Fashion
8 Emerging Designers You Need To Know In 2025
Two of whom are making their New York Fashion Week debut.
We pride ourselves at being at the center — or just a little bit to the left — of the fashion curve, sensing when a designer merits our attention right before their big break in the form of, say, a major collab or a placement on Dua Lipa or Rihanna. We covered several emerging talents last year, who still deserve our Instagram likes and attention, but for the new year, we’ve got our sights set on a few folks set to have a busy 12 months.
As I write this, the New York Fashion Week schedule for Feb. 2025 is being discussed in my Slack chats and Instagram DMs, which features two of the below names for the very first time. Elsewhere, we’re keeping tabs on a London-based knitwear designer expanding into even more party dressing, a New York label dead-set on making the Abercrombie & Fitch heyday aesthetic a thing again, plus a Lady Gaga-approved brand from Paris rehashing our favorite 21st-century runway memories. Keep reading to see who you’ll be hearing about all year.
George Trochopoulos
Trochopoulous is one of the names Tyla’s stylist mentioned when asked about what excites him in fashion today, and I can understand why. His unconventional use of knits as going-out clothes results in some of the most exciting dresses meant for the dance floor in recent memory.
Raimundo Langlois
The return of prep in 2024 is naturally leading to the return of the (often exclusionary) Y2K high-school aesthetics, the likes of which you’re probably familiar with thanks to mall trips where Hollister and Gilly Hicks offered an escape into a different, Gossip Girl-inspired world. Langlois, though, is intent on making a more considered return to naive sexiness, with low-rise jeans grazing butt cracks and distorted triangle bikinis.
Loutre
Loutre is the sartorial playground for founder Pia Schiele, who wants to bring the worlds of British fashion and skate culture together in a genuinely new way. Her upcycled pieces pay homage to the baggy style of surfers and hip hop in equal doses. She was one of the participating designers in Fashion East’s Spring/Summer 2025 runway, where she showed how fur coats, bedazzled wool trousers, and velour jackets can coexist.
Miss Claire Sullivan
One of New York’s most promising names is not only a designer, but also a stylist and cool girl that refuses to be boxed in. Sullivan crafted Addison Rae’s VMAs look that divided the Internet (we personally stan), and her creations have also been spotted on Charli XCX and Selena Gomez. With more eyes on her than ever, she’s primed to dress more musicians and girls who want to look like Marie Antoinette if she was a chain-smoking Dimes Square resident.
Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen
Another New York name with a penchant for petticoats, Whalen has quickly gained a cult following thanks to her Victorian-style clothes meant for Ethel Cain heads and art-world executives alike. Expect lots more vintage lace on babydoll dresses, plus some linen-covered panniers, at her debut NYFW runway show on Feb. 10, which we’ll be sure to fill you in on.
Still Kelly
Still Kelly is the natural next step in creative director Marc Kalman’s storied career. After helping to shape Travis Scott’s vision, Kalman has taken on several other projects, the latest being his first full-blown collection, “Boyish.” It’s a greatest hits of what the cool guys are wearing today, including roomy nylon jackets, covetable baggy jeans, and striped polos.
De Pino
As Lady Gaga once said, “Pop culture was in art, now art's in pop culture, in me.” While we’re still not quite sure what she meant, Paris-based De Pino is taking the sentiment to heart by fusing pop-culture runway memories of yore with modern sensibilities. Think: Nicolas Ghesquière’s greatest hits during his time at Balenciaga reworked to clownish proportions, plus Margiela’s skin-baring bodysuits made for the Instagram age. The resulting collection already counts Gaga as a fan. We can’t wait to see what they’re not afraid to reference (or not reference) on the next runway.
Vettese
Another name making its first appearance on the NYFW schedule, Vettese is a 2-year-old brand already seen on Kylie Jenner and Charli XCX. Those two hot girls make the most sense for celebrity fans, as the brand’s bread and butter is slinky, ruffly going-out skirts and skin-tight dresses made for hourglass figures and flash photography.
