Polished Rock Is the Nostalgic Aesthetic Taking Over 2025
At a certain point over the last half-decade, online attitudes shifted from futuristic to nostalgic, taking personal style along with them. The year 2020 saw the resurgence of McBling and Y2K, which coincided with the explosion of TikTok, sending fashion aesthetics into digital hyperdrive. From there, microtrends took on a life of their own, ultimately leading to intense trend fatigue and the rise (and fall) of quiet luxury.
Now, as we come out of the sweeping haze of cashmere cardigans and wide-legged trousers, fashion is once again experimenting with measured extravagance, blending late-20th-century power dressing with the flippant attitude of 2010s grunge and presenting us with a new hybrid. Call it 'polished rock.'
It's the result of two phenomena converging: continued nostalgia, on the part of brands and fans alike, for It items of runways past; and a gradual rebuttal of the quiet-luxury-induced quest for aesthetic perfection. 'Younger people [are] obsessed with what they see on social media. And a lot of social media fashion content right now is about the past,' says fashion writer and author Kristen Bateman. Hints of this retromania have emerged of late—Chemena Kamali debuted an updated Paddington bag for Chloé's fall 2025 collection, while Saint Laurent returned to its '80s archive of decadent lace and gold accessories.
Isabel Marant artistic director Kim Bekker wanted a reset this season, opting for a tousled but composed look that oozed subtle sexiness. For fall 2025, she turned to British rock bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees, as well as Marant herself, for inspiration, leaning into the clash between tailored silhouettes and an IDGAF attitude. A lace blouse paired with a masculine coat evoked this ideal of what she calls 'something very delicate and romantic, with something tough over it.' Achieving the look relies on a balance of gloss and intentional undone-ness. Think a plain white T-shirt and an embellished designer leather jacket, or statement patterned tights with the perfect blowout.
Womenswear borrowing from traditionally masculine silhouettes, while far from its original '80s storming-the-C-suite context, feels transgressive once again, says Francesca Granata, associate professor of fashion studies at the Parsons School of Design. Take Vaquera's fall 2025 collection: Much like in the '80s, bigger was better, whether it was off-kilter hats, gigantic pearly accessories, shelf-like shoulders, poufy gowns, or tattered suits. 'This return to [a traditional idea] of womanhood, which we never thought we were going to see again in our lifetime, is being pushed on social media,' Granata says. 'So all of a sudden, these masculine, broad-shouldered silhouettes are going against the grain.'
Unlike its late-aughts predecessor indie sleaze, this revival can't help but be more refined and less scrappy-DIY, rebel roots be damned. Mary-Kate Olsen's wine-stained Balenciaga Le City bag might drive nostalgic fans to re-create the look (just probably without the stain). 'When I was younger, I idolized Audrey Kitching—her pink hair and messy eyeliner. But today, I feel like that can't exist, because everything is so curated for social media,' Bateman says. 'I don't know that we would ever experience a real rock 'n' roll culture again, so I think that's why there's a fascination with it.' If designers like Zandra Rhodes, who dressed both rock stars and royalty, helped commercialize countercultural aesthetics, the result of that commingling is finally here.
If a single designer could sum up the concept, it would be Hedi Slimane, who in his prior roles as creative director of Dior Homme, Saint Laurent, and Celine had a heavy hand in pioneering glamorous grunge. Slimane has long been captivated by younger generations, even inspiring a movement of so-called Hedi boys who embrace his androgynous rock style.
But however deeply Slimane may understand youth culture, his designs also fit squarely in the luxury realm, thanks to their streamlined tailoring and luxe materials. For example, in spring 2021, he staged a runway show for Celine inspired by TikTok Eboys titled 'The Dancing Kid,' long before the industry fully embraced the app. This is the tempered maximalism we saw creep back in on the fall 2025 runways. And the kids are buying into it: 'I know people saving up to buy a $5,000 Celine jacket—they'll sleep in that jacket,' jokes London designer Aaron Esh.
For independent designers like Esh who've been operating on the outskirts of the trend cycle, it feels like the post-TikTok fashion conversation is finally catching up. After three runway shows, Esh has carved out a name as the purveyor of grungy yet sleek clothing that is unafraid to contradict itself. He'll pair a tattered baseball cap with an expensively draped dress and a pair of leather thong sandals. The key to that insouciance? Basing many of his looks on people he personally knows, away from the lens of social media trends. 'There's this subconscious, but also conscious, referencing of real people, which makes the fashion authentic,' Esh says. 'The things that we do reference are completely un-rock 'n' roll,' he adds, making note of the timeless luxury found in'50s Cristóbal Balenciaga or Pierre Cardin's cocoon coats. Ironically, both his indifference to trends and his deference to traditional glamour feel in step with the current countercultural attitude.
In comparison to the whirlwind personal style cycles of recent years, polished rock feels like it has longevity. It cherry-picks glamorous aspects from numerous eras, allowing fans of each—whether they be boho, punk, or grunge—to craft their own interpretation. 'Especially as we go into the fall, there are so many great staples,' Bateman says. 'Skinny jeans, when worn correctly, can actually be really great.'
This story appears in the September 2025 issue of ELLE.
GET THE LATEST ISSUE OF ELLE
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Newsweek
a minute ago
- Newsweek
Man Tries To Make Presentation, Cat Decides 'It's Her Time To Shine'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The moment a cat took over during her owner's practice presentation for school left viewers in stitches. An August 16 TikTok video posted by user @kayboltsmith showed a husband, Nathan Smith, standing in front of the camera with his wife, Kayla, sitting on a padded table. Nathan needed to film a presentation for his physical therapy program and used Kayla as his patient. But with a "needy kitten" in the house, those plans got interrupted. In the midst of recording his presentation, the couple's cat, Bee, began circling around the table. Their mouths dropped when she hopped up. Trying to keep the laughter in, Kayla used her hand to cover her mouth. Knowing there could be distractions as a physical therapist, the show went on and Nathan continued to present. Meanwhile, Bee climbed over Kayla and made herself comfortable. The text on the video read: "It's her time to shine." The couple lost it when the cat began cleaning herself, angling herself perfectly in the frame. Kayla told Newsweek via TikTok that the cat's interruption went on for about five minutes before her husband finally picked Bee up and shooed her off-screen. Screenshots from an August 16 TikTok video of a couple's cat interrupting the husband's recorded presentation for physical therapy school. Screenshots from an August 16 TikTok video of a couple's cat interrupting the husband's recorded presentation for physical therapy school. @kayboltsmith/TikTok "We were not surprised as Bee is a needy kitten who always likes to be with us when we are doing something," she said. "This was our first PT video we had to make since adopting her so I knew something was about to happen!" Luckily, Nathan was not presenting live. He had the option to rerecord, but decided this version would work. "He said his professor is chill and will likely find it funny," she said. Viewer Reactions People are obsessed with the cat's interest in the couple's activities, and as of Wednesday, the TikTok video reached over 27,800 views and 5,839 likes. "She just wanted to be involved," a viewer wrote, while a second person commented: "No, but I wish my PT's office had a cat." Another added: "I would be giving bonus points for the cat assisting." Many laughed at how Nathan "scooped her up" after she made herself comfortable on the table and others wondered what grade he received. Kayla responded: "I told him he's gonna get points off for twisting her spine. Bad PT." Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@ with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
Buzz Feed
30 minutes ago
- Buzz Feed
23 Bizarre Facts That Sound Fake But Are Actually True
Until 2015 in the UK, the coloring in red skittles contained carmine, which derives from the crushed abdomen of female beetles. There's an 80% chance your toothbrush has fecal matter on it. Even if it's stored in a closed container. Even toothbrushes stored outside the bathroom may be contaminated with fecal matter. Winnie the Pooh was banned from a Polish playground because he doesn't wear pants. The casting team for the Harry Potter movies was strongly against non-British actors being a part of the film, which meant that Robin Williams was turned down for Hagrid. Liam Aiken was the only American actor who even got the chance to audition for Harry Potter. Aside from that one exception, the casting team insisted on hiring only British actors. Because of that rule, Robin Williams reached out to director Chris Columbus about playing Hagrid but was politely turned down. As casting director Janet Hirshenson later explained, once Columbus said no to Robin, there was no way he was going to make an exception for anyone else. Cows have accents, and it goes way beyond moo! UK dairy farmers observed that cows seemed to moo with slight variations depending on the region. Curious about this, researchers from the University of London conducted a study and confirmed it — cows really do have regional differences in their moos. Interestingly, birds are also known to develop distinct local dialects. Nutmeg isn't just used in food. It can also be hallucinogenic if consumed in large doses. McDonald's used to have stirring spoons for their coffee until people began using them to snort cocaine. Pirates wore eye patches not because they were missing an eye, but to keep one eye adjusted to darkness. This let them switch quickly between bright sunlight above deck and the dim conditions below deck, giving them an advantage in battle or while moving through the ship. You can actually go to Norway that is, or even Hell, Michigan. And don't worry, it doesn't really get hot. Pope John Paul II is an honorary Harlem Globetrotter. Believe it or not, the largest tire manufacturer in the world In 2011, Guinness World Records named Lego the biggest tire manufacturer in the world. That year, the company produced 381 million tiny tires — far more than Bridgestone's 190 million, Michelin's 184 million, or Goodyear's 181 million. Sure, Lego tires are much easier to make since they're miniature and don't require everything an actual motor vehicle tire needs, but the numbers are still surprising! Roses are among the oldest plants on Earth, with fossils dating back 35 million years. The oldest living rose, which grows on a wall at Hildesheim Cathedral in Germany, is over 1,000 years old — and amazingly, it even survived a World War II bombing. President Theodore Roosevelt had a pet hyena named Bill. There's a pretty high chance that the ground coffee you use likely contains cockroaches. On August 9, 1996, production on Titanic took an unexpected and alarming turn when almost 80 cast and crew members were sent to the hospital after eating clam chowder on set. At first, the incident was thought to be a case of food poisoning, but a Nova Scotia newspaper later reported that the chowder had been deliberately spiked with PCP. Among those affected were actor Bill Paxton and director James Cameron. It's wild to think about, but none of us have ever actually seen our own faces — only reflections and images. Every time we look in a mirror or scroll past a photo, we're only catching a filtered representation. The world sees us directly, but we only know ourselves through glass and pixels. Stop signs used to be yellow. Before the 1920s, stop signs didn't follow any uniform rules — they came in all different shapes and colors. In 1922, the American Association of State Highway Officials decided that stop signs should be yellow and octagon-shaped. At the time, they didn't choose red because red paint tended to fade quickly and appeared too dark at night. It wasn't until the 1950s, after more durable red paint was developed, that the now-familiar red stop sign became the standard. There's actually a gender-neutral word for "niece" or "nephew" — It's "nibling." If you're brother or sister is becoming a parent but they don't know the sex yet, you could easily say, "I have a nibling on the way!" "Paul Winchell, who voiced Tigger in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, invented an artificial heart." Technically, strawberries and raspberries aren't berries, but bananas and avocados are. Strawberries aren't considered true berries because they don't develop from a single ovary — instead, each tiny seed on the outside comes from its own ovary. Bananas, on the other hand, grow from a single ovary and meet the botanical definition of a berry, which is why they count as one. Before people became obsessed with painting fake freckles on their faces, people wore fake moles made of things like silk, velvet, and even mouse skin as a fashion statement. While stars like Marilyn Monroe, Eva Mendes, and Cindy Crawford popularized beauty marks, people wore facial patches for a variety of reasons. Some covered scars or blemishes, others made political statements, and some even used them to express their personality or relationship status. These patches came in all sorts of shapes — circles, hearts, stars, and moons. The trend saw a short revival in the 1940s before disappearing again. The dot over the lowercase letters 'i' and 'j' actually has a name. It's called a tittle. It appears to be a blend of the words "tiny" and "little"...now how adorable is that?! Lastly, Rapper Pusha T and Justin Timberlake wrote the "I'm Lovin' It" jingle for McDonald's. Unfortunately, they were only paid a one-time fee, and they don't own any publishing rights. Pusha T mentioned in a podcast that he received a $500,000 upfront payment for a jingle — a hefty sum, but he doesn't hold any publishing rights to it. Since the jingle has been used for years, he likely could have made much more if he had. On the other hand, he also created the jingle for Arby's 'We Have the Meats' slogan, and he owns 40% of the publishing rights for that one. Do you have a cool fact to share? Let me know in the comments!
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
From Dorm Room to Mass Retail: The Kangaroo Hanger Story
Most people never think twice about hangers. They're flimsy, they break, and they rarely do their job well. But for Angus Willows, that frustration sparked a bigger question: Why hasn't anyone tried to make them better? His answer was the Kangaroo Hanger, a patented hanger that is simple, durable, and made from 100 percent recycled materials in the United States. 'I didn't set out to start a hanger company,' Willows says. 'I set out to fix something simple that millions of people use every day.' A Dorm Room Beginning The idea started when Willows was a college sophomore. 'I found myself staring at my closet, frustrated by cheap hangers that bent, broke, and couldn't even hold a shirt properly,' he recalls. He began sketching designs, cutting prototypes out of cardboard in his dorm room, and testing ways to hold collared shirts without buttoning them. 'When cardboard wasn't enough, I used a small 3D printer I kept under my clothes rack,' Willows says. 'I printed each hanger in halves, glued them together, and refined the design hundreds of times.' Determined to protect his work, Willows bought a Patent It Yourself book and drafted his first provisional application by hand. 'I spent everything I had just to pay a lawyer to review it for a few hours,' he says. 'That's how the Kangaroo Hanger became a patented product.' Going Viral and Scaling Up Like many startups, funding was the hardest part. 'Injection molds are expensive, and I didn't want to bring in investors who might push for cheaper materials or lower quality,' Willows explains. With just three months to make it work, he turned to TikTok. 'I had never posted before, but I committed to posting every day,' he says. On day 40, one of his videos went viral, gaining more than 7 million views. The very next day, another video reached 17 million. 'That was enough to fund the first mold and start production,' Willows says. Today, the viral TikTok product has over 200 million organic views and 650,000 social followers across platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Sustainable by Design What sets Kangaroo apart isn't just clever marketing; it's a clear commitment to sustainability. 'We make our hangers in Wisconsin from 100 percent recycled materials,' Willows says. 'That keeps plastic out of landfills and cuts the carbon emissions that come from shipping overseas.' The fashion industry already produces 92 million tons of textile waste annually. Choosing recycled hangers and eco-friendly closet organization tools like Kangaroo helps reduce that footprint. 'People can feel good about using them because they're better for both their clothes and the planet,' Willows explains. From College Idea to National Retail Willows' hangers are now sold in thousands of Walmart and Target stores nationwide, with more retailers on the way. 'Seeing them on shelves feels surreal,' he says. 'But it proves that if you keep it simple, durable, and sustainable, people respond.' Looking ahead, Willows and his company, Zickers LLC, plan to expand into the wider home organization space. 'Kangaroo isn't just about a hanger,' he says. 'It's about showing that even the most ordinary object can be reinvented.'
