Every Chic Person You Know Will Be Embracing This Spring Trend in 2025

Though it appeared on the majority of spring 2025 runways that maximalism was hunting a comeback in the world of fashion, one aesthetic was set on playing devil’s advocate. Bright colors, clashing patterns, and personality-driven accessory styling might have been the season’s most prominent styles, but at a few of the shows, the subtle and elegant sophistication of seasons past continued to quietly assert its dominance via a trend we’re calling “the modern socialite.”

Looking around the fashion landscape in the last year, the late socialite and publicist Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’s presence has been felt and seen. No one can deny that. Her effortless air and one-of-one yet utterly timeless style put her high on history’s best dressed list, and she wore everything from Prada to Yohji Yamamoto and, of course, Calvin Klein, where she worked in PR. While planning out their spring 2025 collections, designers definitely had Bessette-Kennedy on the brain, mimicking her casual glamour in the form of white, cream, black, and camel ensembles, all tailored to perfection and worthy of awe and admiration. At the same time, they added their own twists to her lauded style, finding ways to add modern and even daring details to their looks, from a risqué styling trick to an NSFW fabric choice. As a result, a wardrobe began to appear on the runways that only the chicest woman in any room would wear.

This trend first came to us at the Max Mara show in the form of one particular look. Look 46, worn by model Angelina Kendall, included a mostly unbuttoned white button-down shirt styled with a black bikini peeking out from underneath and a maxi-length pencil skirt. From the sleek tuck to the glamorous albeit risqué unbuttoning of the shirt, everything about the ensemble took me back in time to a very specific outfit worn by Bessette-Kennedy in 1999 at a fundraising gala for the Whitney Museum. Max Mara’s modern-day interpretation was a touch more playful with the addition of the bikini underneath, but both looks offered the same easy glamour that so many strive for but have struggled to achieve in the past. This season’s collections are solutions in that way. They’ll provide shoppers access to the same effortless elegance they’ve long admired on chic socialites like Bessette-Kennedy.

More examples of the modern socialite trend on the runway this fashion month could be found at Khaite in the form of a leather column dress with a white bustier; Toteme, where a butter-yellow satin minidress with an attached scarf gave new meaning to the word grace was styled with black sheer tights, a red lip, and simple heeled mules; and Tove via an almost completely sheer but still polished black high-neck gown with a wide belt. Taste was the real through line from each look to the next, with every outfit offering up something unique and adventurous. Minimalism can often be inaccurately looped in with boringness, but the modern socialite is anything but blasé.

She’s on every guest list and at all the parties that matter. Everyone wants her attention, but she’s intentional with her time. She always—even when she’s just walking the dog in Central Park or around Tribeca—looks fabulous. She’s the socialite of our time, and in 2025, she’ll own a mix of off-the-runway pieces by Max Mara, Toteme, Issey Miyake, Carven, Tod’s, Tove, and more.