As much as I love talking about, buying from, and wearing fashion’s biggest and most renowned brands, so does everyone else in this industry. We all want the latest Prada skirt and The Row boots, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Those brands are leaders in the business for a reason. However, there’s something even more satisfying about knowing of and owning pieces by a brand before anyone else. For an editor like me, finding those up-and-coming labels before anyone else is how I healthily let out my competitive side. It’s almost like a game, one that involves lots of Instagram deep diving—hours and hours worth—all of which is made worthwhile when you find a designer with a truly unique look. There really is no better feeling.
If you feel the same way about brand discovery as I do, you’ve come to the right place. Get out a pen and paper because I’m about to tell you all about the nine fashion brands to know (and shop) this spring, all of which come with fresh perspectives and individual aesthetics. Hailing from Paris, New York, London, Copenhagen, and more, the labels ahead are guaranteed to reset your wardrobe, giving it a feeling of newness and individuality that you won’t achieve from buying something that everyone else already has or wants, no matter how much you spend on it.
Be among the first to wear 2025’s coolest fashion brands by scrolling down and acquainting yourself with all nine of them.
(Image credit: Alfie)
Like so many successful founders, Alice Fresnel launched her Paris-based ready-to-wear label Alfie to fill a gap in the market. Essentially, she wanted the ability to lean on comfortable and easy clothing like her brothers—think oversize shirts and loose trousers—but couldn’t find anything remotely similar in womenswear at the time. “No one was offering feminine yet comfortable clothes,” Fresnel told Who What Wear in 2023. So she set out to make the pieces she’d always wanted. After finishing her studies in Italy, she moved back to Paris to find an atelier to work with. Now, everything is made there, the same city where Fresnel finds inspiration for her designs. This season, pops of color are broken up with wearable, well-constructed, and neutral basics, like pedal pushers, poplin minidresses, and lazy-loose bottoms. Alfie is sexy in an effortless way, making it the perfect brand to stock up on as we go into the warmer months.
Shop Alfie:
Alfie
Open Back Cotton Poplin Top
(Image credit: Roucha)
Calling all fans of Totokaelo, the Seattle-based designer multibrand shop (a NYC location opened in 2015) known for its avant-garde curation of Raf Simons, Dries Van Noten, Yohji Yamamoto, and Maison Margiela that shuttered alongside Need Supply back in 2020. If you haven’t heard of Roucha yet, you will now, and you won’t just hear about it—you’ll fall in love with it. The brand, pronounced “roo-sha,” was founded by Totokaelo founder Jill Wenger in 2017 after she sold the business in 2016. According to an interview with Vogue, the goal of Roucha was to create a line at the same level of style as what she bought for Totokaelo in a more inclusive size range. “Out of the 2400 styles that I would bring into Totokaelo each season, maybe 12 of them would fit an average-size woman like myself without alterations,” she told the publication. “I’m curvy, and finding clothing that fits and aligns with my taste level was nearly impossible.” Unlike most brands that just offer one length per size, Roucha has two. There’s a Small (A) and Small Short (AA), which has a 1.5-inch shorter inseam. The same process is followed up to Large.
Though the brand’s been around for a while now, it’s gaining traction all of a sudden after being picked up by Moda Operandi, where its denim, sporty outerwear, and lounge pants are selling out like crazy. The curation is cool and comfortable and requires very little effort to style—a triple threat if I’ve ever seen one. Plus, nothing costs more than $400.
Shop Roucha:
Roucha
Oko Cotton Twill Coat
(Image credit: Colleen Allen)
In-the-know fashion people in New York City are all well aware of Colleen Allen, a designer from Chicago who studied at Parsons and worked as a menswear designer at The Row before quietly debuting her namesake label with a fall/winter 2024 collection presented during New York Fashion Week. Practically overnight, her star rose, and before long, Allen’s sculpted fleece jackets and maxi skirts—made out of a mix of breezy white cotton and bright-orange heavy fleece—were the talk of the entire New York fashion scene. In the two seasons since, she’s only grown her reputation as the city’s favorite new designer. Plus, she’s getting noticed far beyond the tristate area. Paloma Elsesser, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charli XCX, Ayo Edebiri, and Saoirse Ronan have all worn her designs, stretching her reach to new levels as she goes into her fourth runway season in a few months.
Shop Colleen Allen:
COLLEEN ALLEN
Shrunken Fleece Jacket
COLLEEN ALLEN
Fleece Maxi Skirt
COLLEEN ALLEN
Asymmetric Gathered Cotton-Poplin Top
COLLEEN ALLEN
Velvet Shawl Top
(Image credit: Birrot)
Easy elegance is the name of the game at Birrot, a Copenhagen-based fashion brand founded by creative directors Min Kim and Sey Hong. The duo created the label in 2018 with the goal of fusing Korean design heritage with Scandinavian minimalism, utilizing technical fabrics and uncomplicated silhouettes. According to Birrot’s website, shoppers are meant to continue adding to their “Birrot uniform” each season, “creating a functional and modular capsule wardrobe.” With this method, stress surrounding getting dressed is eliminated, and suddenly, putting together outfits is easy and hassle-free. Right now, a mix of gummy tan and rich burgundy is having a moment at Birrot, though chocolate brown, black, and navy also serve a strong purpose. Pedal pushers and lounge pants combine with puff-sleeve tops and waist-defining cardigans to create separates and sets worth wearing again and again.
Shop Birrot:
BIRROT
Lay3 Puff-Sleeve Bonded-Crepe Top
BIRROT
Lay2 Bonded-Crepe Capri Pants
BIRROT
Lay2 Bonded-Crepe Cardigan
BIRROT
Lay2 Bonded Crepe Straight-Leg Pants
(Image credit: The Anteros)
Mother-daughter founders Bryn and Lisa Rhoads launched The Anteros to share their belief “that luxury isn’t about excess or exclusivity—it’s about creating meaningful pieces that resonate on a personal level,” the brand’s website states. They both had missing pieces in their wardrobes, the perfect button-down shirt being one of them. They wanted one that felt both classic and current, and after Lisa picked up and moved to Europe during the pandemic, the pair set out to make what they previously couldn’t find. “For the past two years, we have been working closely with mills, factories, and patternmakers to create unique yet wearable white shirting for women that are made from the highest-quality cotton and handcrafted in Portugal by a small-batch factory,” Bryn wrote in a Substack post in April 2024. “We knew we didn’t want just any white shirting and found ourselves gravitating towards asymmetrical sleeves with shapes that range from billowing to overly long and narrow, with shirting silhouettes that range from slim to cocooned.” Every shirt from The Anteros is washable—no dry cleaning required—and different from the shirts you can find at any boutique, fast-fashion flagship, or department store. It’s literally designed for people with taste—good taste.
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(Image credit: Liberowe)
All of the chicest people I follow on Instagram own and repeatedly wear at least one article of clothing from Liberowe. Talia Loubaton founded the London-based brand in 2021, kicking off the label with the Raja Signature Jacket, which was inspired by traditional menswear jackets in India, called sherwani, that she saw during her travels in Delhi. “They reminded me of the opening scene of Manon 70—my favorite French movie from the late ’60s—starring Catherine Deneuve, in which she wears a Nehru-collar jacket,” Loubaton told Who What Wear in 2023. When she returned to London, she started making a version of her own, adding a more feminine touch. After lots of refining, the Raja was born, a piece that continues to be a staple in Liberowe’s collections to this day. Jackets are the Central Saint Martins graduate’s specialty, but as of late, she’s begun experimenting with other silhouettes, from pants and miniskirts to dresses and blouses. Denim, linen, wool, cashmere, and silk are all a part of Liberowe’s sophisticated repertoire.
Shop Liberowe:
LIBEROWE
Joan Checked Cotton-Blend Tweed Midi Dress
LIBEROWE
Raja Velvet-Trimmed Canvas Blazer
LIBEROWE
Tamara Floral-Print Crepe Peplum Halterneck Top
LIBEROWE
Cotton-Sateen Wide-Leg Pants
(Image credit: Temily)
Temily is the newest brand on this list, having just launched exclusively with Moda Operandi on April 24. Raechel Temily cofounded the resortwear brand Kalita alongside Kalita Al Swaidi before deciding to strike off on her own. Her first collection, titled The Body Electric, includes a number of Lycra slip dresses with adjustable drawcord straps, a silhouette she’s been thinking about for years, according to an interview with WWD. She told the publication that her goal with Temily is to “build a luxury womenswear brand,” and she’s done exactly that, already nearly selling out of a number of the first pieces on Moda Operandi. There, you’ll find lavish, resort-ready pieces in bold colors like orange and gold, all with contrast piping. “Everything’s internally bound,” she told WWD. “It’s French-seamed. We’ve done custom fabrics. The hardware is coming out of Italy. Nothing is overlooked.” It sounds to me like every box is checked.
Shop Temily:
Temily
Exclusive Summer Bones Stretch-Satin Camisole Top
Temily
Exclusive Summer Bones Signature Stretch-Satin Maxi Dress
Temily
Exclusive Summer Bones Stretch-Satin Mini Dress
Temily
Exclusive Summer Bones Sheath Stretch-Satin Maxi Skirt
(Image credit: Heirlome)
Fashion, in many ways, has lost its tie to craft, but at Heirlome, craft is all that matters—it’s at the center of everything the brand makes and does. “We believe that knowledge, craft, and skill are invaluable heirlooms,” the womenswear label’s founders, husband-and-wife duo Stephanie Suberville and Jeffrey Axford, state on its website. Suberville and Axford collaborate with a new artisan from across Mexico and Latin America for each and every collection, exploring their existing work through pattern, print, weaving, knitting, and embroidery. “Respecting the authenticity of their art combined with impeccable tailoring, thoughtful details, and the finest fabrics, each piece is made with a focus on quality and longevity,” the site says. The couple’s dedication to craft is noticeable in every piece, and delicate draping, lavish knitwear, and refined tailoring are seen throughout Heirlome’s collections.
Shop Heirlome:
HEIRLOME
Patricia Sweater
HEIRLOME
Antonella Trouser
(Image credit: Lii)
Zane Li is one of the New York fashion scene’s greatest young talents. The 24-year-old grew up in Chongqing, China, and was raised, according to a recent profile in The New York Times, by a very stylish mother. Her love of fashion and dedication to looking her very best at all times led him to study the art, leaving Asia for the first time in his life in 2019 to enroll at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. During his studies, Li interned at Proenza Schouler, falling in love with the seemingly endless components that go into running a successful fashion brand. In 2023, rather than work at one, he started one, launching Lii. In February 2024, he made his New York Fashion Week debut, hosting press to preview his fall/winter 2024 womenswear collection and, in turn, making every editor in the city fall in love with his elegant, sporty, and minimalist aesthetic. He’s since ventured into menswear, allowing everyone to get the Lii look in 2025.
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