A look from Isabel Marant’s Fall 2025 runway.
In an interview, apparently Isabel Marant once said she was tired and wanted to quit despite her gargantuan success. Who can blame her? The working gal usually gets the short end of the stick, especially when she is also a wife and mother. Of course, the designer may have been feeling a bit “fatigué” (which in France is cause for doctors to legally excuse someone from work to rest) as she worked her keister off to build her namesake brand of cool girl lux wear that was valued at nearly one billion euros in 2022.
In her Fall 2025 show, she clearly had office work in mind, at least the kind that plays with menswear tropes (pin stripes, plaids, and shirting stripes) by vamping them up. A heavy techno beat song repeating “work” set the tone to the bevy of boss ladies with a swashbuckling corporate pirate vibe thanks to the mishmash of ideas and accoutrement each was bearing. To complement these ladies navigating a sea of business attire by sexing it up with insouciance (as well as micro hemlines and plenty of sheer) were her male coworkers who dabbled in a bit of New Romantic touches. While the requisite white ruffled Poet shirts were missing—unless you count some soft crochet knit angora playsuits—Jack Sparrow and the like seemed to serve as the collection’s style muse.
A look from Isabel Marant’s Fall 2025 runway.
Beaded keffiyeh-esque scarves were wrapped around the neck and tucked into suits, belts from wide sashes that tucked things in and out, or skinny chain-detailed styles, massive brooches, and safety-pin styles stuck here and there, sparkling dangling earrings, large leather satchels with studding perfect for stashing loot and booties, gathered at the ankle with a leather ruffle harkened back to Cavalier slash Buccaneer boots favored by the sea-worthy outlaws.
A look from Isabel Marant’s Fall 2025 runway.
At times, the styling completely overtook the look, and the awkward layering and semi-tucked pieces made it hard to take it all in. Pieced out, there were some great standouts. To wit, a red blazer and overcoat in a fuzzy mohair beckoned, sumptuous funnel neck leathers, and sharp black tailoring on blazers and pleated pants. Off the shoulder for evening in blue velvet and crystal embellished styles would fit in perfectly at “Working Girl” movie party scene. At the same time, some other transparent lacy numbers might appeal to the “Anora” realm of pros.
Marant’s fans can get enough of her as her sales prove (nor can the throngs of fans that show up outside her shows to get selfies with fashion front-row dynamite such as Kate Moss and South Korean singer, actress, and model Nana while Seonghwa from Ateez walked the show. So, Marant must deliver the goods to continue reaping the pirate’s booty from her multi-category brand. In a poignant moment, Marant once again brought out Artistic Director Kim Bekker to take the applause while she hung back on the runway. A nice boss lady gesture during International Women’s Month and perhaps her way of taking a “petit pause” for once.
