It wasn’t long ago that a just-showered Katie Holmes was photographed strolling through Manhattan with several large totes sliding off her shoulders. (You could just about see the outline of a side plate pressed into one bag, while various plastic sandwich bags brimming with make-up utensils spilled from the others.) The vibe could easily have been passed off as dishevelled, unkempt. But it was, in fact, right on trend.
Recent fashion weeks have over-indexed on this sort of frazzled look, thanks, in no small part, to Miuccia Prada. Her spring/summer 2024 collection at Miu Miu was a salute to daily chaos – toe plasters, handbags stuffed with spare heels and knickers – while her spring/summer 2025 models sauntered onto the catwalk in pre-wrinkled fabrics and exposed undergarments with cracked nail polish. It’s an attitude that says: “I am not overly precious about my clothes. My life is bursting with business.”
I’d imagine this “undone-ness” is what makes Holmes’s wardrobe so relatable. Yesterday afternoon, the actor was seen wearing a bathrobe of a coat while juggling cumbersome bags and an iPhone wedged between cheek and shoulder. Here is a multimillionaire, but also a working woman, who, like the rest of us, does her make-up on the go and logs onto Zoom five minutes late. Katie Holmes’s outfits are not cold and curated, but the effects of a life well-lived.
