The fashion advent calendar has finally arrived–but it’s not what you might have expected! 

The concept of an advent calendar lends itself easily to the beauty industry; this can be proven by their roaring success year after year. These elaborate gift sets, filled with small vials of skincare, make-up and fragrances and trinkets, are the season’s biggest hits. Big brands, such as Chanel, Dior, Christian Louboutin and YSL Beauty, have been cashing in; their advent calendars have been flying off the shelves. But why can’t this concept be replicated for their fashion arms? 

The answer is obvious. A fashion-focussed physical advent calendar featuring these luxury brand’s bags, shoes and ready-to-wear clothing would cost an extravagant amount of money for the average consumer–and it would be impossible to package them into a neat set for mass production and worldwide delivery. Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand, Skims, has come the closest to the conventional model, releasing a limited edition advent calendar with 25 different styles of underwear for each day leading up to Christmas. 

Maison Margiela’s Holiday 2025 campaign is photographed by Frank Lebon and styled by Robbie Spencer

However, a few fashion brands are not giving up on the concept of the advent calendar. In 2025, they have found imaginative, unexpected ways to get in on the trend. Instead of a purely commercial exercise, Saint Laurent and Maison Margiela are presenting the advent calendar as an invitation into their respective universes. 

Maison Margiela introduces a digital campaign entitled ‘The 12 Days of Margiela’–an engaging retrospective on all its milestones and past projects, such as the launch of MM6 Maison Margiela in 1997. From menswear to sunglasses and accessories, the French luxury brand provides a visual education for fans of the brands, celebrating its history and heritage. 

Saint Laurent’s creative director Anthony Vaccarello takes a different approach. In 2025, he launched Saint Laurent Rive Droite’s first advent calendar: a unique vinyl box set. Curated by Vaccarello himself, the exclusive collection features 24 records. In six of the records, there are exclusive passes to gifts including a camera, a cap, and more. 

The Advent Calendar is available at Saint Laurent Rive Droite in Paris and Los Angeles, Saint Laurent Babylone in Paris, Meatpacking, and online.

One may categorise this gift under lifestyle, rather than fashion. But in the context of Vaccarello’s mission at Saint Laurent, it can be seen as an extension of his ambitions to revolutionise fashion as an immersive, sensory experience. The brand has been steadily moving into the space of film and music. In 2025, its production company made its Venice Film Festival debut with Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother and returned to the New York Film Festival with Claire Denis’s The Fence. Saint Laurent also signed British popstar Charli XCX as its latest muse; she has penned original songs for the upcoming Wuthering Heights film and her mockumentary The Moment is slated for a January 2026 release. 

In this “tribute to music through the years”, the advent calendar is a creative way to subtly further Vaccarello’s mission. 

These innovative advent calendars mark the start of something new; and we predict that the fashion industry will jump on this trend and take on the challenge in the next festive season.