It’s a great season to buy a “personality skirt”; the kind that puts pep in your step. This summer, it’s with minimal irony that we welcome back the Uptown frou of Serena van der Woodsen’s early Aughts wardrobe. Specifically: the bouncy, leg-baring joy of the puffball skirt – a hallmark of the incoming Bubble Girl look.
Consider it a continuation of the voluptuous-skirted mood that entered the chat last year, via East London-based designer Aaron Esh, a rising star of the capital’s fashion scene. His muse wears a polished grey wool skirt suit with cherry-red mules, and a wash of pale grey eyeshadow. Kiko Kostadinov, and the king of clever, cloud-like volume, and Louis Vuitton’s Nicolas Ghesquière are also early backers of the revisionist preppy look – which speaks to the squeaky clean lifestyle cues that are currently lighting up our IG feeds – while on the spring/summer 2025 runways, Chloé, Marc Jacobs and Alaïa were championed pillowy hemlines of varying proportions.
In previous decades, clothes gave away their wearer’s job or taste in music. Today, the way we dress communicates the finer details of our optimal lifestyle choices. A Vogue editor worth their salt will be able to detect your retinol percentage, whether you’re a Bio Sculpture or Dior Nail Glow girl, and how long you’d be willing to queue outside Buns From Home, all on the basis of your Vestiaire wishlist.
The Bubble Girl aesthetic is pinned to a fresh faced Rosalía wearing a Paloma Wool dress and athletic ballet flats in Los Angeles, with a mostly empty cup of ice tea at her feet. She’s Iris Law during a creative recharge in Tokyo with flecks of gold glitter adorning the bridge of her nose. The twenty-something fashion consultants you follow on IG who prefer to make mood boards at 10pm on a Thursday night than to party, are Bubble Girls. (They likely have a breakfast meeting on Golborne Road following a 7:30am reformer class). The Bubble Girl is busy and anti-hedonistic. She bookmarks Adidas Jisho yoga flats on Vinted, and scours her DMs for a personal assistant who can help archive her vintage Margiela collection and sober raves at Club Are. She stows her essentials in a well-loved Balenciaga City bag, and never lets her phone battery die.
The Bubble Girl uniform? A puffball skirt (obv). She has Fanci Club’s puffed mini and vintage Jil Sander bloomers on rotation. But, this is about reclaiming a Noughties party wear staple for daylight hours, so heels – unless it’s a Chloé wedge – are off the menu. The Bubble Girl is shipping for Vivobarefoot Asana Yin ballerinas and a translucent knee sock.
Feeling daring? Try Chopova Lowena’s studded bloomer skort, with built-in mini shorts. Feeling not-so-daring? Opt for a midi version and add: square-toe Phoebe Philos, Old Céline Shield sunglasses and a nonchalantly-tucked white tee or tank, with a Merino knit knotted around your shoulders.
Here’s the thing: you’re going to need a bubble skirt and the PR contact at Barrecore in time for summer. We all are.
