Of all the silhouettes that could have crept back into fashion’s good graces this summer, the capri pant — that not-quite-short, not-quite-long relic of the Y2K archives — was hardly the frontrunner. Yet leave it to Emily Ratajkowski, the street style siren of downtown Manhattan, to singlehandedly reframe the narrative.
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Spotted this week navigating New York’s sun-glossed sidewalks, Ratajkowski turned heads (and rewrote trend forecasts) in the season’s most divisive formula: sleek black capri leggings, a vintage logo tee slouched just right, razor-thin kitten heels, and oversized bug-eyed sunglasses that whispered early-aughts aloofness. It was chaotic. It was calculated. And somehow, it worked.
With her signature tousled hair and that unmistakable nonchalance — equal parts supermodel and subversive it-girl — EmRata didn’t just wear capris; she made them a mood. A defiant shrug in fashion form, the look was less about nostalgia and more about recontextualizing a garment we’d written off as fitness-class adjacent.
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Of course, Ratajkowski isn’t alone in the movement. Hailey Bieber dipped her toes into the trend last month in polka-dot pedal pushers and minimalist flip-flops, while Bella Hadid paired Lycra capris with a glittering Fendi baguette at a spring soirée. Even Zoë Kravitz — the poster child for low-effort cool — was recently spotted in cropped leggings and a bucket hat. The message? The capri is no longer cringe — it’s couture-coded.
Once confined to dance studios and regrettable photo albums from 2004, capri-length leggings have been quietly rising from the ashes, thanks in part to brands like Tala, Girlfriend Collective, and Alo Yoga, which are reimagining athleisure through a fashion-first lens.
But make no mistake — not just any capri will do. The 2025 interpretation demands intentionality: ironic accessories, tailored chaos, and a healthy dose of “don’t look at me” energy. And nobody navigates that balance better than EmRata.
So yes — the capri is back. And with Ratajkowski at the helm, it’s less of a comeback and more of a reawakening.
