During a jam-packed SS25 season in Paris, the most whispered about happening wasn’t a catwalk show or a rumoured creative-director changing of the guard, but a little pop-up sale held by an if-you-know-you-know vintage retailer, Resee. The event, which offered an exclusive range of ‘Old Céline’, dominated chat on the front row — a place normally rife with Phoebe Philo fans.
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You might shrug the whole thing off as the Phoebe factor. But to me, it said a lot about what’s most desirable in fashion at the moment. Just one week prior, we watched the Prada show in Milan where Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons resurrected some of the brand’s most classic shoes from the ’90s and ’00s — including a rubber-cap Mary Jane platform from AW12 that will I forever long for as the one that got away.
Versace Spring/Summer 2005
Versus Versace Spring/Summer 1997
Brands have had huge success relaunching bags from decades gone by, with ‘old’ styles among their best-sellers today — Dior’s Saddle, Fendi’s Baguette, Balenciaga’s City, Prada’s whole line of re-issued bags from between 2000 and 2005 — and the trend is only picking up pace. Also on the SS25 catwalks: an old print from Spring 2005 reappeared at Miu Miu, while Donatella Versace’s collection had looks that were lifted almost like-for-like from the Versus 1997 show.
Considering the business model of the modern day fashion industry is driven by novelty, it seems curious that we’re frequently seeing brands bringing back their old stuff. Of course designers have always been inspired by archives and house codes — but it’s no longer just inspiration, it’s re-creation. Right now, it seems, the hottest new fashions are, well, old.
You can see it everywhere, from the streets of East London to TikTok to the red carpet. Remember Carey Mulligan wearing a recreation of a 1951 Balenciaga look to the Oscars last year? And who can forget Zendaya in the Givenchy Couture by John Galliano number from Spring 1996 — yes, it was as old as her! — for her second red carpet look at the Met Gala. I also loved Chappell Roan’s Grammy’s look this year: Jean Paul Gaultier Spring 2003 couture, darling.
Chappell Roan at the 2025 Grammy Awards
Jean Paul Gaultier couture spring/summer 2003
Vintage has always been cool, I hear you say. But I’d argue something feels different now. The discourse around vintage is a lot more cult, a lot more specific, and a lot more, as I like to call it, capital F Fashion. It’s not just an old Gucci blouse. It’s a Gucci blouse from that AW95 Tom Ford collection. And it’s not any old Saint Laurent jacket. It’s a velvet jacket from Stefano Pilati’s second season at the brand, back when it was still YSL. Sarah Faisal, a London-based fashion archivist who runs cult vintage platform Baraboux, agrees.
‘It’s very interesting how [appreciation for archival fashion] been adopted by a more mainstream audience, that it’s not just the fashion people that are into fashion anymore,’ she says. ‘It’s been more of a culture, as opposed to a subculture — everybody goes vintage shopping. … “Gucci Tom Ford” is a phrase now.’
In large part, we have the internet to thank for this shift. Social media has turned our phones into a virtual library of sorts, where scans from hard-to-find old magazines can go viral in an instant. Alongside this, the digitisation of second-hand shopping (courtesy of sites like Vestiaire Collective and HEWI) means we no longer have to trawl for hours through heaps of clothes at thrift stores during trips to Paris or New York to find those treasures; you can do it from the comfort of your sofa.
At the same time, though, wearing something old often feels extra special. In a globalised world, where anyone can get their hands on something new if they can afford it, finding something truly unique is becoming much harder. Buying second hand makes it much less likely you’ll see anyone else wearing the same stuff. Most of the time, it’s also more affordable, too.
Miu Miu Spring/Summer 2025
Miu Miu Spring/Summer 2005
Meg Randall, head of the fashion department at auction house Bonhams, says attitudes towards buying second-hand have evolved significantly since she first began auctioning clothes over 10 years ago. ‘There’s a shift between people actually wanting you to know that what they’re wearing is pre-loved or vintage, because it sort of proves that you’re not just a shopper, you’re somebody who really understands the world of fashion,’ she says. ‘Nowadays, it’s like a badge of honour.’
The ‘if you know, you know’ kudos factor that comes with certain pieces is real. I have some treasured vintage pieces in my wardrobe, courtesy of my late mother, an avid fashion lover with a particular penchant for the Japanese avant-garde greats (Kawakubo, Yamamoto, Miyake). I was wearing an old coat of hers recently, and a fashion friend of mine asked where it was from. Cos? Lemaire? ‘Oh it’s old Yohji, from the late ’80s,’ I said. Instantly, I could tell she was impressed.
For the fashion super nerds, in the world of re-issues, an original is always a superior get. Faisal knows this well: ‘I was looking for a Balenciaga city bag, and I’m like, “But I don’t want one of the new ones. I want one of the ones from 2005,”’ she laughs. ‘It was a very weird thing. I could just actually go to a store right now and buy one, or [I can] sit on my computer for two hours and search for one. Even though technically one is easier, I don’t want to do it.’
So, what’s the holy grail of ‘old’ fashion right now? Anything Gucci Tom Ford, says Faisal, who adds early years’ Margiela is also very sought after. Randall also sees a big appetite for ’90s and ’00s Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, as well as anything by John Galliano for Dior. ‘That’s what people want to be wearing,’ she says. ‘People who know, they know that it’s Galliano. It elevates the whole thing.’ Yes, it certainly does.
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