What Does Nightlife Fashion Look Like Today?

Picture this: It’s 10 p.m. on a Friday night and you’re sipping on a refreshing cocktail with one hand while haphazardly applying mascara with another. You’ve just finished curling your hair and your favourite playlist is blaring as your friend shouts, “Should I call the Uber!?" over the speakers. You’re about to say “Sure!” until you realize—you still don’t know what to wear.

While the ritual of getting ready for an evening out with friends is forever unchanged, an average night out on the town in 2025 looks quite different compared to 20 years ago—both in terms of where people are going and how they’re dressing. While it’s widely regarded that clubbing culture reigned supreme until the late 2000s, a multitude of factors—including the pandemic’s influence on nightlife culture, global cost of living increases and the rise of the “clean girl”—have changed the way people party.

That being said, people—especially young people—do still enjoy going out, even if they’re spending less time at traditional clubs than they used to. As their night-out routines have shifted to slightly more relaxed venues like bars and pubs, so have their outfits. The quintessential 2000s uniform of skintight Hervé Léger bandage dresses and stilettos has largely given way to more comfortable and expressive looks that reflect both personal style and the influence of online aesthetics—and don’t even get us started on the early 2010s trend of business casual club attire.

“When I first started going out, you’d see people wearing a lot of little pencil skirts with a nice shirt to the club,” laughs Myranda Pierson, a 28-year-old lifestyle influencer from Scarborough. “These days I feel like people are tapping into a whole different vibe.”

Although trending styles continue to dominate some areas of nightlife fashion—whether that be Y2K-inspired baby tees and low-rise jeans or cowboy boots and hats that channel today’s favoured western chic look—Pierson’s right, there’s been a clear shift in popular going-out attire lately.

“We live in a time where almost everything feels like it’s in style,” says Samantha James, a 30-year-old Toronto-based creator. “When I was in my 20s, it felt like people were only wearing what was trendy. But now you can literally wear something from any era and it’s like, ‘Oh that’s a cool outfit!'"

As a big fan of elevated basics, James usually opts for items like a crisp, high-quality white tee paired with dressier pieces to create a night-out look that’s both unique and polished. For those times when she doesn’t quite know where her night will take her she lives by the phrase, “Dress like you’re going somewhere nicer later” and loves to throw on an eye-catching jacket to pull an outfit together.

22-year-old Toronto-based TikToker Icess also generally prefers to spend her evenings at bars or cocktail lounges instead of the club but still loves to get dressed up for any kind of night out. Her ultimate source of style inspiration? None other than one of the most beloved fashion shows of all time, Sex and the City. She’s especially drawn to the kooky-coolness of Carrie’s iconic style and enjoys balancing out some of her bolder looks with a touch of Charlotte’s classic and timeless sartorial influence.

“I always try to channel them on a night out,” she laughs. “I feel like even back then, they were just very unique and weren’t only following the trends. They remind me of how fun it is to play around with fashion and that there aren’t any rules.”

Although nightlife fashion has certainly adapted to people’s more lower-key evenings, a case for party culture making a comeback, or at least trying to, can be made. Between the recent resurgence of the late 2000s and early 2010s-inspired Indie Sleaze aesthetic and last year’s Brat summer craze, some Gen Zers are still hitting the clubs—and they’re doing so in style.

Chloe Pinch, a 22-year-old TikToker from Toronto, loves to go out in full glam—she swears by her signature bold lip— and often opts for mini skirts, playful tops and her rotation of nightlife-approved dresses. But her favourite part of any outfit always comes down to its accessories.

“Chunky jewellery is my absolute favourite. I think wearing a chunky gold earring and necklace with a slick-back always looks so good,” she says. And when it comes to footwear, Pinch is willing to sacrifice some feeling in her toes to perfect her look. “I’m a big style over comfort person. I always treat going out as an event so I love to play dress up, and I’d rather look good and be uncomfortable than feel good and not look my best.”

No matter what your ideal night out looks like, it’s clear that nightlife fashion in 2025 is more diverse and expressive than ever. Young people are stepping out in looks that reflect their individuality and blending personal style with current trends in a way that feels far more intentional—and less uniform—than the styles of previous years. And although it’s nearly impossible to define modern nightlife fashion by a singular aesthetic, one thing is certain: confidence is leading the charge.

“I think you get more comfortable in your style decisions the more you go out and the older you get,” says James. “You can more easily be like, ‘No, I like this and I don’t have to ask five of my friends if they also like my outfit.’ You start to just own it.”