The 5 trends that dominated London Fashion Week - from pillbox hats to faux fur dusters

London Fashion Week provided a smorgasbord of style inspiration for 2025. British designers re-imagined florals, revisited androgynous silhouettes and showcased contemporary takes on traditional femininity. 

As the sunsets on London Fashion Week, TheIndustry.fashion has put together a list of five trends that are bound to creep into wardrobes in 2025. From Eighties silhouettes to pillbox hats to faux fur, here are five of the biggest trends from London Fashion Week.

Pillbox hats

Emilia Wickstead’s 1960s collection inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s film, The Birds (1963), brought back an accessory that has already been slowly creeping onto the fashion scene since Copenhagen Fashion Week. That is, of course, the pillbox hat.

Emilia Wickstead brought back the pillbox hat with her Sixties-inspired collection (Yui Mok/PA)

Beginning as a form of military headgear, the pillbox hat was popularised by US first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who was famed for her signature block-colour hats that matched her outfits. She was even wearing a pink pillbox hat to match her Chanel suit on the day her husband, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in 1963 in Dallas, Texas.

While multiple retro tropes graced the runway this season – from Burberry’s Eighties blouson bomber jackets to Chet Lo’s Noughties hair crimping – the most memorable fashion motif was certainly the revival of the pillbox hat.

Eighties’ silhouettes

Broad shoulders, bold prints, nipped-in waists and quaffed hair dominated the runway this season. From Richard Quinn’s blouson blouses to Paul Costelloe’s full-waisted belts and S.S. Daley’s quaffed hair – it seems the 1980s is making a comeback in one way or another.

1980s shoulder pads and florals on Richard Quinn's runway.

Many collections looked to archetypes of British pop culture this season, taking inspiration from musicians such as The Smiths and Siouxsie Sioux.

Books as accessories

If the 'Loathing' choreography in Wicked the movie didn't convince you that books deserve to be worn as accessories, then let London Fashion Week's runways make a plea. As observed at Erdem and JW Anderson’s collections last September, designers are once again making a case for books as bags. Remember the days when magazine-printed clutch bags were the go-to... well these may be making a comeback in 2025.

Emilia Wickstead’s runway featured magazines as clutches (Yui Mok/PA)

Emilia Wickstead’s autumn/winter 2025 collection featured retro newspapers as clutches, which is a new take on the modern paperback as an outfit accompaniment.

Faux-fur accents

While the ‘mob wife’ aesthetic brought back the extravagant fur coat last year, subtler trims were observed on this season’s runway, with lined leather jackets and faux fur stoles. Simone Rocha, Burberry and Helen Anthony were among the designers showcasing faux fur accents this season.

 

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At Simone Rocha’s show, the Irish designer presented faux-fur coats sliced to ribbons halfway up from their hemlines – a gesture repeated across the collection. Meanwhile, at Helen Anthony, the sustainably-focused brand created ensembles made from a new man-made fur.

Cropped trousers

Culottes, cropped trousers and breeches were another key trend spotted on the runways of Chet Lo, Bora Aksu and Conner Ives.

While Chloe’s spring/summer 2025 runway took the fashion world by storm with her boho lace pantaloons, it seems the cropped trouser trend isn’t just for summer. Wool breeches, billowing culottes and crops graced both the runways and front rows this season.

Bora Aksu runway (Jordan Pettitt/PA)

Often paired with high riding boots – another trend that has permeated from last season – this season’s baggy cropped trousers evoked a blend of old-school country shooting attire and Noughties capri pants.