I have to wonder how my college-aged self would have felt about the windbreaker trend that's steadily gaining steam this fashion month.
None of the designers orchestrating Spring 2025's trends across New York, Milan, and Paris have any idea of how I dressed for a slushy March Friday night in my early twenties. But observing how the likes of Prada, Cecilie Bahnsen, Burberry, and Miu Miu are tossing weather-proof windbreakers over feathered minis and blindingly bright sequin naked dresses, I can safely assume they know (or are at least trying to harness) the feeling of teetering across a New England campus in heels and a mini dress with a sporty, warm-but-unchic jacket thrown over the top—and to be quickly disposed of in a pile of similar utilitarian jackets shortly after. Back then, the styling was all about adding the "wrong" layer to the right dress out of necessity. It was warm and weather-proof for outside, but it wasn't part of the party look inside.
The Spring 2025 twist is that, actually, the juxtaposition of a windbreaker and a going-out dress is so right.
A few shows at New York Fashion Week worked windbreakers with an '80s-jazzercise palette into their collections—like Rachel Antonoff, where light layers punched up the sequin mini dresses and patterned leggings in her dog fashion show with Susan Alexandra. But much like the barn jacket renaissance that started on the Fall 2024 runways and is taking over street style now, the refreshed windbreaker trend's true origin point feels like Prada's Spring 2025 runway. Two looks in Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons's joint collection included windbreakers: one in traffic-light yellow over a mirrored sequin shift dress, the other in clementine orange with a 3-D feathered midi. They were enough to have every fashion person on my timeline gushing over the contrast.
It takes more than one catwalk to cement a trend, of course, and I've been taking notes on other windbreakers before and after. In London, Burberry paired heavy-duty, feather-hooded anorak jackets over glitzy pink party dresses fit for a Studio 74 party. Back in Paris, Rabanne's space-age sequin tops and asymmetrically-hemmed mini skirts came with black and icy blue ripstop windbreakers over the top.
And in the most sport-chic take of them all, Cecilie Bahnsen's runway featured a collaboration with The North Face, including several black windbreakers embossed with skeleton flowers. Bahnsen is known for her design sensibility, which she calls "everyday couture." She elevates pieces that are the unsung heroes of a real-life wardrobe with whimsical textures and playful embellishments—all while ensuring they can still be worn on a bike or a morning commute. These jackets, paired to frothy dresses and hardworking shoes, were no exception.
When I first spotted the windbreaker trend, Paris Fashion Week wasn't even halfway over, and I expected to see more windproof, waterproof outerwear. Aside from being purely practical—the sort of sales-friendly piece that can actually get produced from a runway collection—a windbreaker trend revival feels right on-point with fashion's return to '80s excess styling. Extra-large gold earrings and bangles (at Schiaparelli) and kitschy, gold-button jacquard jackets (at Saint Laurent) are also on the up-and-up.
Sure enough, as predicted, even more designers released avant-sport windbreakers of their own by the time the runways concluded on Oct. 1. Marie Claire's style director, Sara Holzman, accurately anticipated that Miu Miu would pick up where its older-sister brand, Prada, left off. On that label's industrial runway, models layered preppy, color-blocked and khaki windbreakers over white dresses, skirts, and voluminous shorts—all with the faintest doily detailing along the hems. This was the most daytime take on the windbreaker trend that I noticed all week. Even a true Miu Miu girl needs a break from her micro-mini skirts—and she also needs protection from a spring shower.
Additional windbreaker trend sightings by the week's end included a billowing, boho interpretation at Zimmermann and a high-utility take at Sacai.
The windbreaker's high-low styling says that designers are thinking about not only what their woman will actually wear, but how she'll wear it. Everyone has chosen functional outerwear to protect their party gear at one point or another. Spring 2025's trend grants us all permission to keep it on when we get to our destinations.
Throughout fashion month, I've been training for the New York City Marathon. My rainy runs have all been accompanied by an unassuming black Nike track jacket. Now with the runways' blessing, I can wear it over my party dress for the celebration afterward.
