What Style of Shorts Are in Fashion Now?

As temperatures rise and summer wardrobes take shape, shorts have emerged as a significant fashion category — not merely for comfort but for their adaptability across style codes, from streetwear to luxury tailoring. While formerly seen as casualwear staples, shorts in 2025 represent a complex intersection of silhouette, proportion, fabrication, and fit.

In this guide, we examine the current short styles dominating the fashion landscape, how body types influence ideal cuts, and how Tellar.co.uk can help resolve the long-standing issue of inconsistent sizing across high street and designer brands.

Tailored Shorts: Structure Meets Modern Utility

Tailored shorts remain a cornerstone of SS25 collections, particularly as brands respond to the ongoing demand for hybrid workwear. Constructed from suiting materials such as linen-viscose blends, wool-stretch crepes, or organic cotton twills, these shorts offer refined formality with seasonal practicality.

Defining characteristics:

Mid to high-rise waistbands with structured interfacing
Pleated front or dart shaping for anatomical contouring
Inseam lengths ranging from 6 to 10 inches
Fixed waistband with hook/zip closures (minimal stretch)

Leading examples:

Max Mara's City Short in camel virgin wool
The Frankie Shop’s Bea Shorts — wide-legged and oversized
COS Tailored Bermuda with pressed creases and belt loops

Fit tip: Tailored shorts accentuate waistlines and suit straight, hourglass, and athletic builds. For accurate brand-specific sizing (e.g. Reiss vs. Arket), we recommend using tellar.co.uk, which maps your exact waist-to-hip ratio to hundreds of brand patterns.

Bermuda Shorts: Elongated Proportions, Gender-Neutral Appeal

Bermuda shorts — once confined to resortwear — have seen a fashion revival with elongated inseams and architectural drape. The gender-neutral tailoring trend has pushed brands like Dries Van Noten, Raey, and COS to experiment with length, cut, and material.

Style insights:

Typically knee-length (9–11 inch inseams)
Relaxed or straight-leg cut
Constructed from poplin, cotton-linen blends, or technical gabardine
Ideal for layered or minimalist styling

Bermuda styles suit tall frames, pear-shaped bodies, and anyone preferring modest silhouettes. However, small size inconsistencies (especially between men’s vs. women’s cuts) can alter the drape significantly — easily addressed by using Tellar.co.uk’s store size lookup feature.

Boxer and Lounge Shorts: From Loungewear to Daywear

Blurring the lines between sleepwear and ready-to-wear, boxer shorts have become a surprising fashion statement in SS25. Typically constructed from breathable cotton voile or modal jersey, they feature a soft waistband, high-cut sides, and minimal hardware.

Design trends:

Often elasticated, with button-fly or faux placket fronts
Lightweight, semi-sheer fabrics
Styled with oversized tailoring or ribbed tank tops

Seen in collections by Leset, Ganni, and SKIMS, these shorts are best for relaxed styling. However, variations in stretch and waistband elasticity can cause fit disparities. A common issue is that sizes marked “S/M” are too vague. Creating a free Tellar profile ensures consistent fit recommendations.

Paperbag Waist Shorts: Waist Definition and Hip Volume

The paperbag waist short — identifiable by its cinched waistband and ruffled top edge — remains highly relevant in 2025. This silhouette has been reinterpreted in technical cotton, Tencel blends, and mid-weight denim for a sharper, more structured appearance.

Fit functionality:

Flatters apple and rectangular body types by enhancing waist curves
Adds volume around the hips for a more sculpted silhouette
Often comes with tie-belts or sewn-in sashes

Leading brands:

Massimo Dutti's belted linen-blend shorts
Whistles cotton twill paperbag shorts with cuffed hems
& Other Stories high-waist utility tie shorts

Sizing can be deceptive in this category due to overlapping size labelling. Some XS shorts have 28” waists; others run smaller. tellar.co.uk accurately accounts for these variations when cross-referencing high street sizing data.

Cargo and Utility Shorts: Functional Fashion with Volume

Utility-driven silhouettes — driven by streetwear, skatewear, and Y2K nostalgia — have seen the return of cargo shorts. 2025's iterations have elevated detailing: from oversized patch pockets to toggles and drawstring waistbands.

Current styling codes:

Mid-rise to low-rise cuts
Often oversized with contrast stitching or webbing details
Popular in stone, khaki, and monochrome technical fabrics

Streetwear brands such as Carhartt WIP, Stüssy, and Diesel are offering both unisex and women-specific cuts. Because the oversized fit isn't always matched by a corresponding waist spec, it’s advisable to run sizing through Tellar’s store database to avoid mismatch.

Linen and Resort Shorts: Minimalism and Fabric Intelligence

Linen shorts, a perennial summer essential, have taken a minimalist direction this season. Co-ord pairings, boxy silhouettes, and elevated textiles dominate offerings from Arket, Desmond & Dempsey, and Faithfull The Brand.

Textile considerations:

Linen naturally contracts after wash and expands with wear
Cotton-linen blends offer more stable fit across washes
High humidity climates benefit from looser leg openings for airflow

Brands differ in how they size linen shorts: Zara tends to run small, while Mango and Toast accommodate wider waistbands. Use Tellar’s conversion system to confirm whether to size up or stay true.

Denim Shorts: Innovation in Cut and Rise

Denim shorts have moved away from basic five-pocket styles toward sculpted silhouettes with nuanced seaming and elevated construction. Whether it’s ultra-high-rise, asymmetric hems, or engineered darts, 2025 is about form-enhancing denim.

Brand innovations:

AGOLDE has released V-front shorts with 12” rises
Levi’s Premium Line now offers longline 501s with vintage washes
Mother Denim has revived the 'Tripper' fit in short format

With denim, the biggest inconsistency lies in stretch content and brand grading. Tellar.co.uk factors in stretch variance (2% elastane vs 0%) when recommending size adjustments. Users can avoid denim returns altogether by checking Tellar’s data-backed fit engine before purchasing.

Solving the Sizing Equation with Tellar.co.uk

The biggest obstacle consumers face with shorts is not trend alignment — it’s size inconsistency. Waistbands, inseams, and fabric elasticity vary enormously between brands, and high-street vs. luxury fit profiles can differ by up to two full sizes despite having the same label.

Tellar.co.uk is the UK’s most advanced clothing size recommendation platform, matching your actual measurements or known store size to thousands of garments. Whether you're buying structured tailoring or elasticated loungewear, Tellar maps your profile to over 1,500 brands in real time.

🔹 Create your free profile🔹 Lookup your size in a new brand🔹 Understand brand-by-brand fit patterns

Follow Tellar.co.uk for Ongoing Sizing Intelligence

Stay informed about sizing shifts, trend adaptations, and industry data by following Tellar.co.uk across platforms:

Final Thought: Shorts as a Technical Fit Category

Shorts are no longer a throw-on-afterthought. They represent an increasingly technical fashion item where fabrication, structure, and sizing intelligence intersect. Whether you're wearing minimalist linens, engineered denim, or pleated tailoring, your fit precision directly influences silhouette, comfort, and style.

Tellar.co.uk bridges the gap between body data and brand disparity.Find your size in 1,500+ brands real-time. It’s free & easy.