Capsule #105 ft. Han Walters

Hello!

Delighted to welcome some new readers from Dirt today! Welcome!! This week’s issue is on fashion, but you can expect a blend of commentary on fashion and pop culture, plus personal essays in the future. I hope you enjoy it!

For this week, we’re diagnosing the summer uniform of 2025 now that we’re in the thick of it. As ever, scroll for Hot & Not lists from Han Walters, plus cultural recs for your weekend ahead.

Thanks for being here!

Holly x

We’re a couple of weeks into official summer time and that means one thing: the big fashion motifs of the season are emerging. There’s often a chasm between what we predict will be a big trend and what people actually turn out wearing. Some trends play out as expected - like watching butter yellow and sheer skirts trickle down from the runway - but on the flip side, “real-life” fashion often ends up being more comfortable, less formal, and more playful than we predict.

There are a few reasons for this, but I think two core ones are:

1. In real life, outfits are designed for events. Much of the fashion I will share today comes from Glastonbury, big gigs like Oasis and the Hyde Park BST shows, celebrities on vacation, and regular girls in the park. Choosing clothes for the fun parts of your life imbues a real sense of fun, something I think is often missing from trend forecasting and prediction. You can’t really account for the joy of a live moment before it’s actually close.

2. Real life also gives us the biggest indicator of what we’ll wear: the weather. Spring/Summer collections are designed in cool weather and delivered in air-conditioned rooms. Similarly, spring clothes typically start to hit stores in late February/early March, when it’s still cold, and shopping online is done from the comfort of our homes. Once we’re actually in the heatwaves of June and July our needs feel urgent: to cool down, to move without chafing, to get ready quickly so we can get onto more important things like the beach. This means certain fabrics are left behind, in favour of something more practical.

And so here we are, knee-deep in summer time, a few heatwaves complete, and equipped with a uniform that feels distinctly 2025. Let’s take a look…

1. Bikinis and bras

The biggest indicator of dressing for the heat and not the pretty tops and shirts you had on hold. At Glastonbury this year, bras and bikinis were everywhere. And in both London and New York recently, the heat has been next level, pushing us all in the same direction: to our swimwear and underwear drawers.

2. Bandanas

Long time readers of Capsule will know we’ve been on the bandana hype for a while now but it feels like this summer is when it really popped everywhere else. Gracie Abrams at Glastonbury has done an enormous amount for the movement. Long timers like Jessie Bush and Harling Ross, who actually designed a gorgeous one for If Only If Nightwear this year, have become mainstays on our Pinterest boards. And girls in parks are balancing the feminine innocence of the look with triangle bikinis (see above) and baggy denim jorts.

Bandanas are likely to have longevity, because while they feel trendy, lifting from the conservative milkmaid aesthetic we’ve seen over the past couple of years, they are genuinely practical. There’s no better way to protect your parting from burning under the hot sun. It’s obviously extremely valid to hold yours in place with some hair pins.

3. Adidas 

Is there a better piece of design than the Adidas three stripes? It will never not be good! But it feels like Adidas is really having it’s time in the sun now, which is a mammoth turnaround after the Yeezy controversies a few years ago. After the Samba ascent, the Wales Bonner collabs, and the cool celebrity partners (Emma Chamberlain, Gabbriette), Adidas is officially a fashion brand.

Everywhere you look this summer you will see Adidas pop up - in shoes, yes, but even more so in shorts, track pants, and jackets. Some examples for your perusal:

4. Polka dots

The most micro-trend of the list. It’s unlikely that we’ll see the polka dot enthusiasm continue for years to come, but for this summer, everyone seems keen. This is a trend that picks up on the current affection for the feminine and the whimsy, and one we can trace back to the SS25 runway shows:

But we’re seeing more playful, sexier versions out in the world this summer:

And more practical styling, with casual pieces to equip the trend for our regular routine.

5. Flip flops

And last but not least, flip flops. Of course we never go without these but there’s been a specific turn towards seeing flip flops as a truly fashionable item. Havaianas has been putting in the work for years, and my TikTok is now full of people declaring it a “flip flop and jeans summer.” I fear we’ve all been sleeping on the humble flip flop and now’s the time to change that.

And for the flat-arched in the group: Polly Sayer has been raving about this brand Archies, which make flip flops with proper arch support. I have heard only good things!

And finally…

News from the Capsule universe this week:

• A collab that makes total sense

• The best dressed people this week were Rihanna’s kids

• Bad Bunny is giving the pop girlies a run for their money with this staging

• Margaret Qualley is making music

• So much time for Dakota Johnson’s style lately

• We found out why Suki Waterhouse took a social media break

• Charli xcx, Lorde and Blood Orange are putting Essex on the map: first came ‘forgot that inside the icon / there’s still a young girl from Essex,’ second came “Essex Honey,” the title of the new Blood Orange album

• FKA twigs is putting out more music this year

• Another day, another beauty brand collab with a sweet treat. But this one is actually tempting

• Demi Lovato is feeling rather bratty

• Yet more evidence to suggest we’re never getting a big Miley tour again

• Let’s go Ayo!!!

• A strong argument for wearing trousers on the red carpet

• And find out if you could have landed a job at Vogue in the 90s…

This week, Han Walters popped into Capsule to share what’s 🔥hot🔥 and what’s not 🙅‍♀️ …

Han is a Manchester-based freelance social media person, who spends her time on content creation, copywriting and being chronically online. Her origins aren't 100% confirmed, but we're pretty sure she’s 1/8th Italian which explains her chaotic love for pasta.

📺 Watching: Friendship in the cinema, Trainwreck: The Cult of American Apparel on Netflix, and the new Emma Chamberlain video, where she conducts an experiment to see if “putting effort” into her appearance changes how she feels.

📖 Reading: The New York Times’s new list of Best Movies of the 21st Century, which lets you select the films you’ve already seen or want to add to your list. Hope this sort of interactive media doesn’t die with AI. Plus this article by Meena Alexander for British Vogue, on the other side to a social media cleanse: the loneliness it can bring.

🎧 Listening to: Headlights, the new Alex G album, Moisturizer, the new Wet Leg album, and the new Blood Orange single, which features Lorde, Caroline Polachek, and Mustafa.

This unnamed puppy is here to share some big news: leggings are on the decline. Google searches for leggings have consistently fallen since December 2020, when the term peaked during the pandemic, and according to the Business of Fashion, brands and consumers are leaning towards wider pants such as Paloma Wool’s stretchy jersey-knit pants and Deiji Studio’s linen trousers that can almost double as pyjamas.

If you’d like to adopt this puppy or one of their friends, click here to learn more.

Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear how you’re finding Capsule - let me know here. And if you have a friend who might like it, do refer them! 🥺

See you next week 💋

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