From Versace changing hands to billion-dollar beauty megadeals and an AI boom reshaping everything from design to discovery, the investment and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) landscape found a steadier rhythm in 2025. The deals that closed made clear that only the strongest operators and the boldest ideas are attracting capital.

At the start of the year, experts predicted fashion and beauty dealmaking to roar back after a muted 2024 . Instead, the year opened with hesitation. “Macroeconomic shifts — largely related to tariffs and consumer spending uncertainty — led to a lot of processes to pause or even fully stop,” says Marissa Lepor, managing director at M&A firm The Sage Group. But the slowdown created a sorting mechanism. “It was not only a test of brand, but a test of team. The bus

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