Consumers were introduced to a new era of design, one that emphasizes voluminous silhouettes, heavily structured foundations and comically influenced design details.
Models backstage at the Marc Jacobs fall ready-to-wear 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week. (Photo by Kelly Taub/WWD via Getty Images) WWD via Getty Images
“I’m so tired of everyone constantly equating modernity with simplicity. Can’t the new also be worked, be baroque, be extravagant?” A direct quote from Schiaparelli creative director Daniel Roseberry, shared with esteemed guests attending the brand’s Paris Haute Couture runway show, and the inspiration for a conversation around the influence of visually stimulating collections and maximalist design at Fashion Week—a crucial shift begging for an end to an era of fashion defined by minimalism.
Models backstage at the Marc Jacobs fall ready-to-wear 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week. (Photo by Kelly Taub/WWD via Getty Images) WWD via Getty Images
The Italian luxury brand, known for its avid use of trompe l’oeil design details, pushed the boundaries of physical garments and the physics of a traditional hourglass silhouette with the presentation of its spring Haute Couture 2025 collection during Paris Fashion Week. The runway was adorned with a variety of voluminous looks constructed with visual boning and warped wiring to create the illusion of overemphasized hips and minuscule waistlines. Additionally, designs were crafted with eye-catching necklines, ruched side seams and intricate pleating, incorporated for added texture and dimension.
Garments that didn’t rely on magnificent silhouettes were instead detailed in ornate beading, lined with feathers or overlaid with layers of lace. To complement the collection’s visibly loud physical structure, the coordinating looks were crafted from soft shades of black, champagne and gold in similarly delicate materials such as velvet, organza and satin—inspired by Roseberry’s visit to an antique shop that carried a collection of vintage textiles and spools of ribbon from the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Models backstage at the Marc Jacobs fall ready-to-wear 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week. (Photo by Kelly Taub/WWD via Getty Images) WWD via Getty Images
Another collection aligned with the notable shift in aesthetics—teased during the designer’s most recent stint as guest editor for American Vogue’s December issue—was shown by Marc Jacobs. The namesake brand, no stranger to playful colorways and eccentric takes on the form, lined its fall ready-to-wear 2025 runway show at New York Fashion Week with a number of designs that emulated cartoonish shapes, silhouettes and scale. Using coarse textiles like neoprene, felt and faux fur, each item was crafted with three-dimensional elements, producing garments that took up physical space—whether or not their intention was to remain truthful to the natural curves of the body. From bulbous shoes with upturned vamps to pleated pants puffed away from the body, the collection’s doll-like garments took on a larger-than-life feel.
Kendall Jenner backstage at the Calvin Klein Collection fall ready-to-wear 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week. (Photo by Kelly Taub/WWD via Getty Images) WWD via Getty Images
One of the most surprising collections that adhered to the noticeable trend in large-scale design was Calvin Klein. The brand, currently at the helm of creative director Veronica Leoni, debuted its fall ready-to-wear 2025 collection at New York Fashion Week—the first after a nearly seven-year hiatus. With the brand’s eponymous founder sitting in the front row beside revered Calvin Klein models Kate Moss and Christy Turlington, the show strayed slightly from its typical adherence to minimalistic designs and streamlined silhouettes. Keeping a muted color palette of grays, black and creams, consistent with the brand’s simplified aesthetic, the collection was surprisingly full of newly over-emphasized design details, including exaggerated shoulders and extended bottom hems. Additionally, many garments were adorned with oversized shirt collars, stretched-out sleeve lengths and large pocket flaps.
Models backstage at the Calvin Klein Collection fall ready-to-wear 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week. (Photo by Kelly Taub/WWD via Getty Images) WWD via Getty Images
Of all the recent collections seen at this year’s respective fashion weeks, the looks seen from Calvin Klein perfectly illustrate how persistent this trend of maximalist design is proving to be, as its rise has begun to affect even the most minimalistic of brands to introduce oversized elements in an attempt at modernity.
A model backstage at the Calvin Klein Collection fall ready-to-wear 2025 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week. (Photo by Kelly Taub/WWD via Getty Images) WWD via Getty Images
To understand why this shift in aesthetics is so significant, it’s essential to break down what modern fashion meant to design executives and average consumers up until now. A crucial starting point to the current climate of sleek minimalistic design is the concept of quiet luxury.
Debuting around 2023 with celebrity influence from the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and Sophia Richie, and popularized with the consumption of media like the HBO television show “Succession,” the unisex fashion trend is characterized by unpretentious, average-looking clothing that, because of its refined materials and remarkable quality, is typically adorned with a hefty price tag. These designs and this trend as a whole were meant to emulate the logo-less style of the extremely wealthy, made up of individuals who often don an East Coast-adjacent, preppy selection of simplistic garments in neutral colorways.
Unlike trends of the past, most specifically those popularized in the early 2000s and mid-2010s, which were notorious for their heavily branded, short shelf lives, this trend not only incentivized an update to one’s wardrobe but a change in consumer behavior. Shoppers aligned with the trend were empowered to shop selectively for high-quality pieces that would last longer within the confines of their wardrobe, often tailored to perfection with perfectly flattering and traditional silhouettes. The alignment with an old money aesthetic additionally encouraged consumers to abandon a societally expected interest in fashion, labels, designers or trends, and spend their time on other, perhaps to some, more fruitful hobbies such as reading, writing or athletics—often seen as less vain in nature and more intellectually and physically stimulating.
Referring back to Roseberry’s previous statements on equating modernity with simplicity, the selected examples of recent runway shows—in addition to collections from designer brands such as Marni, Fendi and Prada—showcase a shift from the previously modern take on fashion, with even some of the most “stealth wealth”-aligned brands moving forward with the integration of maximalist design details. This physical evidence of the of the once-popular clothing trend’s decline is additionally backed up with statistical data that reflects waning consumer interest, with Google Trends reporting search term data for the phrase “quiet luxury” as peaking in June of 2023 and slowly declining, with February of this year acquiring 44% of search volume compared to its peak popularity.
As so it often goes with the trickle-down theory of fashion trends, the product adoption model defined by the transference of fashion styles from high-end markets to mainstream consumers, we can presume that this influence of expansive design will eventually make its way to the masses. While the trend first appeared in more obvious forms, such as comically shaped silhouettes that used volume and structure to morph the appearance of garments on the body, maximalist design is more likely to be adopted by consumers with a simplified approach, such as oversized shirt collars, large-scale prints and patterns, shoulder pads or wide belts—anything that emphasizes the physicality of the garment in stark contrast to the refined details of the quiet luxury movement.
Follow me on LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work. Editorial StandardsForbes Accolades