Anthony Vaccarello's Saint Laurent And Other Things I'm Thankful For
Here are some of my favorite fashion moments of the past year, with data to support their impact and influence.
It hasn’t been the easiest, most optimistic year for the luxury fashion industry. In fact, luxury has recently been described as being in a bit of a “slump”, with many simple, minimalist fashion trends feeling like ominous signs of declining consumer demand and industry uncertainty.
However, there were still many fun and exciting moments across fashion this year—from viral celebrity partnerships to persistent color trends to the comebacks of some of fashion’s most beloved brands. So, in the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday, I’m sharing some of this year’s fashion moments I’m quite thankful for. Plus, some data to back up their impact and influence.
But, above all, I’m very thankful for you—all of my readers and subscribers—who support my fashion-data work and make it possible. I’m so grateful for your support, and I hope you have a wonderful holiday.
THE UNBELIEVABLE CONSISTENCY OF ANTHONY VACCARELLO’S SAINT LAURENT
Anthony Vaccarello has been at the helm of one of fashion’s most important and iconic brands, Saint Laurent, for nearly a decade. And, in a fast-paced industry where trends often change in just a matter of weeks, what makes Vaccarello’s Saint Laurent so incredible is its unbelievable and unapologetic consistency.
It’s nice when you can easily tell whether or not an outfit is Saint Laurent. And, from a consumers’ point of view, it’s great when a brand knows what it’s good at and why people gravitate towards its products in the first place.
Objectively, Saint Laurent’s brand consistency is working well. A sentiment analysis I ran on hundreds of online articles and press from this month so far shows that Saint Laurent’s popularity is currently 11% higher, on average, than its closest competitors. Thank you, Anthony Vaccarello.
DOECHII AND THOM BROWNE: A MATCH MADE IN FASHION HEAVEN
During award season, it’s quite common for celebrities to change into several outfits in just one night. Take, for example, at the Grammys earlier this year, when Sabrina Carpenter wore a JW Anderson dress on the red carpet followed by a Dolce & Gabbana look during her performance. Or, how Chappell Roan walked the Grammys red carpet in a Jean Paul Gaultier dress, and later changed into an Acne Studios look to accept her award.
Doechii, however, did things differently. She walked the Grammys red carpet wearing custom Thom Browne, and then changed into another custom Thom Browne look to accept her award. Then, during her performance, she wore two more—you guessed it—custom Thom Browne looks, as did all of her backup dancers. The day after the Grammys, Thom Browne’s popularity spiked by 233%. So, not only did Doechii’s partnership with the brand give us several fabulous fashion moments, but also demonstrated what it looks like for brands to get celebrity collaborations right.
THE BIG BURBERRY COMEBACK
In a year when so many luxury brands have been struggling, Burberry is an exception to the rule. Actually, in 2025, Burberry has been on a tremendous comeback arc.
Long-time fans of Burberry are pleased with how the brand has been re-embracing some of its most hallmark products. Like the iconic Burberry plaid scarf or the classic Burberry check bikini. And, the proof is in the financial data. Burberry’s stock price is currently up 33% year-to-date, with the brand recently reporting 2% sales growth in Q2. This was the first time Burberry had reported sales growth in two years. Now that’s quite a comeback.
FASHION IS ART, AND ROBERT WUN’S FALL 2025 COUTURE COLLECTION PROVES IT
It feels like the fashion industry is becoming more widely recognized as a valuable form of art. Remember how, this summer, the original Birkin bag sold at auction for a winning bid of over $8 million? Or, how some limited-edition shoes have been appreciating in value, often making them better investments than the stock market? Or, of course, all the buzz surrounding fashion’s glamorous haute couture runways?
It’s great to see the custom-made, hand-embroidered world of haute couture persist in today’s era of ready-to-wear. And, at Paris Haute Couture week this past July, one collection in particular stood out. Robert Wun’s. Sentiment surrounding Robert Wun’s Fall 2025 couture runway was, on average, 56% greater than others. Wun’s collection was a powerful demonstration of fashion as art, and the data supports that consumers are still excited about celebrating fashion in its most intricate, artistic form.
THE QUIET PERSISTENCE OF BUTTER YELLOW
It’s not often that today’s fast-paced fashion trends stick around for longer than just a couple of months, or even weeks. The light yellow fad, however—commonly referred to as butter yellow—has been quietly persisting in fashion for around a year and a half now. And while butter yellow is not loudly dominating fashion, unlike pink did in 2023, if you look for it, it’s almost always there.
Notably, light shades of yellow were seen across June’s menswear runways, from Willy Chavarria to Louis Vuitton to Jacquemus to Saint Laurent. Plus, this past week, I found that the popularity of yellow grew another 180% following the release of Wicked: For Good. Could this have been influenced by the movie’s yellow brick road? Or, by the yellow details on Fiyero’s costume? Whatever it is, yellow has consistently stuck around in fashion lately, and it’ll be interesting to see for how much longer.
THAT FASHION FROM THE WHITE LOTUS SEASON 3
Interestingly, so much of what influences fashion nowadays often occurs completely outside of fashion altogether. Like cultural events across music, or sports, or entertainment. Take, for example, the third season of HBO’s The White Lotus, which aired earlier this year. Two of the show’s outfits in particular greatly resonated with viewers: a light pink custom Jacquemus look from episode 4, and a shimmering Valentino mini dress from episode 2.
Actually, after episode 2 aired, viewers loved that Valentino dress so much that the brand saw its greatest spike in search traffic in the past year. Reinforcing that, if we want to understand or even predict what will be in style, it’s important to look beyond solely the runways. And, as the fourth season of The White Lotus is set to begin filming soon, I’m excited to see what impact its looks will have on fashion again.
GRACE WALES BONNER IS APPOINTED CREATIVE DIRECTOR OF HERMÈS MENSWEAR
This year, the luxury fashion industry has seen quite the reshuffling of creative directors across some of fashion’s biggest brands. At Milan and Paris fashion weeks, we saw many of their debuts—Pierpaolo Piccioli at Balenciaga, Jonathan Anderson at Dior, Matthieu Blazy at Chanel. And so on. However, as it turns out, the creative-director-appointment news wasn’t over yet. And, perhaps the most exciting announcement was yet to come.
Last month, it was announced Grace Wales Bonner will become the creative director of Hermès menswear. A graduate of Central Saint Martins, Grace Wales Bonner created her namesake menswear label in 2014, and introduced womenswear shortly after. She’s also had a long-term partnership with Adidas, and dressed Lewis Hamilton when he co-hosted the Met Gala back in May.
Wales Bonner’s appointment at Hermès makes her the first Black woman to lead design at a major fashion house. And, although she is not set to present her first collection for Hermès until January 2027, the industry is excited and eagerly awaits it.
CAN’T REPEAT THE PAST? WELL, OF COURSE YOU CAN!
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from years of analyzing fashion trends on Data, But Make it Fashion it’s that trends, more often than not, come back around. Like the Balenciaga city bag, Hervé-Léger-and-Alaïa bandage dresses, or the Gucci logo belt.
This year, another previously-beloved and long-awaited trend made quite the resurgence—the Alexander McQueen skull scarf. The scarf, which debuted on the brand’s Spring 2003 runway and quickly became a celebrity favorite, started growing nearly 80% in popularity daily back in April. So, take this as your reminder to hold onto any clothes you fear might be “out”—you never know when they’ll come back in style.
THE PIVOT FROM VALENTINO PINK TO A DEEP, VALENTINO RED
Picking a signature color is a smart strategy for brands to establish themselves in the minds of consumers, and differentiate against competitors. Like Bottega Veneta’s deep green or Tiffany’s trademarked light blue or, until recently, Valentino’s hot pink.
Interestingly, Valentino is currently undergoing a bit of a signature color switch. While bright pink was Valentino’s preferred, signature shade under the creative direction of Pierpaolo Piccioli, it’s no longer the case. And, as Valentino has entered a new era with creative director Alessandro Michele, so it has abandoned the pink of its past and adopted a deep, burgundy shade instead. As a consumer, it’s nice to have such a visual distinction between these two eras at the brand. And, it’ll be interesting to see if the Valentino red has as powerful of an impact as its pink.
Ugh I loved the Doechii and Thom Browne moment !!
I loved reading this , felt like a thankful list but make it fashion🙏💌