For the last couple of years, nostalgia has reigned supreme in the fashion universe, namely on the runways with reissues and in the social media landscape that birthed old trends back into being (Y2k style being the most prolific of them all). But there was something more splashy that happened in the zeitgeist in 2025–celebrities and their stylists became obsessed with vintage. The red carpets this year were packed with precious archival pieces from the runways, some of which had rarely been seen other than their catwalk debuts, if at all.
Why now though? Perhaps it’s because red carpet fashion has been in a creative limbo thanks to the sweeping changing of the guards at nearly all the luxury fashion houses in Europe. Or, is it just a flex? For a stylist and celebrity to choose a rare archival piece shows that they really know fashion—who to call and how to access it.
Kylie Jenner, for one, understands the power of archival storytelling on the red carpet. In January, Jenner’s stylists Alexandra and Mackenzie Grandquist unearthed a fashion and pop culture treasure for Jenner’s appearance at the Golden Globes. Attending with her boyfriend Timothée Chalamet, the beauty mogul donned a silver chainmail dress from Versace’s spring 1999 collection, which was originally worn on the red carpet by Elizabeth Hurley that same year. “When we first saw the dress we knew it was going to be a moment,” says the Grandquist duo. “For us, it was all about the fine details and textures on this dress. It is so stunning in person as it was in photos.”
The 2025 awards season continued to bring more intruiguing vintage moments, as Rachel Sennott took to the streets of Utah in an old-school Dolce & Gabbana shearling coat and mini skirt while promoting her film Bunnylovr at the Sundance Film Festival. Shortly after that, Cynthia Erivo appeared on the SAG red carpet in a gunmetal gown with fringe at the collar and the sleeves from Alexander McQueen’s fall 1997 Couture show at Givenchy. The dress was originally worn by one of the late McQueen’s muses, model Debra Shaw.
From left: Gucci spring 1998, Christian Dior spring 2000, Versace spring 1999
The trend peaked a month later at the Vanity Fair Oscars party, where several vintage looks took the spotlight. There was Kaia Gerber, styled by Siena Gones, in a cream-colored, ruffled gown and matching cape from spring 1997 Valentino Couture, Kendall Jenner in a black lace dress from Thierry Mugler’s spring 1992 collection, and Keke Palmer, who wore a fishnet bodice and wrap skirt gown from Versace’s spring 2004 collection. “Keke gave it her own twist 22 years later,” says her stylist Molly Dickson. “I love the minimalist glam, which allowed the eye to focus on her beautiful face and gave the gown the moment it deserves.”
Dickson agrees that fashion’s great reset, as it’s been called, which saw some 15 new creative directors take the reigns at major fashion houses across Europe, caused a lot of stylists to look to the archives when it came time to dress their clients, rather than the brands themselves which were in a state of flux. “2025 was a year of tremendous change for so many fashion houses with creative directors and designers all switching up,” says Dickson. “While it was exciting for us to see who was going where, it meant a lot of fashion houses were pausing on loaning until everything settled—so when a client wanted a certain designer, we sometimes had to look at vintage.”
While the trend may have been a result of structural shifts within the industry, it was clear that both the celebrities and their stylists were having a blast borrowing from the archives, not only showing they know their fashion history but also, perhaps, choosing pieces that bring back a certain playfulness and sexuality that is harder to find now.
In one fun instance this year, the nostalgia came full circle back in May. After actress Jenna Ortega wore the Christian Dior newspaper print dress from fall 2000, most famously seen on Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City, Sarah Jessica Parker praised the look on Entertainment Tonight, saying that the dress had found its new rightful owner and that the Wednesday star looked incredible in it. Ortega’s stylist Enrique Melendez said, “The fact that it could not be altered and fit perfectly still amazes me. I think it was meant to be. The fashion Gods were on our side and to hear SJP make some beautiful comments about Jenna in the dress…I died and went to fashion heaven.”
From left: Thierry Mugler spring 1992, Armani Privé spring 2005, Christian Dior fall 2000
In the music world, Tyla went deep into the Chanel archives at the start of fall with the help of her stylist Ron Hartleben. Tyla, who has been known to rock vintage on more than one occasion, turned heads at the MTV Video Music Awards in a spring 1993 Chanel top worn as a mini dress. Fans of the label will recall that the look made its debut on Chanel muse Claudia Schiffer while modeling it in the show.
When it came time for Tyla to decide what to wear to the VMAs, Hartleben was deep in styling mode for the video for her new song Chanel, released in October—so the choice was obvious. “I had already decided to use as much rare vintage Chanel that I could find to drive the idea of the song home, and I knew the length of the top was somewhat unusual,” says Hartleben. He pulled vintage pieces from the French fashion house, like the Karl Lagerfeld-designed little golden revolver from Fall 1993 and the hula hoop bag from Spring 2013, along with a pink corset top from Spring 1993, which she wore in white to the VMAs. “The top extends past the waist, unlike a typical corset, because it’s meant to be worn with pants. So I knew that the length would be just right for Tyla, who loves to push the limit of how short things can be—tastefully of course.”
From left: Valentino spring 1997, Alexander McQueen fall 1997, Versace spring 2004
While Tyla made waves in the miniest mini, others brought longer gowns into the archival spotlight to close out the year. During the All’s Fair vintage-heavy promo tour in Paris, Kim Kardashian took to the red carpet in a blueish-green gown from John Galliano’s spring 2000 Dior collection and at the start of November supermodel Amber Valletta brought the house down at the CFDA Awards in the Versace plunging-neckline, jungle print gown made famous by Jennifer Lopez — let it be known that Valletta wore a shorter version of the dress when she opened the brand’s spring 2000 show, so she did in fact wear it first. And earlier this month, Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter Apple Martin turned heads and made headlines at the New York premiere of Marty Supreme in the highly recognizable black, scoop-neck halter dress from Calvin Klein Collection that her mother wore to the 1996 showing of Emma. In this case, the apple certainly doesn’t fall far from the tree.
As for what to expect in 2026 on the vintage-meets-red-carpet front? With the onslaught of new collections from freshly minted creative directors at Chanel, Dior, Loewe, and more, the current runway offerings could gain favor amongst the celebrity style set. But certainly not with all of them. “Archival is so important to me as a stylist and to the art of fashion specifically,” says Melendez. “We really have to know where we come from to get where we’re going, historically and artistically.”
Below, here are the best archival looks of the year.
Best Red Carpet Archival Looks
