KU-RATED Trend Predictions | Why Fringe and Woven Textures Will Have a Major Comeback

A Signal of Post-Restraint Era - KU-RATED Mag’s forecasting series exploring the cultural shifts shaping what’s next.

Fringe is already returning. Woven textures are reappearing. Fabrics are loosening, fraying, moving.

You might already have seen fringe and woven textures coming back on the runways and within fashion, but has someone explained to you yet why?

This is not simply a visual trend cycle. It is a cultural response.

Periods of social or economic restraint are often followed by aesthetic release, and fashion historically becomes one of the first places where that psychological shift materialises. The renewed interest in fringe, weave, and tactile construction signals a broader transition from restriction to expression.

Fashion After Constraint

Across history, moments of upheaval, control, or collective fatigue have been followed by eras where dress becomes more expressive, fluid, and sensorial.

For example; The roaring Twenties marked a dramatic departure from pre-war austerity after the constricted times of  World War I. Economic recovery and industrial growth translated into clothing that moved: dropped waists, lighter fabrics, embellishment, and ornamentation which replaced the rigid structures of earlier decades. Fashion started to embody motion, liberation, and optimism.

A similar pattern emerged after the social and political tensions of the 1950s. The 1960s and 70s know for their bohemian and hippie movements rejected conformity, consumerism, and rigid societal structures. This again resulted in clothing softening, loosening, and it becoming personalised. Fringes, embroidery, crochet, patchwork, and hand-worked textiles became symbols of both artistic and political freedom.

In both cases, fashion shifted from utility to expression, reflecting a societal desire not just to dress differently, but to feel differently.

Why These Textures are Starting to Matter Now

The resurgence of fringe and woven textures today are slowly yet surely reflecting a comparable psychological shift.

After the past years defined by uncertainty, digital saturation, and global instability, there is a growing desire for:

• movement over restriction

• tactility over flatness

• emotion over polish

• individuality over uniformity

Fringe introduces motion to the body - It responds to the environment around us. It sways, reacts, and refuses stillness. Woven and reconstructed textiles bring visible craftsmanship and imperfection which feel human, not industrial. This is not coincidence. In times when life feels intangible or mediated through screens, people gravitate toward materials that feel touchable, sensory, and real again. Texture all of a sudden becomes and emotional infrastructure to the wearer or buyer.

Another defining parallel to previous post-constraint eras is the renewed appreciation for craft (not as nostalgia, but as cultural language). Bohemian dress in the 1960s and 70s positioned the handmade as both aesthetic and ideology, rejecting mass sameness in favour of artistic freedom and personal expression. Today’s revival of weaving, fabric manipulation, and reconstructed textiles echoes that ethos with contemporary relevance. Deconstructed garments, re-woven materials, and textiles created through destruction and reconstruction open pathways for fabric reuse and creative sustainability, but they also signal something deeper. The act of undoing and remaking mirrors a broader cultural mindset: rebuilding systems, identities, and lifestyles after disruption. The weave is therefore not only visual, it is symbolic, representing interconnection, process, and time.

This renewed focus on materiality connects directly to fashion’s re-embrace of movement. Fringe, long associated with motion and liberation, exaggerates the body’s gestures, turning walking into performance. In moments of renewed optimism or social release, fashion consistently foregrounds this kinetic quality. Where austerity periods favour control, structure, and containment, recovery eras shift toward flow, drape, and dynamism. Clothing becomes expressive rather than protective. The movement of fringe and the tactile depth of woven surfaces both point toward the same cultural signal: a shift away from rigid minimalism and toward layered, sensory, and fluid forms - suggesting a collective readiness to move forward, not only physically, but psychologically.

From Restraint to Expression

The re-emergence of fringe and woven textures is not coincidence and signals more than nostalgia. It points to a broader transition in fashion’s role:

• From practicality to emotional expression

• From minimal surfaces to sensory depth

• From standardisation to personal narrative

This shift toward tactility and movement will extend beyond fashion into interiors and product design, where the same desire for sensory depth and human connection is emerging. Expect to see woven surfaces, frayed edges, layered textiles, and visible craftsmanship integrated into furniture, lighting, and objects, from hand-loomed upholstery and braided details to textured ceramics and fiber-based art installations. Just as in clothing, these elements introduce warmth, imperfection, and material honesty into environments that have long been dominated by smooth minimalism, reflecting a broader cultural move toward spaces and objects that feel lived-in, touchable, and emotionally resonant rather than purely functional or polished.

As in the 1920s and the 1960s, todays times reflect a desire to move beyond periods of tension and limitation, embracing texture, colour, movement, and material experimentation. Fringe is not returning because of trend repetition. It is returning because our cultures and societies are ready to feel free again.