Quiet Heritage: Preppy Academia Reimagined for Fall
Preppy is back, but not in its textbook form. For Fall 2025, academia has been stripped of nostalgia and rebuilt with sharper edges. Designers are using collegiate codes — pleats, tartans, blazers — as a starting point, then twisting them into something more editorial than traditional.
Thom Browne leads the movement with layered schoolboy tailoring, but the proportions are off-kilter, skirts sliced shorter, jackets cropped, and ties oversized. Burberry has reintroduced
tartan, though this time it’s broken up, patched, and collaged across coats and dresses. Miu Miu continues to play with uniforms, elevating pleated minis by pairing them with sculptural knits and boxy outerwear.
What makes this new heritage modern is restraint. Preppy in its original form was a uniform of belonging. In 2025, it is a tool of distinction. The mix of heritage fabrics and exaggerated proportions signals individuality rather than conformity.
Street style has embraced the look with irony and intelligence — kilts over trousers, ties styled with knits, blazers layered as outerwear. It’s not about copying a school uniform. It’s about bending it until it feels disruptive.
