Noughties Fashion Is Hard to Beat—These 8 It Buys Are Making an Unexpected Comeback in 2025

I may be biased as card carrying millennial, but there’s something about 2000s fashion that just can’t be topped. While my fellow thirtysomethings are avoiding noughties trends like the plague but craving nostalgia, and Gen Z are discovering classic trends for the first time around, many of the styles we were convinced were confined to the annals of history are now cropping up on the catwalk.

We might not have understood the sudden penchant for platform trainers, combat trousers and pedal pushers, straight away but any decade that could give us slip dresses and the Fendi baguette should not be relegated to the past. The noughties gave us some of the most memorable fashion moments after all—Alexander McQueen runways, Oscars red carpets and whatever it was that American reality TV so addictive. This was a decade quite unlike any other.

With enough time having passed that the fashion cycle is coming back around again. it stands to reason that some of the biggest trends of the noughts are enjoying viral moments again. Designer handbags! Retro denim! Controversial cult pieces! We’ve rediscovered a love for the reissued, recycled and reinvented, and I have a feeling once you start scrolling through this list, you will too.

From A-list accessories to cheap and cheerful buzzy buys, keep scrolling for our rundown of the It buys set to make their big comeback in 2025.

1. SLOGAN TEES

Style Notes: We’ve stocked up on tanks, longsleeves and tees in just about every neutral we can think of (and jersey basics will always be a forever wardrobe staple), but 2025 is all about tops that make a statement by standing out from the crowd. Most will remember the years that French Connection’s FCUK baby tees and Henry Holland’s fashion slogan tops held their grip on the style set in the 90s and noughties, but now slogan tees have had a luxury upgrade and be found in the repertoire of even the most luxurious fashion houses.

Shop Graphic Tees:

Valentino

Printed Cotton Jersey T-Shirt

2. BOOTCUT JEANS

Style Notes: Call it the “Kendrick effect”, but suddenly skinny jeans are no longer the most controversial denim in our editor’s group chat—like the rest of the world, our focus is back on bootcuts. In all fairness, the 2000s’ favourite jeans are universally flattering, hugging the hips with bum-lifting appeal and flaring out at the ankles, but it wasn’t until the halftime show at the Superbowl that we thought about just how well these could be styled up for the 2020s. Our advice? Lean into the exaggerated silhouette, and tuck in billowing blouses and undone shirts for a casual-yet-polished look that you can throw on in five minutes.

Shop Bootcut Jeans:

3. BALENCIAGA CITY BAG

Style Notes: Remember when it felt as though anyone who was anyone was pairing a Balenciaga City bag with skinny jeans and a McQueen skull scarf? Well, one of the biggest It bags of the noughties is back again in new sizes and colourways. Until teeny, tiny top handle bags make it big on the runway again, we’re happy to back any trend that is as practical as it is cool, and a roomy tote that sits perfectly in the crook of your arm is the holy grail. Perhaps why a new generation are flocking to buy the City bag in droves the second time around.

Shop the City Bag:

4. BURBERRY CHECK

Style Notes: There is no other print in fashion quite as identifiable as Burberry’s heritage check. Yes, the pattern may have experienced highs and lows over the years, but it’s legacy far outweighs any knockoff connotations, and shoppers are ready to dive head first back into the camel checks again after a couple of years off under the creative direction of Daniel Lee. Scroll through the new-in sections of luxury retailers and you’ll spot the same shirts and scarves that celebrities wore with pride 20 years ago, reworked to breathe new life into the print, so you can almost guarantee that by the next fashion week, the street style set will be sporting the same.

Shop Burberry Check:

5. ISABEL MARANT WEDGE TRAINERS

Style Notes: First comes TikTok, then comes Gen-Z, and any piece that gets the attention of this fashion-forward crowd is guaranteed to go viral overnight. Isabel Marant’s wedge trainers, otherwise known as the Bekett, were as divisive at the time as they are now, but if it gets people talking, it’s likely to pop up on the fashion month circuit, and suddenly influencers are hooked on this sneaker-wedge hybrid all over again. With fans like Beyoncé, Irina Shayk, Rihanna and Giselle, these might just be the next trainer trend big enough to topple the Adidas Samba.