Last week, Dua Lipa appeared on the streets of New York, hand-in-hand with Callum Turner, wearing a yellow flannel shirt. She paired it with a white T-shirt and classic denim jeans. Naturally, she's hardly the first to tap the foolproof '90s outfit formula, but as it gets colder, we're thinking about the role of the humble flannel shirt in our wardrobes, and its gentle re-entry into the fashion zeitgeist over the last couple of years.
Back in Spring 2023, Matthieu Blazy opened his sophomore Bottega Veneta collection with a simple flannel shirt. We later learned that the "flannel" was really printed leather. Nonetheless, there was a signal that the casual wardrobe staple would be cropping up in a more luxury way over the next few seasons, and the feeling was right. Bottega Veneta Spring 2025, Blazy's second-last collection for the Italian house, featured no shortage of different iterations of flannel shirts, and now, in his new role at Chanel, he's reinterpreting how the classic print might fit into a house such as Chanel. For his debut collection this October, it was imagined in tiny beads (adhering to his signature love for trompe-l'oeil), that were strung and woven together to create a patchwork pattern on a shirt-like silhouette, with "raw-hem" sleeves and a matching skirt that nodded to the house's more traditional design codes.
Bottega Veneta SS23
Getty Images
Bottega Veneta SS23
Getty Images
Bottega Veneta SS25
Getty Images
Chanel SS26
Getty Images
The main proprietors of bringing the '90s grunge layering piece back into the style conversation, were, of course, perennial style icons, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Circa the 2010s, they were often captured in off-duty adjacent looks wearing various forms of flannel shirts either ties around their waists, or layered over tank tops and t-shirts. Naturally, the now- brains behind The Row had to run the silhouette back, debuting a crisp flannel shirt as part of their Spring 2025 collection, paired with a pair of simple black suit pants and classic belt.
It begs the question: are you wearing your flannel the '90s way, the Olsen twin way, the Blazy way, or all of the above? For us, it's a mix of them all, since they all cycle into each other. From our current obsession with nostalgia to the eternally-chic Olsen twin silhouettes of the 2010s to our deep appreciation for Matthieu Blazy's beautiful mind, it feels as though the humble flannel shirt is an encapsulation of both past, present, and future right now. Some call it the lumberjack trend; I call it a cyclical trend cycle.
The Olsen twins and Dua Lipa aren't the only ones to jump on the trend recently, either. Katie Holmes, another one of our perpetual style icons, was recently spotted on the set for her new film wearing a worn-in flannel shirt with a Chloé Paddington slung over her shoulder. The aughts really are back, baby! And so are flannel shirts.
Getty Images
Getty Images
The Row SS25
The Row
Getty Images
