How Boom Boom Is Your Holiday Wardrobe?

Are you ready for boom boom style this summer? A new, evocative aesthetic has arrived to disrupt the quiet luxury that’s dominated the industry for the past few years – and, as brazen and outré as it might be – it’s also a lot more fun.

Boom boom culture was coined by trend forecaster Sean Monahan in December last year, the same man who came up with normcore of 2013 and the 2022’s phrase ‘vibe shift’, the term used to describe big cultural, behavioural and perspective changes. He argued that tasteful minimalism had reached its peak, and, as a result, 80s and 90s-inspired excess was back. Often in fashion and culture, trends react against each other – we crave the opposite of what we’ve had too much of. As quiet luxury became pervasive, a decadent, noisy and proudly gauche trend emerged. Describing it as “an old look for a new age”, Monahan wrote in his Substack 8Ball that this latest “fetishization of the past” celebrates overt glamour and high-spending hedonism. Think the Wolf of Wall Street, Patrick Bateman’s suits in American Psycho (soon to be remade by Luca Guadagnino), and Champagne-fuelled long lunches in dark, opulent restaurants. It’s shouty, maximalist clothes, fake tan and glinting gold jewellery. It sure isn’t chic, but it’s definitely light relief from the seriousness of the modern world. 

Boom boom taps into the more maximalist aesthetic that started to gradually take hold at the start of the year. “There’s a growing desire for the joyful indulgence of dopamine dressing,” explained The Future Laboratory’s Seyi Oduwole earlier this year. “Throughout 2024, we saw this sentiment play out – take the ‘brat girl summer’, which marked the death of the clean-girl aesthetic. From mob-wife-inspired fashion to the revival of ‘80s glam via hit TV show Rivals, maximalism has been supercharged and is ready to come to the forefront in 2025.”

In fashion, it’s the questionable return of fur at Prada and Dolce & Gabbana, power shoulders at Saint Laurent and thigh-high boots at Stella McCartney. It’s exaggerated silhouettes and the boom of Ozempic. It’s shiny fabrics, bold prints and a lot of cleavage. It is the opposite of The Row’s painfully cool understated elegance.

 

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It would be obvious to link the emergence of boom boom culture with the rise of right-wing Trumpian politics, but Monahan told The Cut that the look isn’t “owned by conservatives”. It isn’t unpolitical though either; in a cost of living crisis where so many can’t afford to buy a house and redundancy feels like an ever present anxiety, applying boom boom to your wardrobe is a form of dressing for the life you would like. It’s a form of sartorial fantasy where money is abundant and the Champagne corks are always flying. As with all trends, it romanticises a certain aesthetic – in this case the corporate world – which is unsurprising as work-from-home culture becomes more ordinary. Who’d have thought we’d ever feel nostalgia for meeting rooms and water coolers – and yet here we are.

PIN IT

Charlotte Le Bon in season three of The White Lotus. Photograph by Fabio Lovino/HBO

So what does this mean for your holiday wardrobe? Head to the gilded, dark world of The White Lotus for all the inspiration you could ever need; we’re talking Tanya’s theatrical kaftans, Victoria Ratliff’s branded Gucci handbags and oversized sunglasses, and Chloe’s sheer dresses and cut-out swimwear. What you’re looking for is an elevated, amped up version of clothes. Heels over low-key sandals, bright colours over muted tones. Forget demure midi dresses, you’re after short hemlines or anything with a daring split. It’s two-pieces rather than swimsuits, and statement-making chunky jewellery – a signet ring is perfect. Animal prints are your friend, as are silk headscarves. Other boom boom pin-ups include Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani in House of Gucci and Kathy Bates’ nouveau riche Molly Brown in Titanic. 

More than anything, boom boom is an attitude. It isn’t for everyone, many will balk at its unapologetic ostentatiousness and good-time Sally energy. But it’s also a return to fun and – after years of us wearing austere, quietly elevated basics – it sure feels nice to throw a little sparkling levity at our wardrobes.