Last summer was a Barbiecore summer, but this summer is for the Polly Pockets. At Gucci’s 2025 Cruise Show, anyone who’s anyone wore Polly Pocket shoes—the monochrome mules immediately brought me back to my childhood of styling Polly Pocket in the chewiest clothes ever. And while dollcore trends have been everywhere this year, I have reason to believe that Polly Pocket will soon become fashion’s next plastic muse.
After Loewe’s FW23 collection brought us Polly Pocket clothes (they weren’t magnetic, sadly) and rumors of a live-action Polly Pocket movie starring Lily Collins started to surface, it became clear that a Polly Pocketcore renaissance was upon us. And with Sabrina Carpenter as our quintessential real-life Polly Pocket, there’s no better time to live out your nostalgic dream of dressing up like a mini doll.
Even though the Polly Pocket and Barbie aesthetics seem similar on the surface, real doll-lovers know they’re worlds apart. While Barbiecore is about all things hot pink and being a girl boss, Polly Pocketcore is about being playful and bold with your fashion choices. As a child, my Polly Pocket always wore the most mismatched outfits I could put together, and that perfect encapsulates the Polly Pocket look—Polly Pocket is the girl that wears a neon mini skirt and a platform boots to the grocery store.
Thanks to Gucci, Dua Lipa and Daisy Edgar-Jones have also been inducted into our Polly Pocket posse. Last night, they stomped around in shoes that look straight out of a Polly Pocket play set. The Gucci platform mules are the perfect combination of chunky and neon—which screams Polly Pocket. Sadly, they’re not rubbery like actual Polly Pocket shoes. But either way, they’re satisfying our craving (pun intended) for pocket-sized fashion IRL.