If You Care About What Fall Sweater Trend It Girls Are Already Wearing, It's This '90s One

By Swedan MargenJuly 31, 2025

In reality, this is the seventh day in a row that the city I live in has been under a heat advisory warning, but mentally, I've started to move on to fall—especially in terms of everything I'm buying. August is when I really start thinking about what I'm going to buy for fall, and if you're on the same page, Olivia Rodrigo just presented us all with a worthy first sweater purchase of the season.

When it comes to influential It girls who often look like they stepped right out of the '90s or early 2000s, Rodrigo instantly comes to mind. And the fall sweater trend she just wore while out in London's Notting Hill was as authentically '90s as it gets. With her flouncy black miniskirt and ballet flats, Rodrigo wore a leopard-print cardigan. In fact, it was quite similar to the one Cameron Diaz wore to the Romeo + Juliet premiere in 1996.

As we all know, leopard print came back with a vengeance last fall, and it's set to make a return again for fall 2025 (along with its fellow cow, snake, and zebra prints). It makes perfect sense to add one in everyone's favorite classic sweater (the cardigan, of course) to your wardrobe, just as Rodrigo did. I suggest doing it now while there are plenty to choose from, as they're likely to be sold out in a month's time. And if Rodrigo's exact Rixo cardigan is outside of your budget, J.Crew currently has two cashmere leopard-print cardigans on sale for less than $100, which I linked to below. (Just be sure to use the code SHOPSALE.)

Without further ado, keep scrolling to see Rodrigo's (and Diaz's) leopard-print cardigan outfits, and shop the best versions on the market—including the aforementioned Rixo and J.Crew ones.