Fashion Forecasting Report F/W 2025-2026

This report explains how the current fashion trend, minimalism, branches into different variations or niches, and how this will affect the future trends.

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Fashion Forecast – Playful Minimalism

The Existing Style: Minimalism

Minimalist fashion is known to be relatively simple and more focused on functionality. In large part, these qualities contribute to its timelessness. The minimalist style is meant to sustain limited wardrobe space with high quality pieces that can be coordinated with other pieces (Martin-Woodhead, 2022). As a result, minimalism also contributes to building more sustainable and ethical fashion practices, encouraging consumers to buy fewer pieces and of higher quality to minimize overconsumption. This, then, would also lead to less waste produced at the end of the fashion piece’s life cycle. Wearers of the style also note that minimalist fashion forces them to determine what is the “most important, most versatile, and most loved items” (Martin-Woodhead, 2022). The style is said to also improve self-confidence — since consumers of minimalist styles wear what they most value and are comfortable in, as well as to improve creativity — as consumers put outfits together with limited choices of clothes (Martin-Woodhead, 2022). 

In recent years, minimalism branched into several different forms: bold minimalism, clean girl aesthetic, soft minimalism, and chic minimalism. Soft minimalism tends to contain more neutral and softer palettes, with oversized tops and mom jeans. Chic minimalism contains more bold neutral colours with high contrast, tailored fits, and business-like pieces. The most popular minimalist tribe in recent years is the clean girl aesthetic, as many celebrities such as Hailey Bieber, Bella Hadid, Emma Chamberlain, and Selena Gomez have their personal brands catered to and express this style. This style has also gained popularity through Tik Tok, with the most reacted-to video gaining roughly 2.6 million likes. The style features matching jewelry, timeless pieces, and neutral colours paired with simple hair styles and makeup.

On the contrary, bold minimalism is a more niche derivative that is characterized by bright and solid colours, is generally void of overwhelming graphics, yet can still include some graphic design elements (WGSN Fashion). This style plays with silhouettes, but is not too overwhelming for daily wear. Many of the pieces that express bold minimal styles tend to be monotone or two-toned. Some elements of the style trend include colour blocking, some texture blocking, but still maintains elegance and simplicity overall. Bold minimalism consists of great standalone statement pieces, so additional accessories are generally not worn.

The Minimalist Consumer

Minimalist consumers gravitate towards versatility, quality, and basic pieces that can be mixed and matched easily with other pieces. In terms of the VALS framework, those that pursue minimalist fashion tend to be Achievers, who are more success and achievement oriented (Strategic Business Insights). This psychographic segment tends to also prioritize practicality and efficiency which can be why they gravitate towards minimalist fashion since practicality is a forefront of the style. Practicality also allows minimalists to not have to worry too much about what to wear on a lazy day, leading them to wear something more comfortable. Since they are more work-focused and are money-oriented, consumers of minimalist fashion can also express their sense of professionalism, yet still maintain a modest closet to save on finances. The emphasis on quality and price also reflect this. However, those that diverge into the bold minimalist niche can also be seen as Experiencers. According to the VALS framework, this segment tend to be more spontaneous, follow fashion trends, are very social, and “[h]ave a heightened sense of visual stimulation” (Strategic Business Insights). The different colours used in bold minimalist pieces can appeal to the Experiencers who love visual stimulation, and maintain a clean aesthetic. 

In terms of consumption-specfic needs, individuals who adopt minimalism seem to have a need for affiliation, to attain “a feeling of connection to others” (Solomon et al., 2023). Due to the minimalist style being less flashy overall, and containing less elements that would grab attention from others, the style pertains to those who would want to ‘fit in’ to society. Doing so would also lead to a feeling of belonging with others. However, for the bold minimalist style niche, consumers would perhaps also want to satisfy the need for uniqueness. As Solomon et al describes, the need for uniqueness is a need to be “satisfied by products that pledge to accentuate a consumer’s distinctive qualities” (2023). The bold colours and sometimes eccentric shapes of bold minimalism would cater to the unique qualities that this consumer group would want to express. The need for affiliation of this trend is still prevalent in that, despite having more bold colours that stand out, the style’s overall simplicity still allows the consumer group to maintain an elegant visual that would still be considered ‘acceptable’ in public. 

The Forecasted New Trend: Playful Minimalism

As fashion is rapidly evolving, style trends also evolve. WGSN forecasted “Playful Minimalism” as one of the many style concepts that can take form in the Autumn and Winter season of 2025 and 2026. “Playful Minimalism” is mostly derived from the existing bold minimalism style. The concept of this look is to incorporate the standard timeless silhouettes and the lack of graphic designs on minimalist pieces, while expanding on the “mood-enhancing elements” in colour, and “quirky shapes and mismatched trims and hardware” (Martellini, 2024). According to WGSN, the “Playful Minimalism” look is characterized by colour blocking, playful colour combinations, and asymmetry (Martellini, 2024). The style is also most relevant for it's incorporation of “woven tops, dresses, knitwear, skirts [and] tailoring” (Martellini, 2024). The style is said to include more vibrant primary colours, which contradicts the neutral and subdued forecasted palettes of the next year. Although vibrant colours are a significant element of this style tribe, and may be incorporated in more high-end fashion pieces, the muted and more neutral colours might appeal more to the average consumer who may not want to stand out too much. Like the bold minimalist style, “Playful Minimalism” will also resonate with consumers who have a need for uniqueness, as the style plays on shapes and colour. However, the lack of accessories and limited pieces worn per outfit would speak to consumers who have a need for affiliation. 

Citations

Fashion Feed: #boldminimal. WGSN Fashion. (n.d.). https://www.wgsn.com/fashion/feed?filters=%7B%22hashtags%22%3A%5B%22boldminimal%22%5D%7D

Martellini, S. (2024, February 8). Womenswear Forecast A/W 25/26: Intelligent Simplicity. WGSN. https://www.wgsn.com/fashion/article/656f85e58bd05fada7ae1a91

Martin‐Woodhead, A. (2022). Making wardrobe space: The sustainable potential of minimalist‐inspired fashion challenges. Area, 55(2), 274–283. https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12848

Solomon, M. R., White, K., Main, K. J., Dahl, D. W., & Simpson, B. (2023). Consumer Behaviour: Buying, Having, Being, Canadian Edition, 9th edition. Pearson.

Strategic business insights (SBI) . Strategic Business Insights. (n.d.). https://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/ustypes/experiencers.shtml