Fashion Museum Bath selects Sarah Burton’s mesh frock as Dress of the Year 2025
A daffodil‑coloured mesh dress was chosen for its political resonance as the 2025 Dress of the Year.
In February, a fashion editor received a starkly titled email—TOP SECRET—that turned out to be an invitation from the Fashion Museum Bath to select its Dress of the Year for 2025.
The Dress of the Year programme, launched in 1963 by founder Doris Langley Moore, asks a fashion authority each year to choose an outfit that encapsulates the previous year, adding it to the museum’s permanent collection.
Past selections range from a Mary Quant dress and a Katharine Hamnett slogan T‑shirt to iconic pieces such as McQueen’s “bumsters,” the green Versace Grammy dress worn by Jennifer Lopez, and the Duchess of Sussex’s outfit for her 2021 Oprah interview.
For 2025, the editor chose Sarah Burton’s sporty, daffodil‑coloured mesh dress. It made me smile, but more importantly, it tells the story of our times, when bodies are more political than ever.
The museum is currently in a transitional phase: it closed its doors in 2022, its collection now resides in Wiltshire and is viewable online, and a new venue in the city’s former post office is slated to open in 2030.
While the term “dress” is applied loosely to include various forms of clothing, the chosen frock joins a lineage that blends high fashion with cultural milestones, underscoring how garments can serve as markers of societal shifts.
Thus, the daffodil mesh dress will sit alongside Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, and John Galliano creations as part of a collection that aims to stay perpetually current.
