By AJ Mun
Correspondent
As we enter the spring of 2025, we are bound to see an influx of fashion trends within the land of social media. However, transitioning into this new fashion season also means that we must remind ourselves that in order for one trend to rise, another must fall. Trends are all fun and games in the moment, but looking back at your Instagram years from now will show you that timeless fashion is always the way to go.
In 2024, the Mob Wife aesthetic rose to prominence, with faux fur coats and pleather galore. While it’s always fun to dress in a vibe other than your day-to-day, fashion should be treated as a beautiful portrait of expression, not a caricature of movie characters long forgotten.
Leathers and furs can always be a fun way to spice up your outfits, but sometimes less is more. What I love to see in fashion is someone who can notice trends and figure out how to decorate their staples to bring fresh looks to the table. Cookie-cutters can be great, but who really wants to be like everyone else?
Every extreme must also have its less exciting counterpart, and in fashion that is the sleepwear and boxer aesthetic. During the summer of 2024, people ran to their nearest clothing store for boxer shorts to wear with a white tank top and cute baseball cap. While they ran to the nearest store to buy, I ran to my pillow to cry.
One can wear loungewear out and about without being so on the nose. If you wear boxers out in public, please know that it looks exactly like what it is: underwear on the outside. Let’s cover up, shall we?
While some trends were a swing and a miss, there are just some looks that will never leave the public eye for the better. Classic streetwear is a style that just about anyone can make work. Who can go wrong with a graphic T-shirt of something they love and a baggy jean? For the more adventurous, chains, hats, jackets and a great taste in shoes can elevate your outfits from fleeting TikTok hype to Pinterest board inspiration in an instant.
Let us also remember that monochrome will always be one of the easiest ways to look more put together than the average outfit. From a matching sweat-set to a high fashion business meeting, if you know your colors then you'll be just fine. We learn colors in preschool, should we not apply our skills to everyday looks?
At the end of the day, wear what you want and wear it well. If what you choose to wear is what makes you feel the best, no one can take that from you. It is simply that some trends have a longer lifespan than others. What’s to love about fashion is that it is ever changing. What was popular in 2020 is embarrassing now, and yet what was popular in the 90s is considered excellent taste amongst today's trends.
When choosing your next outfits, I ask for you to weigh the options. Challenge yourself to wonder if what you're wearing is truly a representation of timeless style — style that could precede your generation and still be admired by younger generations to come — or if your choices are best fit for society and pop culture at the moment. Is it just another piece of tacky fast fashion that will collect dust in your drawers in a month? Let us all do ourselves a favor the next time we have to choose between tacky or timeless, and choose the latter.
