2025 Book Cover Trend Alert: Gothic Art Academia
Wave goodbye to the pastels and soft brushstrokes that adorned the covers of many a book in 2024… 2025 will be the year of Gothic decadence.
I love watching the evolution of design trends in the publishing industry. It makes me wonder who the forerunner is. Is there an Anna Wintour for the publishing industry? And once she points at what will be in for the next season, everyone rushes to follow?
More likely is that it's a bit of external influence slowly being picked up across the board.
Take what I'm seeing for 2025 as an example…
‘Hungerstone' by Kat Dunn
‘Victorian Psycho' by Virginia Feito
‘Blood on Her Tongue' by Johanna van Veen
‘Soulmatch' by Rebecca Danzenbaker
‘Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng’ by Kylie Lee Baker
It's dark, Gothic, art academia. Classical. Shadowy extravagance. Shades of florals juxtaposed against bright metallics. It's decadent. It's eerie. It's everything I love, which is dangerous for my bank account.
Do you remember that trend (that is still hanging about, currently) where the fashion brands were selling shirts and jumpers with fine art on them? Picasso-chic. Rembrandt deez nuts.
As I write this (November 2024) these items are all currently available in Primark.
As someone who is heavily invested in Dark Academia, a genre which carries a hefty aesthetic around with it, and which permeated mainstream consciousness in such an interesting way, I find this fascinating.
It's similar to Dark Academia in the sense that something “high brow” and (incorrectly) considered to be “elite”, makes it way into pop culture in such a way that it challenges the very fabric (no pun intended) of its foundations. I love subverting a genre. But without getting too academic here, I think it presents an issue relating to that ongoing battle between consumerism and elitism.
Huh. Ok.
Back to the BOOKS.
It’s an interesting trend. And it doesn't just rest on the cover designs. I think we've bee heading back down into more Gothic-leaning narratives for a little while. Not that the Gothic ever went away. It never will. But it seems to be having a popular resurgence right now.
We've got ‘Dracula’ retellings out the wazoo, for example. And as a ‘Dracula’ fangirl this is MUSIC to my ears. But it is going to very quickly have its moment and then become oversaturated. Which is fine, it's the way of things, but how long will I have to wait after 2025 until I get my moment in the shadows again?
cue ennui
What do you think? Is this going to be a trend for 2025? Or a flash in the pan?
Written by Sarah
