Lorde Summer 2025 Is The Angsty & Freeing Answer To Last Year's Brat Obsession

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While the summer of 2024 was ruled by the lime green hyperpop and modernized indie sleaze of Charli XCX's "brat," all signs are suggesting that 2025 will be the year of Lorde summer. The New Zealand singer is making a much-anticipated comeback with her fourth studio album, titled "Virgin" and set to release on June 27th, with the hype beginning with an Instagram overhaul and a surprise Coachella appearance. Lorde appeared on-stage at the annual music festival alongside her summer aesthetic predecessor Charli XCX to perform "Girl, so confusing" and seemingly usher in her new era.

Since then, she's released the angsty post-break-up song "What Was That," recorded a casual music video set in the streets of New York City, and debuted the X-ray-featuring cover of her album on Instagram. The celeb also made a sleek appearance among the best and worst dressed of the 2025 Met Gala, wearing a custom, metallic two-piece from Thom Browne that doubled as an Easter egg. "To me, it really represents where I'm at," Lorde told Vogue about the outfit. "Gender wise. I feel like a man and a woman, you know." With this in mind, it looks like summer 2025 will be all about angst and adventure balanced with intimacy and androgyny.

In the early stages of Lorde summer, the "Royals" singer has sported some menswear-inspired outfits that have us itching to raid our boyfriend's closets. Beyond the white button-up and iridescent bikini top featured in her music video, she sported undone trousers, a striped polo, and a tie-turned-bra in her editorial shoot for Re-edition Magazine. Lorde's turn to masculine fashion staples reflects some of her recent comments about masculinity, with androgyny and gender-bending being recurring elements of the project. "I was trying to make a document that reflected my femininity: raw, primal, innocent, elegant, openhearted, spiritual, masc," she wrote about "Virgin" in a press release shared by Billboard.

In this way, oversized polo shirts and slouchy button-ups are a great pick for the upcoming summer, with Gap's Long-Sleeved Oxford and leisure polos from Lioness being great examples. Lorde has also brought a casual slouchiness to her Re-edition photoshoot, wearing oversized bomber jackets, brightly colored athleticwear, and a tattered tank top in the spread. She even posed with rainbow-colored Snow Peak Titanium Water Bottle, so those taking fashion inspiration from the celeb can keep the support water bottle close while breaking out the neon swimsuits. Though Lorde has rocked some angsty beauty looks in the past, opting for dark lipsticks and bold eyeliners, her newest era has the star embracing a more subdued look as she lands among the chic celebrities embracing the bushy eyebrow trend. This makes summer 2025 a great time to opt for a more natural makeup look, but Lorde summer otherwise promsies to be all about the vibes. 

Given the blurry, bikini-top selfie pulled from the dynamic, party-driven music video of "What Was That," Lorde summer set to carry over some of the messy party culture present in the "brat" aesthetic and the '90s-originating indie sleaze. The mention of drug-use in her single emphasizes this partying parallel, while Lorde's comments surrounding the album expand on ideas of adventure. In an interview with Document Journal, the songwriter associated "Virgin" with feeling alive and taking risks. "Another [saying] that we had making this album was 'the magic lives close to the edge,'" she shared with artist Martine Syms. "Because sometimes making stuff, as I'm sure you're familiar with, you're like, 'Whoa. I'm so alive in this, but I feel the presence of real danger, of risk.'" 

While living life to the fullest and engaging with potent experiences is expected to be a major staple of Lorde summer, imagery surrounding the upcoming album balances sleazy adventure with intimacy and rawness. Alongside a side-shot of a half-obscured Lorde spitting toothpaste into a sink, the Document Journal photoshoot depicts the singer looking into the cluttered mirror of a medicine cabinet or pressing her knees to her chest while wearing nothing but underwear (seemingly Calvin Klein Boxer Briefs). Though these images have a grittiness reminiscent of indie sleaze, they also suggest a vulnerability that echoes Lorde's description of "Virgin." "The colour of the album is clear," she said in a press release. "Like bathwater, windows, ice, spit. Full transparency."