The Trend Forecast: My trend predictions for Summer 2025

I may not have a green screen or one of those fun clicker pointers that BBC Weather diva, Carole Kirkwood uses, but, I will be telling a forecast... A trend forecast. Because, whilst I might not posess a BA in Fashion Studies, I have spent my ££ Disabled Student Allowance ££ on the right side of Vinted and Depop (massive shout out to my OCD counting as a disability- thank u touching wood, thank u intrusive thoughts <3 my wardrobe looks so much hotter for it!). 

Hence and so forth, who put 10 pence in me?!! Because i'm giving my 10p and telling Anna Wintour et al., what is coming in HOT to our lookbooks this Summer 2025.

How does the trend cycle influence this forecast?

As King Solomon says in the book of Ecclesiastes (Bible, BC); "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun". 

Sometimes I wonder if we have reached a stage of plateau when trying to invent new phenomena. Is ANYTHING truly new anymore? Has everything that could ever be created, already been created? Are we just chopping and changing, reusing the same ideas over and over again, just in different fonts?There's annual law suits of artists suing their contemporaries over musical copy-right claims, and the cinema is rammed full of lazy re-makes and live action prequels and sequels from films already made. We are living in a time of less new, and more redo, reuse, recycle. 

The trend cycle, a phenomenon that refers to the return of styles from days gone by. Typically, trend cycles circle back within 15-20 years, once the aesthetic has had its peak in popularity, been replaced, but enough time (and style trauma) has surpassed for it to be fashion again. But enough time has passed without it being cringe or passé (ever noticed the difference in someone's intention when calling someone's style 'retro'... or 'vintage' <3?)

Past decades have boasted their fair share of trend cycles that are layered in aesthetics and references from the days of yore, ie, the c.18th Renaissance coated frills and flamboyance seen in the 1980s New Romantics, or the cowboy, bohemiam style that trickled down from 1800's Midwest into the hippie chic of the 1960s.

Us Gen-Z lot are gripped by the rose-tinted shackles of NOSTALGIA. Whilst our Millennial siblings were growing up in the Millennium; the new era, the future, leaving the past in the past, WE are obsessed with romanticising the past. And it's soooo accessible! We are, as a generation, chronically online. As a result we have access to the hazy records and glamorous film photos of the hotties from the 90s and 2000s. Before we know it, we are making Pinterest mood boards of pretty 90s girls and churning out thirst trap edits of anaemic looking boys with curtain bangs and baggy jeans.

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

with this in mind. let's have a dabble in predicting some upcoming trends.

Which brings me onto THE TREND CYCLE.

2011 was a beautiful nightmare

However, we are now living in a time of significantly shortened trend cycles. The most 'in' trends right now are recreating aesthetics from the 2000s, with the y2k trend, and even more recently the digital camera, smudged eyeliner, booty shorts ressurgance of indie sleeze; an homage to the 2010s. 

Gen Z(edd)
in the Zedd sense that

We are the first generation to grow up alongside the internet from a young age, with its exposure trickling in an upward trend annually. We grew up in a time where screen time on the family computer was still minuted, whilst simultaneously growing up in a time where many of us owned our first iPad/iPhone/iPaid at a mere12 years old. 

Only now is society starting to have a real discourse about the fears and true dark consequences of growing up with social media. And i believe that this is why we are a generation KNEE DEEP, obsessed with NOSTALGIA. 

Hence and so forth, nostalgia has us in a chokehold. But its nostalgia for a time that's within touching distance- a time without the slog of screen times, toxic social media culture and general uncertainity. It's nostlagia for a tangeable time that echoes the liberalism and social values we live in now, but, at a bargepoll distance. We are hardly romanticing thewar-torn rations, conservative values and traditionalism of the 1940s (but the #TradWives are reppin their corner). 

Enter: 2000s/2010s. A 'simpler time'.

1) Pauls Boutique

my Roman Empiss

If you were ever intimidated by a teenage girl in the 2000s, they def has wrists limp as a wet fish.. Years of chunky PVC PB bag handles will wear down the strongest of wrists. These power-houses of bags stuck by maximalism, even in her dying days, they championed leopard print, plastic, obnoxiously dangling keyrings and bling all before minimalism and clean-girl aesthetic kicked her out. 

I remember strolling thru the PB section of the Bentalls centre, Kingston and audibly gagging just to prove a point that I could NEVER be seen with such a classless vessel for my things. (Bear in mind, I also used to cough and gag everytime I walked past a smoker, and now my pronouns are cig/her/ate). I thought PB was TACKY, garish and vulgar... Exactly everything I love and live by now. Tackiness, u were luved.

ok!! the princess di bag isnt PB, but 1) it would be part of a generational rearing campaign if it was and 2) it fits the tacky but beautiful brief... so allow it <3

2) Chunky Necklaces 

If its bold, brazen and could poke a small eye out, then its back baby. Your neck, should ideally be sore and throbbing after donning your lapel with one of these chunks. Heavy is the head that wears the cown, but yassified is the girl who wears the violently bolbus neckerchief.

I've said it and I'll say it again, minimalism is OUT, maximalism is IN.

3) The 'male gaze' Topman style tops

If Gaz from Geordie Shore would wear it whilst necking a kebab in one hand, and necking Charlotte Crosby in the other, then its a goer!!! Ideally these misogynistic tops would be those hateful tank tops that expose the nips, but at long as it features a sexc girl looking pretty and scantily clad, then all styles are allowed. It's not the male gaze if a girl wears it!? IS IT!

girls food gear!!!!

4) knock off brands

Ugly Betty S1, episode 11: Betty gets gifted a 4k Gucci handbag, and for the plot, ends up selling it on and rebuying a knock off dupe from a street vendor. She loves it, it looks great and it cost a fraction of the price. 

This 2007 case study summarises the genius of knock off dupes. It's a life lesson in doing stuff on the cheap, whilst still looking expensive. The covert tackiness, paired with the exterior class makes for a wardrobe win everytime. Knock off garms and accessories are reminiscent of family holidays to Spain, where we would go around the local clothes market and be inundated with piles of 'Guci', 'Chanel' and 'Bede' tank tops and shoulder bags. Blink and you miss the missing letter, or slighty too shiny logos. It's y2k fashion with a touch of shitty!

so watch out. tacky is in. and i for one, cannot wait to be a walking eye sore xxx

Ranking the best drink contexts

A definitive ranking of how good a beverage hits, depending on its *very* specific location of consumption.

Shower beer

An urban myth surely. I've heard of people singing miss shower beers' praises (is it a boy thing??), but I can't say I've ever relished the delights. It's a logistical nightmare as far as I'm concerned. Water dripping into the beer, making it more of a 0.0% mixed with fake tan and Cien lemon and tea tree shower gel. Sounds like a craftbrew wet dream. If you're getting ready for a night out, the chances are, the shower is a quick rush job, purely business and no pleasure. Save the drink for the getting ready chunk of the evening, when your makeup is going rubbish and you need beer goggles of your own just to feel better about your own final look.

Best for: Corona

Best paired with: The holy 'SSS'

Rating: 1/5

Tube tin

There's something extraordinary in seeing people drink on the Tube, especially when there's a sign prohibiting drinking on public transport above their glazzed eyes. Rebels without causes. Tube tinniing is a very inclusive institution, everyone can get involved, any day of the week, any time. There's the labourers with a beer in hand, there's the mummas on route to Abba Voyage with their pre-mixed tins, and there's the revellers on route to Infernos. Admitedlly, a Thursday-Saturday tube tin razzles my dazzle the most, because its a deconstructed pres. Weekday tube tins often recieve dirty looks from the commuters, which simply feels like a delicious act of defiance against the 9to5. To TFL and to the Mayor of Ldn, your journey juice matters xx
x

Best paired with: the District Line and a two-mins to the tube dash to the station's M&S

Rating: 4/5

Journey juice in the uber

Hell hath no fury like a girl hecticly necking squadka when the Bolt is outside and your waiting fee is screaming. 

Once you've poured a shit mix of everyone's drinks into the empty Tesco fizzy water bottle, you're left with a pinkish, brownish potion. A poor womens Long Island Iced Tits. This drink tableau is all about the art of acting nonchalant; from barely giving your 1L bottle of piss a second look, treating it more as an accidential accessory with sans intention of drinking it. There's the subtle unscrewing of the bottle top before you catch the beedy look of the driver in his mirror... God has a special seat in Heaven for the drivers who are sweet with you guzzling away (they might even try a sip themself!), and they'll deffo let you get on the aux. And, my personal fave, is the Key Stage 3 acting that your 45 units of vodka is actually, in fact, water. The over-egged screams of 'do you want somE WaTEr!?' as you lob the sharing goblet to your pal in the front, who is desperately making chat with the driver and single-handedly clawing back ur uber rating.

Best paired with: the reliable friend who can chat for England with the uber driver

Rating: 5/5

Pre date shot

Ah Dutch courage, my old friend! I'm off to meet a stranger of t'web and I need a stiff tipple to stop the phrase 'you don't get a second chance at a first impression' from rattling around in my brain. The intrusive thoughts start rocking and rolling; "did I drain all my best punchlines via the medium of text?", "wot if I say 'i'm gonna go poo' instead of 'im gonna go pee'"?! and he thinks im revolting!! I've heard there's different ratio sweet spots, a vodka tonic followed by a last minute shot whilst ur getting ready, a a beer for the journey, or a dinner of two crackers, an olive and cigarette guzzled by two large glass of the red stuff.

a graph!

Best paired with: a skim read of your Hinge conversations to refresh your memory (this will make the conversational prompts an easier transition when the time comes, and avoid mix up of the content of conversations with your army of other Hinge matches).

Rating 3/5: It's purely strategic and mixed with a bag of nerves and regret for signing up in the first place

Tampon sneak (or any other empty cosmetic product)  

The sweet mix of vodka and the dregs of So...? Kiss Me! body mist and I'm back to being 16 again. Dilulted vodka, gin, or whatever I can get my hands on from my parents' alcohol cupboard. As long as its transported in an empty cosmetic tube to avoid confiscation upon bag checks.

Best paired with: the despeation of youth

Rating: 3/5

Covert soccer mum

Drinking the hard stuff in soft scenarios... there's a naughtiness to it. Splash of Baileys in the hot choc, gulp of Communion Wine at Sunday Mass, or how about the burn of mouthwash on a humble Monday morning. It's daylight drunkeness! Casual drinks can easily slop into every area of your life... There's a reason why recovering alcoholics are advised to not consume mouth wash, poppy seeds or the Christmas trifle..all the mundane bits and boobs contain the devil's drink. 

Best paired with: a family gathering where you have to be on the sauce covertly, simply as a coping mechanism

Rating: 2/5 (kinda has a sad girl twang to it but in a hot way)

Bit dark! Get me to the beer garden with a silly Honeydew melon flavour stick from China and a pint of adult apple juice xxxx

the working week lookbook: CITV divas edition

Me and telly:

Ever since I can remember, I have structured my life around priorities. Working my way around the dinner plate? Prioritise eating the green beans first so they're out of the way. And it was always top priotity to ensure I had my ranking of Girls Aloud members secured and memorized, just incase I should be quizzed about such political alignment.

So yes, when I was in my Mike TV era (ages 7-11-current), my hierarchy of needs was very telleh-leaning. see fig 1 for details of my Key Stage 3 TV leaning preferences:

Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs revisited 

(C)Sh(itv):

Ok! graphics r cool. But notice how CITV falls to the bottom of the food chain. CITV would always be the channel put on the bench, purely for emergency purposes but never to be seriously considered for the leading role. The likes of CBBC and Channel 4 5:30pm viewings of Four in A Bed would take priority over Citvshit anyday. 

And i'm at peace with that for the most part, its limp offerings consisted of crudely done cartoons (Horrid Henry is obv the exception to the rule), and shows were ravaged by adverts (my first taste of Capitalism and it tasted like Lelli Kelly shoes, the cuteeest shoes oh yeh!)

stop passing the buck Zuzma !!!!

and not least CITV's tacky logo...it looks like it was designed by this lot >> after a bust up in the taxi, and a stroppy call on the Samsung Galaxy :

Wait!! CITV were acc looksmaxxing to the max:

However! Like all good authors, the story arc that I had constructed for CITV suddenly shifted! I came to realise that whilst CITV lacked in substance, they more than made up for it with looks. CITV was stuffed to the brim with characters who served up looks every single afternoon, and we never even realised it. Whilst we were all at CBBC's house, wagging our tongues at Justine Littlewood's baby tee fits and the y2k vampy looks plastered all over Young Dracula, CITV divas were brewing something deliciously aesthetically pleasing. 

Don't believe me?

You''ll shit houte couture when u see it!!! 

Looks, fits, stylez from the CITV girls! Forgot those days of the week imprited socks, inspire your weekly looks in the style of some of the baddest in the business. CITV divas 43ver.

💋💋Dress your working week up according to these CXntTV Divas:👄💖💋

Monday: Mel from My Parents are Aliens

A children's sitcom about aliens who come to earth and disguise themselves as humans, in the form of foster parents. the care system is in tatters.

Mel: the older and cooler sister of the clan, dressed to the 7,8,9s all day long.

My Depop veterans would be chuckin out lowball offers left right and centre for that graphic tank and stringy belt

jarvis cocker or david tennant? either way that man looks like a cigarette
but! he's Scottish and djs at the school. so he's naturally on my hit list. 

Tuesday: Danny from Britannia High

A poor man's answer to High School Musical, for those whose parents were 2 povvo to buy Disney Channel. Quite a sensational drama. A nice stepping stone to a future watching Hollyoaks and Made In Chelsea.

fig 1. danny and lauren scissoring!

fig 1. I believe this promo shoot was the inspo behind Sabrina Carpenter's Juno: 'have u ever tried... this one?' Talk about changing up positions...

a chunky cowboy belt straight out of 2009, a muscle t tank top and a look of fear in ur eye

fig 2.if effy stonem was born on the wrong side of the tracks

he's such a style icon he already had pre-made style guides: SAY NO TO SKINNY and wristbands are in Tueday's #ootd 

celebrate ur natural beauty, blur gender norms and let the tom boy in you 'think pink'. The bootcut jean is nothing short of sensationalist media. Kenny Lamar's Super Bowl's inspo.

Wednesday: Tricky TV

Stephen Mulhern invites his audience into the 'secret circle' as we enjoy him and his gaggle of work experience interns performing SPELL-BINDING magic tricks. I pinned my entire career's hopes and dreams on this tomfoolery, and convinced myself I was going to be a magician. 

Happy hump day girls!-have some self-filled colouring books!

yes i fancy stephen mulhern from the 2000s, yes i am working through this info

it's Vegas night girls! pop on ur best BlackJack inspired looks with a red and black job lot.

the vibe is red, burgandy and mayybbee a maroon JUST make sure it's ill-fitting !!!

Thursday: Jungle Run- the monkey huns

still the gameshow that I would bet on winning. let me win my Gameboy and leave the rest of the teammates trapped in the temple in peace!

the chosen 2 monkeys when Noah decided to save them on the Arc

These girls gave us a demo in co-dependant relationships and volumising your barnet. They would literally chuck all sorts of shit at the pre-pubescent kid contestant, in the name of keeping them locked away from their man. Hot stuff. So toxic and troubled.

Also giving us a masterclass in the politics of misusing box-dye and sunshine. Green hair, and green faced with envy.

Friday: Bel's Boys 

An Irish gem, about a 9 year old band manager and a gaggle of Irish boys who look like a body- dysphoried version of Panic! At the Disco. I fear they rocked, so Paul Mescal could run and go on to fly the flag for Irish men. Blazer looks for those Thurs post-work drinkies!!

one thing about these boys, they luv a blazer with a jean. Sixth Form smart casual dress#coded 

Comrade core meets sexy office siren meets Kurt from Glee

a chris martin inspired long sleeve-short sleeve moment. sky full of slags for the waistcoat and tie combo.

Millennial things that are actually 'lit'

millennial things that i acc enjoy 

The millennial boys and girls do some things well. Or, to put it in millenial speak, they 'did a thing' (and they do it well).

We are all familiar with the archetypal family member who could obv never be racist! because their neighbour is second-generation immigrant, their meal deal of choice is the Chicken Tikka wrap with a sushi snack in the *name of culture* and they have literally never seen colour in their life!! Well, I fear that I see myself in them.. have I become what I always sought to hate?! Only, it's not a question of colour, race, or gender... it's a matter of millennium. If I'm colour-blind, then my other senses have been heightened because the stench of the millennials is REAKING. (and it smells like So... Kiss Me body mist).

let me hot box this

I've socialised with millennials, I've got family members who are millennial, and I love Robbie Williams' song, Millennium. So yes, I am a Millennial sympathesier. Feels liberating to speak my truth.

They're human too guys. Beneath the painted on skinny jeans, and underneath the 'quirky' faces posing for thier Retrica photohoot, there is a person. And whilst they're responsible for giving Gen Z some good punchlines to the same wrung-dry jokes (you've got your cheering prosexxy Boomerangs, and the great equalier Hinge prompt; 'i love men in skinny jeans' to sort the wheat (Gen Z) from the chaff(Millennialz). But it's not all bad... Yes, we have lost some good men, but we have also gained some high-value treats at the hands of those baked from 1981-1996.

bottomless brunch

colourised footage of Gen Z making peace with Millennials, 2024 

competitive drinking mixed with normalising day drinking. What is not to like! Several glasses of glorified squash and vodka, doused in ice chunks, and lined with a plate full of beige food (that will be served as a round two in the Las Iguanas toilet bowl). Mush and chips! Bottomless brunch has become lore in the Ley household, following my eldest sister (born 1993), sicking up her fifth glass of prosexxy at the table and climaxing the afternoon by vomming tabboleh in the disabled toilet. prat summer.

taking the hobits to isengard

every generation has their 'I remember exactly where I was when I heard Diana has died' moment'. I remember exactly where I was when I was exposed to my first sweet taste of the meme, an inpenetrable nectar that would weld into my brain tapestry for the rest of time. My 90s born sisters were howling at a silly little video wherby, someone (kindly), remixed The Lord of The Rings theme into a filthy, eurotrash type beat.  Trancey, ethereal and not completely disimillar to a Charli XCX b-side. Such a filthy beat, it's unhygienic. 

SO yes, the millennials might have a perverted obsession with the fantasy land (ie, Harry Potter, elves and Lord of the Rings, and the delusion that skinny jeans r the most flattering denim) BUT, this time, i'll allow the fantasy. It's camp as Christmas. P.S. the emotional bridge with Legolas and his blonde weave is nothing short of a miracle.

'that's lit'

does what it says on the tin. One of those those phrases that I began saying with a thick scoop of irony..until it stuck like an al dente Spaghetti hoop to a wall. I like 'that's lit' because its a delicious precursor to many a famous saying: 'that's litmas paper' (appeals to the GCSE Double Science girlies), 're-lit my fire' (appeals to recent viewers of Better Man and Take That comrades). Versatile and reliable.

99.9% don't know this secret!! Dermatologists HATE her!

abbreviated vocab 

'i did a thing', 'doggo', 'platty jubes', 'gas and leccy'. All Millennial classic phrases that can unite generations across the land. Bit cringe? Yaspolutely. Bit addictive? Like MSG. I personally enjoy the Millennial persuasion of stunted vocab because it's every lazy girl's dream to short cut words and skip to the good bit. yes pls. 

Millennials are single-handily mental heath deniers. makes me sick

i had to hold space for this ye oldee classic because it felt right. iVape. 

thinking a #hashtag is a good substitute to a joke punchline

it's lazy and adds absolutely 0 to the comedic value of a joke.. yet, I love it. Just adding a keyword to the joke's material as an extra buzzword. It's like SEO but make it funny. A cheap laugh.

#yuck! #comedyshorts #LOL #rofl

Being defensive and hyper-sensitive

a comment on a Buzzfeed article (self-fulfilling prophecy); '40 Things People Roasted Millennials for loving' 

We all know a Millennial who is too quick to defending their Millennial positive stance. Border-line defensive and hyper-sensitive to a sniff of criticism about their most prized possession; being born in the 80s/90s. 

Question for the board.. if there's nothing to feel guilty about, then WHY are you acting so defensive Millennials?

As a hyper-supersonic sensitive soul, I felt this one.

x