Bubble silhouettes resurface
Bubble silhouettes—rounded, inflated shapes in outerwear and dresses—reappeared in recent celebrity and street‑style coverage, with Zendaya, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Sabrina Carpenter and Rihanna flagged as early adopters. (x.com) The look is being discussed alongside other recurring trends rather than as a one‑off red‑carpet moment. (x.com)
Fashion’s puffed, rounded “bubble” shape has moved from scattered celebrity outfits into a broader 2025-to-2026 trend cycle. (marieclaire.com) By March 26, 2025, Marie Claire was calling for “an even bigger bubble skirt boom” after the shape showed up across Spring 2025 runway collections from Alaïa, Cecilie Bahnsen, Chloé, J.W. Anderson, Ferragamo and Carven. (marieclaire.com) Refinery29 wrote on April 22, 2025 that bubble hems had already broken out in 2024 and were getting “bigger” in 2025, spreading from dresses and skirts into tops, shorts and matching sets. (refinery29.com) That run matters because the look is no longer tied to one red carpet or one house. Fashionista reported in May 2025 that Google Trends searches for both “bubble skirts” and “bubble dresses” had climbed sharply, while retailers were stocking versions from mini to maxi. (fashionista.com) Celebrity wear helped push the shape into wider circulation before the current round of trend coverage. Zendaya wore a puffed Louis Vuitton mini dress in New York on September 21, 2024, pulled from the brand’s Resort 2025 collection. (graziamagazine.com) Sabrina Carpenter was cited as part of the first wave of the comeback as bubble skirts spread from Miu Miu’s Spring/Summer 2024 runway into celebrity wardrobes and social feeds. (grazia.my) Rihanna kept volume in the conversation in April 2025, when she appeared at a Fenty Beauty event in Paris in a voluminous Rick Owens Spring 2025 strapless dress built around exaggerated structure and drape. (fashionbombdaily.com) The silhouette itself is older than the current cycle. The Victoria and Albert Museum lists a Christian Lacroix “Lace Bubble Dress” from 1989, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art describes Pierre Cardin dresses from the late 1950s and 1960s as part of his geometric, architectural approach. (vam.ac.uk, metmuseum.org) Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza has also described Cristóbal Balenciaga’s work through its “architectural volume,” a phrase that helps explain why the shape keeps returning when fashion swings back toward sculptural clothes. (museothyssen.org) The latest version looks less like a costume revival than a recurring silhouette with new proportions, new fabrics and more everyday retail presence. That is why the bubble shape has resurfaced as a season-wide fashion story instead of a one-night novelty. (refinery29.com, fashionista.com, marieclaire.com)
