The Best SSENSE Stories of 2025
Twelve highlights for your reading pleasure.
- By: SSENSE Editors
We published dozens of stories this year that followed our own curiosities around the current state of fashion, culture, art, and where all of this might be headed. And when you zoom out and allow your eyes to relax Magic Eye-style, a composite of what we were interested in starts to sharpen into focus: stories about subversive artists who take their work seriously, who often enjoy wearing nice clothes while never letting what they wear define them. This holds true to everyone from Yohji Yamamoto to legendary fashion writer Robin Givhan to breakout artist of the year Cameron Winter.
Perhaps our interest in the deviant imagination is a rebuke of the current era, one in which culture has felt stagnant and often flattened by well-heeled forces. In a way, these are stories about people who share their gifts widely and give the world its shapes.
Hideo Kojima, the Creator
Written by Kevin Nguyen
Photographed by KEY AWAKENER
Katseye: Embrace the Chaos
Written by Hyunji Nam
Photographed by Jason Omar Al-Taan
Styled by Spencer Singer
The A-Z Guide to Yohji Yamamoto
Written by Chris Gayomali
Archivist and Creative Consultant: My Clothing Archive
The Confessions of Cameron Winter
Written by Matthew Schnipper
Photographed by Adam Powell
Anna Sui, the Queen of ‘90s Fashion
Written by Viv Chen
Alice McNally Is Too Cool to Post
Written by Alyssa Vingan
Photographed by Erika Long
Styled by Ava Van Osdol
The Normal Life of Earl Sweatshirt
Written by Ross Scarano
Photographed by Yudo Kurita / Servicio Represents
Styled by Sage Elsesser
The Making of a Modern Fashion Critic
Written by Eliza Brooke
Photographed by Adam Powell
Christine Sun Kim Writes in All Caps
Written by E. Alex Jung
Photographed by Hedi Stanton
Styled by Dominick Barcelona
How Japanese Breakfast Found Herself in Seoul
Written by Hyunji Nam
Photographed by Peter Ash Lee
Judith Thurman’s Exquisite Taste
Written by Chris Gayomali
Photographed by Ryan Lowry
- By: SSENSE Editors
- Date: December 27, 2025
