Take a cursory scroll through social media, and there are Nutcrackers for those with eyes to see. Thanks to 2025’s latest trend, it has now become the objective of every hot girl on TikTok to dress like some version of the nut-busting doll, and every day more and more of them materialise. The military jacket – or Hussar jacket for those who want to respect its historical roots – is the piece of outerwear set to define the latter part of the year, and its domination is only growing. From video recommendations of vintage finds, round-ups of recent runway iterations, to fit checks in the wild, TikTok is awash with military clones. So when did we all get so regimental?

Like most trends, the origins of Nutcrackercore are hard to define. During the SS26 runways in September, a number of designers showed versions of Hussar jackets on the runway, including Seán McGirr at McQueen, Jonathan Anderson at Dior men’s and Stefano Gallici at Ann Demeulemeester. Elsewhere, Georgian label Keburia and British designer Craig Green both revealed their takes on the style on their respective runway, while Jenna Ortega’s appearance at Anderson’s Dior womenswear debut was reposted ad infinitum, her sleeveless Hussar bringing the style to the masses.

Before then, the resurgence of the jacket had been bubbling under for a while, with internet commentators like X’s @blondiejpg predicting the comeback from as far back as the beginning of 2025, and the jackets periodically cropping up on style inspo accounts over the last few years. Despite that, this autumn/winter season marks their comeback proper – and if the TikTok edits are anything to go by, nostalgia could be a driving force. Most references to the jacket online are accompanied by pictures of Kate Moss at Glastonbury in 2005, or Christophe Decarnin’s early 2010s Balmain collections, or Saint Laurent runways from the same period. In this way, the jacket can be linked to more than one distinct period of fashion nostalgia – ie, mid-2000s “indie sleaze” and 2010s “swag” – which makes it ripe for reappraisal in a culture obsessed with the past. In a fashion landscape where standing out is currency, and creating tension between past and present gets you noticed online, what’s more attention-grabbing than a hot girl dressed like an 18th-century soldier?