Looking back, 2025 was certainly a hot year for vintage fashion.
On the red carpets, many celebrities embraced archival runway looks (see some of the best moments here), proving that a throwback design can feel just as fresh and modern today. Even off-duty, stars—from Kendall Jenner to Tyla—have incorporated retro finds into their more casual wardrobes, too. And it seems like they are not the only ones: according to Google’s annual Year in Search trends, one of the most popular queries of 2025 was for vintage clothing items. And the search engine’s list of top 10 most Googled items is…certainly eclectic.
The list of queried vintage items takes into account notable spikes in Google traffic over a sustained period, these last 12 months. So what exactly made the cut? The mishmashed list reads as follows: Oakley hoodies, Red Kap pants, Mötley Crüe t-shirts, mock neck sweatshirts, Eagles jackets, Hollister jackets, Miss Me Jeans, Eagles sweatshirts, Fox Racing hoodies, and the most broad search of them all, simply vintage “shorts.”
While these may all be heavily sought-after items for 2025, the list is clearly heavy on 1990s and 2000s nostalgia. Brands like Oakley and Fox Racing ruled the grunge era of the ’90s, while fur-trimmed Hollister jackets and bootcut Miss Me jeans dominated the saucy naughties. If you’re thinking to yourself, ‘how random that people are searching and shopping for these again,’ consider that it does make sense that such decade-defining pieces would have a 2025 comeback. Designers, after all, have been relentlessly obsessed with harking back to both of these influential eras as of late. Take the Gucci pre-fall collection released just today: The racing jackets and bootcut jeans could have easily come out in 2006 as much as 2026.
Judging by the new Google searches, though, it seems consumers now want the real vintage thing versus more inspired takes. They’re searching for the hot staples that actually defined these time periods. Still, there are some real wild cards in there. Mötley Crüe tees, for one, is quite a specific garment, though the band fits right in with the enduring craze for vintage rock tees. The Red Kap pants could be a result of the burgeoning workwear trend. Eagles sweatshirts and jackets speak to a more sporty sensibility on the 2025 hot list—maybe that is the result of the Taylor Swift-Kansas City Chiefs effect.