Hola Sugarcups,

There’s something delicious about falling into the past, particularly if those fragile memories are adorned with delicate lace, tied into boned corsets, frilled with layered ruffles, and perched high in button-crowns to whisper “ballrooms by candlelight” and “secret love notes”. The Victorian Revival is one of the most romantic returnings for the Fall Winter 2025 collection and currently strutting the runway and fanning the flames on the ‘grams like “Stay with me; I promise it’ll never be boring, it’ll just be dramatic, full of detail, and moody as hell.” But as a brand strategy consultant, what fascinates me most about it is that it’s more than simply a costume party à la the British monarchy or Victoria’s secret; it’s a brilliant calculated bit of brand hard/soft opening: that deep desire for narrative, personality, and gothic romance (think capelets, tall collars, and moonlit gothic savagery) met with just the right time for heritage, hand, and authenticity to let us show our true selves. Covering everything from Alexander McQueen to Westfield crossovers, if you’re Gen Z, Millennial, or even Alpha, and love the feel of feeling loved-just enough-the Victorian glamour revival is your clinch.

Of course the Victorian Revival AW25 can also be small scale, dictated by runway and cultural clues. For instance, Alexander McQueen’s Fall/Winter 2025 show saw Seán McGirr’s entry take a trip down memory lane grounded in Victorian Gothic. There were high necks, pleated lace, pinched Victorian shoulders, sharply tailored jackets and large cape shapes on the runway. But Temperley London’s La Victoire AW25 range also took a page from the Napoleonic and aristocratic playbook with its heavily tailored shapes, embroidery, insignia inspired details and ruffles. All these ideas refer to some larger trends called out by fashion trend prediction agencies such as Vogue Business and Fashion United in winter trends 2025-26 articles, where medieval escapism, the gothic attitude and the romantic desire for darkness and spirituality are all consumer strands for this season. Our appetite for lace, velvet, corsets, high collars and big balladry sleeves tell us we want feeling, story and storytelling.

This is the first item on this list – high collar. Whether it’s ruffled or stand up, whether you can detach or not, once you have got that high collar, you are pretty much totally Victorian. Grab some quality white cotton lace and organza, for smart neckbands and modular detachable pieces to slot into a modern shirt or contemporary knitwear. High collar’s a structure, that’s where the face is, and it can make a huge statement of power and drama. For business, detachable collars are a goldmine, they’re a really high-value, low-risk sourcing item for licensing deals, capsule ranges and collaborations. Consider vintage shops, high-end fash brands like Valentino, McQueen or traditional lace and organza producers, and high-street reinterpretations like Self-Portrait, Sandro, and various boutiques around the UK.

Lace is another staple of the revival: all of the regular classics – Chantilly, guipure, broderie anglaise. The way to wear lace now is to play with the density – have sheer lace sleeves and structural insets, overlay more substantial lace, contrast linings, add colour trims. Lace is a stunning mix of texture and detail; for brands, working with historic lace-houses and small ateliers offers a chance to tap into native, meaningful stories, with a focus on ethically-made, affordable products. The pretty, elevated lace you love is available at all price levels at Self-Portrait and For Love & Lemons, at European vintage markets, and historic lace-houses.

Outerwear takes a fun step forward in time for the season with capelets, longer capes and structured outerwear. Expect shoulder volume, long capes, cropped capelets over sharp tailoring, fabric lined luxe velvet or satin, embellishment and metallic fastenings. Outerwear is attention grabbing and provides high-value wardrobe building with high cost per wear benefits which should appeal to the consumer. This can also be a great space for brands to work with outerwear specialists; interesting fashion-forward pieces can be sourced from Burberry’s updated trench coat market, lesser known UK specialist brands, and vintage sourced second hand capelet retail resale.

Under layers, the silhouette will be pretty heavy, of course, given the corset and specifically the structure of the waistline. Look for an under-bust or other internal corseting, wide corset belts, corset bodiced dresses, empire-waisted dresses, corsets over plain shirts or everyday dresses. This use of the structural, stiff shape of a corset playing counterpoint to the softness of the romantic fabric makes a wonderful playground for the contrast in the clothes as a design convention which is a classic trick in Victorian dress. The dramatic play of the structure underneath and the softness of the fabric makes corsetry wonderful for campaigns and branding, many high fashion experiments in this line and individual bespoke corset labels, and also nice vintage corseted bodices re-used.

This is balanced by eye-catching sleevs – bishop sleeves, puffed shoulders, cuffs with lace trim, bell-sleeves, and cuffs finished with fine lace or tying ribbon. The statement sleeves are useful as they are naturally ‘attention grabbing’ with space to open out your arms – they are also a clever way for the consumer to dabble in the Victorian trend in terms of detail and not having to buy a complete period costume. With respect to the idea of luxury the revival will be using heavy fabrics and deep colours in order to make it stand out from its competitors. Expect jewel colours such as emerald green, maroon and navy and black and cream jacquards, brocades, velvets and satins – the combination of the heavier textures and dark colours will give an instantly luxurious feeling.

Last but not least, get the right accessories to bring the Victorian Revival to life! Think vintage-looking brooches, cameo pendants, lace gloves, chokers, bonnets, small hats and headbands. The thing with accessories in the Victorian Revival is they really are the perfect accompaniment because they’re the trend that is easiest to add in without having to go out and build a whole new wardrobe – they’re also so useful for fashion brands for a relatively low risk piece that’s flexible enough to work cross-brand, not to mention they’re well-suited for great styling content on social media! Combine these romantic, feminine features with the essentials in your wardrobe and you can easily achieve the Victorian Revival without leaving yourself way behind the pace of modern life.

Want me to style these pieces for a corporate wear look? Or do you want me to examine the sustainable & marketing sides of this for brands that want in on this trend?