Rebel REBEL

An elevated version of renegade grunge style has emerged on the runways. Call it “polished rock.”

- By Alexandra Hildreth

At a certain point over the last half-decade, online attitudes shifted from futuristic to nostalgic, taking personal style along with them.

The year 2020 saw the resurgence of McBling and Y2K, which coincided with the explosion of TikTok, sending fashion aesthetics into digital hyperdrive. From there, microtrends took on a life of their own, ultimately leading to intense trend fatigue and the rise (and fall) of quiet luxury.

Now, as we come out of the sweeping haze of cashmere cardigans and wide-legged trousers, fashion is once again experimenting with measured extravagance, blending late-20th-century power dressing with the flippant attitude of 2010s grunge and presenting us with a new hybrid. Call it "polished rock."

It’s the result of two phenomena converging: continued nostalgia, on the part of brands and fans alike, for It items of runways past; and a gradual rebuttal of the quiet-luxury-induced quest for aesthetic perfection. “Younger people [are] obsessed with what they see on social media. And a lot of social media fashion content right now is about the past," says fashion writer and author Kristen Bateman. Hints of this retromania have emerged of late—Chemena Kamali debuted an updated Paddington bag for Chloé’s fall 2025 collection, while Saint Laurent returned to its '80s archive of decadent lace and gold accessories.