2025 and food in fashion

Food in fashion is not new – take for example Elsa Schiaparelli’s 1937 lobster dress, or even the millennial obsession with avocados that got blamed for a generation’s worth of financial struggles. At the speed of the current trend cycle however, last year’s food trends have reached their sell-by dates, making room for a whole new host. So, considering the development of food-related fashion trends over the past few years, what does 2025 have in store for us?

I don’t think we’ve escaped fruit in fashion just yet (not that that’s a bad thing), but we’re starting to see a wave of savoury popularisation

Since the pandemic, we’ve seen a huge rise in ‘normalisation’, as we try to push back against unrealistic social media standards and be real with one another. From ‘get ready with me’ to the ‘frazzled English woman aesthetic’, we’ve found ourselves especially keen to romanticise everyday life. It’s a nice affirmation that you do live an interesting life, even if you’re just getting dressed, buying groceries, or going to class. Our trends, then, often end up encompassing everything from the clothes we wear to the food we eat – and sometimes a blend of the two.

2024 and recent years, for example, saw a redefinition of what comfort food means to us, for instance, unstructured or snack-based meals, also known as ‘girl dinners’, and the recognition that food itself can be a form of self-care. Following on from the trendiness of dinner, I can see 2025 going savoury. I don’t think we’ve escaped fruit in fashion just yet (not that that’s a bad thing), but we’re starting to see a wave of savoury popularisation alongside the classic fruits in fashion. Last summer wasn’t just ‘Brat summer’ but also had a moment for ‘tomato girl summer’, a succinct blend of the savoury and the fruity. Over the past year, I personally have seen a significant increase in main meals on clothes such as the Rachel Antonoff pasta puffer, which the New York Times dubbed the “it coat this winter”, and a rise in other prints featuring main dishes like pasta and seafood.

I think, in terms of fruit, we’re seeing some Mediterranean influence as well as the persistence of red. Strawberries seem to have peaked over lockdown – for instance the Lirika Matoshi dress which took over the internet in 2020 or even that one Strawberry Cow song. Whilst I can’t deny the ever-present popularity of the strawberry, I think alongside them, we’re likely to see a blend of red and Mediterranean influence take its form in fruit prints featuring pomegranates and cherries, with darker tones dominating the colder months. Perhaps in summer, we’ll see prints featuring other fruits such as nectarines or peaches.

However, I believe 2025 seems inclined to go one way – the pickle way. The pickle seems to have spent 2024 gradually accumulating attention. It has climbed the ranks through viral cucumber salad, Dua Lipa’s pickle/diet coke situation, the popularity of other fermented foods such as kimchi and kombucha, and even the vibrant green of Brat which dominated the summer. The pickle was inevitable. On the comedown from the ‘clean girl’ aesthetic and in the spirit of Brat, the pickle is an embrace of mess, flavour, and a lack of seriousness.

Food prints in 2025 seem to be embracing a colourful, sillier side to fashion, almost reminiscent of a vintage, 1950s feel

Although, to be perfectly honest, 2025 and recent years, seem to be distancing themselves from fast fashion, slowly pulling back from giants like Shein as we recognise the value in second-hand shopping, not just in charity shops, but also online, using sites like Vinted and Depop. This means that internet popularity is less transferable to our physical world and our clothes. Just because ASOS tells you to buy a shirt with a lime or plate of pasta on it, doesn’t mean you have to! Just because the pickle, the Mediterranean, and dinner dishes seem to be ‘in’ right now, I’m less certain they’ll make their way into the daily wardrobe in a very big way, and certainly not with the ferociousness of some of the food-related trends of the past few years.

Food prints in 2025 seem to be embracing a colourful, sillier side to fashion, almost reminiscent of a vintage, 1950s feel. We’ve also seen this side of fashion expressing itself through the current popularity of things like colourful accessories such as tights and the resurgence of polka dots. This blend of colour and appetite creates an almost multi-sensory kind of fun, which is especially important in the winter months, hopefully pushing through into the summer, though probably in a more minimal way.

If 2025’s food-inspired clothes interest you, but you want to try them out in a sustainable way, consider a reliable second-hand source – and keep an eye out for unique foods and drinks on clothes.