Unglossed explores if the rise of conservatism might be seeping into your current ASOS wishlist.
The fashion landscape over the past couple of years has been marked by trends that reject excess and embrace understated elegance. The trending ‘quiet luxury’ aesthetic celebrates modest, timeless and refined pieces that do not rely on flashy logos to convey their status. Basically, teenagers today are definitely not sporting the luminous Ellesse tops and Adidas three stripe leggings we were- I know, tragic.
Sophie Milner, a fashion influencer with over 200,000 followers on Instagram, and founder of the clothing brand September The Label, says she feels the shift in fashion trends represents something far more sinister than an influx of beige pantsuits.
“You’re crazy if you believe that fashion exists in a vacuum of its own, it’s always reflected the sentiment of the time,” says the 31- year- old business owner. “My concern isn’t that girls are dressing more modestly, it’s that this mirrors a change in how women are moving and existing in society.”
After feeling ‘excessively angry’ seeing a group of twenty-somethings leaving a bottomless brunch in Essex dressed in tweed suits, Sophie created a jokey TikTok video sharing her thoughts. This video went semi- viral, and has now been viewed over 650,000 times. In the clip, she explains that she’s noticing more and more young girls dressed far more modestly than she deems ‘typical’ for their age.
Sophie says fashion always reflects wider social movements and is often ahead of the curve. She points to the practical, modest clothing of the 1940s during the war, and the bold styles of the 1960s, which mirrored the countercultural push against tradition. In layman’s terms- when politics shifts, our clothes match that.
“Even trends that have resurfaced after falling out of style for a period follow this pattern. For example, low-waisted jeans were popular during Tony Blair’s 90s era, and then made a comeback just before the recent Labour election win.
“Fashion tells us so much about where we’re at, especially as women. What clothing trends are currently doing is telling women it’s ‘in’ to be modest and classy. Whereas just a few years ago they were telling us to be bold, go out and have fun.” Says Sophie.
Fast fashion clothing brand Pretty Little Thing’s (PLT) newest rebrand embodies this shift to ‘quiet luxury’ completely. A website which was self- proclaimed the ‘it girls go to’ for bodycon dresses and cheap going out tops, now has a website scattered with collared shirts and longline dresses, all in beige, black, brown and more beige. Their models are also styled inline with the conservative aesthetic going viral online, with very little body inclusivity, they sport slicker than slick buns, 90s style blowouts and ‘no makeup’ makeup.
“Fashion functions as a mirror to our times, so it’s inherently political,” says Dr Ben Nichols, Head of Gender Studies at Manchester University. “It’s been used throughout history to express patriotic, nationalistic and propagandistic tendencies as well as more complex issues related to class, race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality. There have been threats to progressivism for a long time, and the quiet luxury aesthetic has been created by this political wave, not the other way around.”
In other words, politics comes first, and fashion follows.
So, given what Dr Nichols highlights, and the direction we’re heading politically, it suddenly makes sense that we’re seeing an influx of influencers like Molly-Mae and Tana Mongeau posing in blazers and longline skirts which their 2016 selves would’ve probably rather died than be seen in.
“As women are increasingly stripped of their rights in the US, France face a record right- wing vote share, and the UK sees a growth in Reform politicians calling for the reopening of the abortion debate, it’s unsurprising that conservative aesthetics are on the rise. Removing a woman’s right to choose forces them back into the home setting, something which clothing brands are designing clothes fit for.” Says Dr Nichols.
Having worked in fashion forecasting for nearly 25 years, Gwyneth Holland says, “In general, women’s fashion tends to reflect the world we’re living in. One tiny example I can give is how we all waved goodbye to the underwired bra during Covid, and moved on to softer bralettes, because we felt the need to be natural, comfortable and free.
“Younger women’s fashion choices are highly likely to be influenced by social media trends, in a way which men’s fashion isn’t. And with the trending topics on TikTok being quiet luxury, cottage core and traditional wives, we fully anticipated trends to reflect this.”
Gwyneth explains, “I always refer to myself as a fashion forecaster, not trend predictor, because I’m offering a direction to help brands meet the needs of their market, I’m not guaranteeing that something will happen. We look at external changes in society, politics, pop culture, as well as internal changes like design to look for new ideas emerging. No factor necessarily has more impact than another, but they usually come together to create a perfect storm.”
Sophie points out that even on the two most recent series of Love Island, a show considered relatively raunchy and provocative, the girls were rocking much more modest, simplistic and covered outfit choices.
“I think it’s the first time I’ve ever seen them wear jeans or trousers, and that really made me realise wow I’m not making this up, fashion has shifted. To be clear, I don’t think women like these clothes because they truly want to return to traditional gender roles, but because they’re exhausted by a system that gives them no viable alternatives.” Explains Sophie.
Gwyneth believes this conservative movement within fashion stems from The White House and its initiatives of trying to dismantle DEI [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion].
“I think brands are trying to prove that they can fit into this phase that is less threatening, less wild, less queer, less controversial, so that they don’t get targeted by Trump and other people like him. The stakes are too high for them to be bold right now.
“Because of this, the winter 25, and 26 catwalks are very much leaning in a traditionally ladylike direction, and are conservative even for autumn/ winter. We are seeing stuff on the catwalk which is honestly, quite boring. But brands can’t risk controversy, and they need to show that their clothes are wearable.”
Gwyneth showcases just how intertwined traditional gender roles and fashion currently are by using the example of Nara Smiths’ recent campaign with Marc Jacobs where the influencer makes a tote bag ‘from scratch’. Nara, who has 11.5M followers on Tiktok gained popularity from her videos where she makes extravagant dishes for her family completely from scratch. This is of course whilst also having perfect hair, nails, skin and often, wearing an actual ball gown.
Gwyneth says, “For someone like that to be chosen by such a huge brand, gives quite an insidious message about womanhood that is wrapped in this very beautiful and boujee package.
“In reality, women are really, really tired, not only do we have to work, do the majority of the housework, look after our parents and our children, we also have to look pretty, be approachable, and sexually available.
“All of those things are really exhausting and the idea of going to live on a farm and only having to focus on looking after your goats and making handmade cereal in the morning looks quite appealing, because then you don’t need to deal with any of that stuff. You have to remember that we are subconsciously dressing as who we want to be, not necessarily who we already are.”
Gwyneth explains that politics aside, from a branding perspective, the old money and timeless style is a goldmine for improving brand reputation. “For instance, by PLT rebranding themselves as a store providing ‘elevated wardrobe essentials’ they can disguise unethical practices, cheap labour, and poorer quality clothes by making it seem like their brand is no longer fast fashion, and instead a place to shop a life- long capsule wardrobe. This is despite their garments potentially being made with the exact same materials as before.
“Because brands cannot possibly compete with Shein, they’re trying to detach from that poppy, trashy throwaway fashion which has been huge over the past ten years. PLT’s rebrand is an attempt to associate themselves with more of a heritage look, except in my opinion there’s no heritage to the brand, so consumers will see through it.
Gwenyth also points out that brands like PLT are still selling bold and bright short dresses and corsets, they just aren’t using them in their marketing campaigns. Basically, just because they don’t feel that sort of clothing will appeal to their ‘clean girl’ target market anymore, doesn’t mean it isn’t still really popular. They’re simply being tactical with what they project.
Dr Nichols says personally, his concerns lie more with traditionalism than conservatism. “Obviously not all right-leaning people think women belong at home, but it’s important to be aware of the underlying messages behind fashion trends. So go put on your shortest skirt and brightest top, if that’s what makes you feel confident, don’t just accept these trends, challenge them.”
Gwyneth says that whilst these trends do showcase some ‘quite bleak stuff’, it’s only a trend and not a shift. “It probably will stick around for a while, because it’s been slowly growing and we usually find that slower trends have more longevity than ones that come out of nowhere. But for every trend there’s always a counter trend. And just like how a few months ago we had BRAT summer, which spiked sales in booty shorts and cropped vests, soon a trend will come along and contradict the put togetherness of quiet luxury.”
As pop culture queen Paris Hilton once said “We should all dress like princesses everyday, and skirts should be the size of a belt.” And THAT is the energy I reckon we should all be channeling this spring/ summer. Goodbye clean girl, and hello Y2K fetcher than fetch micro skirts. If not, there’s still time to bring back the Ellesse t-shirts, although not sure how well they’d go with a beige blazer?
