The Lyst Index Q4 2025: What the Hottest Brands Right Now Say About Fashion

The Lyst Index Q4 2025 has just dropped, and as ever, it offers a rare look at what people are actually buying - not just what’s walking the runway or dominating fashion month headlines. This quarter, the message is loud and clear: fashion is slowing down, sharpening up, and looking for substance. From Saint Laurent maintaining its Q3 return to the top to the continued rise of COS, the brands performing best right now are the ones with confidence, clarity and staying power.

What is the Lyst Index?

The Lyst Index is a quarterly report that ranks the world’s most in-demand fashion brands based on real-world consumer behaviour. It tracks global data including online searches, product page views, sales, and social media engagement to determine which brands and items are driving the most attention and activity. By combining this data across millions of shoppers worldwide, the Index reveals not only which brands are currently popular, but also broader trends shaping the fashion industry in real time.

Built from real shopping data across millions of users, the Index has become one of the clearest indicators of modern fashion desirability.

Saint Laurent at Number One: Confidence Over Noise  

Saint Laurent first reached the top spot in Q3 2025, dethroning Miu Miu for the first time ever. This strong run at the top of the ranking - one of the strongest in the brand’s history - isn’t just a hype-driven win; it’s the result of consistently earning consumer trust and attention.

At a time when many luxury houses are still oscillating between eras, aesthetics and audiences, Saint Laurent has done the opposite: it has narrowed its focus.

Under Anthony Vaccarello, the brand has committed to a tightly controlled visual language; razor-sharp tailoring, monochrome palettes, and sculptural silhouettes. Crucially, Saint Laurent has stuck to it. That consistency is reflected in consumer behaviour. According to Lyst, Saint Laurent saw the strongest overall growth in searches and engagement this quarter, driven not by a single viral product but by sustained demand across categories.

That matters. It suggests shoppers aren’t responding to one-off moments, but to a brand they trust to feel relevant season after season. In an increasingly cautious market, confidence is outperforming novelty.

Miu Miu and COS: Two Very Different Kinds of Heat  

Miu Miu: Cultural Relevance as Currency  

Miu Miu’s continued dominance is one of the clearest examples of how cultural relevance now translates directly into commercial performance. The brand has become a fixture across social platforms, worn and reshared by celebrities, stylists and creators who understand how fashion circulates online.

Lyst data consistently shows Miu Miu benefiting from spikes tied to pop culture moments: campaign drops, red-carpet appearances and styling moments that feel slightly subversive rather than overtly polished. This isn’t accidental. Miu Miu’s aesthetic speaks the language of the internet: playful, referential and self-aware.

The result is desirability that feels organic rather than engineered - a key distinction in 2025.

COS: Proof That the Anti-Trend Is a Trend  

COS ranking in the top three is arguably the most revealing data point of the quarter. Unlike its luxury counterparts, COS isn’t driven by spectacle. Its growth has been fuelled by specific products (knitwear, coats, elevated basics) gaining traction through word of mouth and social sharing.

Lyst highlights significant demand around COS staples that are versatile and season-less, reinforcing a broader shift toward considered consumption. Shoppers are prioritising pieces that integrate easily into existing wardrobes, rather than items that signal trend awareness.

In other words, COS’s rise isn’t about fashion fantasy. It’s about functionality done well.

Heritage Brands Are Back - and It Makes Sense  

The steady climb of heritage brands like Ralph Lauren, Burberry and Barbour reflects more than cyclical nostalgia. These labels are benefiting from a renewed interest in durability, recognisable codes and long-term wearability.

Lyst’s data shows increased engagement with classic categories (outerwear, scarves, knitwear), areas where heritage brands have credibility. This aligns with wider industry reporting that consumers are pulling back from experimental purchases and instead investing in pieces that feel dependable.

In uncertain economic conditions, fashion tends to favour familiarity. What’s different now is that heritage is being reframed as modern rather than conservative. Pieces are styled casually, worn across genders and integrated into everyday wardrobes.

The Products People Can’t Stop Searching For  

Looking at the fastest-rising products this quarter reveals how fragmented and nuanced fashion demand has become.

Functional accessories and technical pieces continue to see sharp search growth, reflecting the ongoing influence of utility dressing and outdoor-inspired fashion. Lyst data shows that even simple items, when endorsed by digital culture or styled in a recognisable way, can outperform more traditional luxury statements.

At the same time, the renewed interest in archival handbags and logo accessories points to fashion’s ongoing relationship with its own past. These pieces work because they’re instantly recognisable - they carry cultural memory.

What links both ends of the spectrum is ease. The most searched-for items are practical, familiar and wearable, not overly styled or trend-dependent.

The Growth of Accessible Luxury  

Another quiet shift worth noting is the rise of brands sitting between high fashion and the high street. Massimo Dutti’s appearance in the Index signals growing demand for premium-feeling clothing without traditional luxury pricing.

As shoppers become more selective, value is being redefined. Design, fabric and fit are taking precedence over logos, and brands offering that balance are reaping the rewards.

What the Lyst Index Q4 2025 Really Tells Us  

Taken together, the Lyst Index Q4 2025 paints a picture of a consumer who is more informed and more selective than ever.

The brands performing best aren’t chasing attention indiscriminately. They’re offering clarity: clear aesthetics, clear values and clear reasons to buy. Lyst’s search and engagement data supports this shift, showing sustained interest in brands with strong identities rather than short-lived spikes driven by novelty.

This doesn’t mean fashion has become boring. It means the bar is higher. Desirability now depends on resonance, not volume.

The Lyst Index Q4 2025 reinforces a shift that feels unmistakable: fashion is moving away from excess and toward intention. From Saint Laurent’s controlled elegance to COS’s elevated essentials and the return of heritage staples, desirability today is rooted in confidence, quality and meaning.

In a crowded landscape, the most compelling brands are the ones that know exactly who they are - and dress accordingly.