According to Data, Boring Style Is Back (Again)
Blame a global economic slump, or blame our collective exhaustion with brands trying to upend the global economic slump, but the apparent hottest products of the moment also the most tepid. The people — or at least the people who use online shopping aggregator Lyst — have spoken, and what they desire remains, well, mundane: highly wearable, pretty indistinguishable, and increasingly attainable.
According to the Lyst Index’s Q3 2025 report, released yesterday, the Havaianas chancleta claims gold, all but wiping the floor with last quarter’s number-one item: The Row’s 20-times-as-expensive rubber flip flop. Elsewhere, Nike has risen from the dead thanks in part to a Jacquemus-assisted remake of its much-duped Moon Shoe.
Swapping boring for boring with sleeves, COS’ beige cashmere sweater replaces SKIMS’ white tank top as Lyst’s most-searched garment of the quarter, followed by Taylor Swift’s ultra-normie engagement dress.
Bracketing out SKIMS’ viral nipple bra, not one but two styles of scrunched-up loafers are the sole out-there pieces on the latest Index, which isn’t saying all that much. More casual than a traditional loafer but far fancier than a sneaker, ruched leather slip-ons like Saint Laurents and The Row’s are setting the pace for versatile footwear that walks the line between formal and informal. Again, they’re nice, but they aren’t terribly exciting.
More notable is that, for the first time in the history of these lists, a high-street name has cracked the top three, with COS climbing the winner’s podium to take bronze. At a much lower price point than its competitors, the H&M-owned imprint, according to the Index itself, continues to amass interest for its perceived strength on the value-for-money front.
Of course, as Faran Krentcil reported this week for Highsnobiety, the Lyst Index only tells us so much. But the data that we do have makes it clear that people are still pursing a style that’s universal and uncomplicated, frictionless and timeless. Shopping carts, it appears, are mostly filled with classic things that are either easy to wear, easy to justify the cost of, or both.
In that sense, boring can be good. Boring can, in fact, be better than quickly dated, trend-driven extravagances. Sure, there’s a difference between boring as a commendable aesthetic virtue, and boring as an inflicted necessity. But let’s not dwell on regret over slipping from one into the other. If anything, all this suggests is that economic turmoil is making us better dressers.
Shop Lyst's Hottest Products of Q3
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