Brooches, lace and poetcore: The trends set to dominate in 2026

Just in: the Pinterest Predicts 2026 Trend Report.

If the thought yet another new trend makes you feel fatigued, you’re certainly not alone. The pace of change is unprecedented. According to Pinterest, style shifts are spreading four-and-a-half times faster than they were seven years ago.

Of course, the counter-argument is that these shifts aren’t inherently the problem. At its core, a trend is simply a general development or change in the way people behave. In fashion and beauty, it can refer to a style, a garment or a reference that keeps reappearing.

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Narrow the focus further and you arrive at micro-trends. Short-lived, high-speed and highly forgettable, some linger in the zeitgeist for only a few days, making them hard to keep up with and leading to unsustainable fashion habits.

On one hand, these broader shifts can be innocuous ways of identifying collective moods and behaviours. On the other, they can become pressure points, stripping away real personal style and destroying the environment in one fell swoop.

Pinterest’s prediction? People are responding to the trend fatigue by leaning into personal exploration in 2026. With a user base of six hundred million, the platform is forecasting a retreat toward comfort, authenticity and individuality.

If you can’t bear the idea of another [insert-core-here] taking hold, that’s understandable. But if you find it interesting to zoom out and take in the bigger picture (and the reasons behind it), we’ve rounded up five predictions from the Pinterest Predicts 2026 report.

Brooches

It might be time to raid your grandma’s jewellery box because brooches are among Pinterest’s top fashion predictions for the new year. The report shows a surge in searches for ‘maximalist accessories’, ‘heirloom jewellery’ and ‘brooch aesthetic’, and predicts this will mostly be taken up by boomer and millennial men. However, if we can throw in our two cents, I’d say it’s women who will be spearheading the brooch renaissance.

In the face of fast fashion, vintage brooches, badges and even pinning earrings onto your lapel are all ways of expressing individuality and creativity. It’s less about the brooch itself and more about it being a one-of-a-kind.

Enter the doily

Lace has always taken up residence in the fashion world. Though we might associate it with the bohemian aesthetic of the 2010s (think Sienna Miller and Vanessa Hudgens’ festival dressing), it’s been popping up in recent collections by luxury fashion houses, including Chloé, Chanel and Alexander McQueen.

While lace, doilies and embroidery have been on the rise, Pinterest’s trend prediction is that its going to emerge front and centre in 2026 – and not just in clothing. Searches for ‘lace nails’ are up over 200 per cent, while the terms ‘lace doily’, ‘lace belt’, ‘lace bandana’ and ‘lace makeup’ have also seen a sharp increase. “Bomber jackets will get lacy collars, bandanas will be softly stitched and even phone cases will go crochet,” the report states.

The poet

According to Pinterest, ‘the poet aesthetic’ has seen a 175 per cent rise in searches, alongside ‘satchels’ and ‘tie accessories’. Though ‘poetcore’ feels very millennial, there’s something to be said about the cultural pendulum swinging back towards books, journaling, and the idea of nourishing your ‘inner world’.

Substack has seen a massive boom, and the rise in AI is seeing people return to the handmade, physical world. Paired with brooches, doilies and a stack of books under your arm, it all feels very Jane Austen.

’80s maximalism

In line with other trend predictions, 2026 is feeling fairly nostalgic. Veering away slightly from the romantic, whimsy of Pinterest’s other fashion predictions, ’80s maximalism is just as likely to dominate your Pinterest boards.

The site reports a rise in the search terms ’’80s luxury’, ‘baggy suit’, ‘chunky belt’ and ‘high collar jacket’, hinting at a resurgence in decadence. This will take the form of oversized suits, big sculpted shoulders, funnel necks and chunky jewellery. And if Greta Lee is on board with the Miami Vice look, then so are we.

Asymmetry and contrast

Though ‘khaki’, ‘opera aesthetic’ and ‘alien core’ are all among Pinterest’s other top predictions, the idea of messy, deliberately uneven glam has caught our eye. According to the report, it’s less about perfection, and more about challenging conventional beauty. This will take the form of mismatched nails, two-toned lipsticks and bright eyeshadow in contrasting colours – like Emily Wood’s free-spirited makeup tutorials or Pheobe Philo’s multi-coloured manicure.

The prediction is backed up by trending search terms, with ‘eccentric makeup’, ‘asymmetrical lob’, ‘avant garde makeup editorial’ and ‘nails with different colours on each hand’, all surging in popularity. Naturally, there’s every chance this will echo through to the fashion spaces as well, whether that’s through asymmetrical hemlines, creative layering or pattern clashing.

Find the full list of predictions here.