Lately, stars like Addison Rae and HAIM have additionally pared again their wardrobes to showcase a brand new “low-key pop star” — however Lorde stands aside with how clear she’s been in sharing the non-public stakes which have pushed her model evolution. In that interview with Rolling Stone, she reported feeling “within the center gender-wise,” and her new model displays her heat embrace of gender fluidity. (Her 2025 Met Gala look, a Thom Browne three-piece, made her “really feel like a person and a girl.”) Overcoming struggles with disordered consuming and physique picture points additionally performed a large function — themes that may even be mirrored on her new album, Virgin, out June 27.

To listen to Lorde put the explanations behind her dressing so plainly offers her pursuit of “private model” an additional ring of authenticity — one thing that I really feel has gotten misplaced within the trendy period of extra senseless, trend-centered curating. (And attempt to divorce the idea from the precise price ticket of her garments which followers have sourced to be at eye-watering amounts.)

To me, Lorde’s championing of instinctual dressing feels like an alternate and logical endpoint to the core developments which have dominated trend over the primary half of the 2020s. After years of TikTok-fueled trend cycles, 2025 is bringing private model into query: Who’re you actually with out an algorithm guiding your buy? Maybe, a “Lorde Summer season,” as prompted by Charli xcx, might additionally be calling us to ponder what makes our model ours at its very root. Lorde’s wardrobe is a reminder that self-discovery, even fashion-wise, is a lifelong journey. Subsequent time you end up opening TikTok for inspiration, possibly simply have a look in your closet as an alternative.