The Topshop relaunch has certainly awoken something in us all. Memories of skin-tight Joni jeans, khaki parka jackets and frilled ankle socks come flooding back- surely the 2010s wasn’t that long ago?
In it’s heyday, Topshop commanded the high street. The Oxford Street flagship store- complete with beauty salon and DJ- was nothing short of a landmark. Kate Moss collabs had teenagers queuing overnight, and if you didn’t own a pair of Jamie jeans, did you even exist? Hence, the shockwaves that were sent through when the brand collapsed and was bought out by ASOS in 2021.
Now, in 2025, Topshop has announced a relaunch, led by none other than the queen of the 2010s herself, Cara Delevigne. Their own online shop is back, and stand-alone stores are soon set to open in the Republic of Ireland. It all begs the question: is this a smart repositioning to meet Gen Z on their terms, or simply a comfort-blanket comeback for millennials who wore Topshop in uni?
Saturday’s Trafalgar Square takeover was the tell-all moment. For a brand that was once a London Fashion Week staple, this was their first catwalk show in seven years. A reinvention of some description was inevitable- we’re not quite ready for the return of peplum tops and skater skirts. But Joni jeans were very much present. As were faux fur coats, bold colour palettes, chunky knits and oversized blazers, evoking the London ‘it-girl’ vibe that was a stroke of marketing genius and captured our hearts and imaginations fifteen years ago.
The market in 2025 is so saturated with clothing brands trying to catch a viral trend, and pumping out what they think Gen Z wants, that a bit of Topshop nostalgia seems a welcome respite for many women in their 20s and 30s, and perhaps even younger.
However, those turning the cogs in the Topshop wheel knew that nostalgia alone wouldn’t be enough to catapult the brand to the cult status it once held. The brand’s power always lay in making high fashion feel within reach, something it famously achieved through collaborations with supermodels like Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell.
Echoing that once foolproof formula, parts of the new collection have been co-designed by Cara Delevingne. Topshop Managing Director Michelle Wilson told Grazia ‘Cara is the perfect embodiment of what Topshop stands for now: bolf, creative, and unapologetically herself.’ It’s a clever throwback to the brand’s golden era, but Cara isn’t exactly the model of the moment. Will her influence even hold much weight for Gen Z shoppers who were in rompers when she was the ‘it girl’?
Model Adwoa Aboah, who was in attendance on Saturday, told British Vogue that the collection ‘feels very observant of what people are wearing here and now’. But online, the consensus is that the collection felt neither here nor there. Are Topshop playing it safe, despite their ambitions to capture a new generation of fans? Time will certainly tell.
Image: Clem Onojeghuo via Unsplash