at once sensual and crude. It wasn’t until I witnessed an acquaintance premiere his recent acquisition of Balenciaga’s Zero sandal, only to get his piggies brutally stomped on by a partygoer, that I wondered why we ever stopped wearing them in the first place. Back to the beach they go.
Flip-flops on the Auralee runway in June.
Victor VIRGILE/Getty Images
Also in June, Jonathan Bailey, center, bared toes at a Jurassic World Rebirth photocall in London.
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
