Trends I Won’t Be Trying
Last week I released my Spring/Summer 2027 trend report (here it is!), and it got me thinking about whether I even care. Okay, let me start over. Yes, I like parsing through the runway shows, reading the editor’s notes, and piecing together what the dominating trends will be in the not-so-distant future. But more often than not, I only adopt about 10% of them myself. The rest? A pretty little guide for the more committed, and often more affluent, fashionable crowd.
I work in an industry where someone in the room is always better dressed than I am. You think you’re pulling up to the function in a killer outfit just to see ten different people with that certain je ne sais quoi looking delightfully trendy while only wearing vintage. We’re in this impossible loop of trying to keep up with trends while staying true to ourselves and buying good-looking clothes while needing to save money.
I spent a good chunk of 2024 and 2025 trying to copy—yes, copy—the cool girls. What silhouettes are they wearing? Which brands should I know? Is it time to get a tasseled necklace? I believed if I dressed like them, I could get the titles they possessed, but that’s not how it works, is it?
I then realized that many of those girls don’t even follow the same trends—they’re just really good spokespeople for the ones they do identify with. They have an innate sense of style and pick and choose which trends to take on based on that fact. They wear their stuff so well that just by looking at them, you think: hey, I want that too.
But it’s never the exact jeans or the shirt or the brooch they’re wearing that you want. You want to be as tapped into your own sense of style as they are. You want to have the confidence to know exactly what looks good on you and what doesn’t. You’ll likely never see the girl in the funnel-neck jacket rock a babydoll dress, too—they’re picking and choosing the fads to follow.
So in 2026 I learned to follow my own instinct. It’s time to look at which trends I will, and will not, be participating in. I think it’s a fun exercise to not just see something pretty and buy in, but really consider whether it represents your essence. Does it feel like an extension of your soul? Can you wear it and feel 100% like yourself?
The internet is a crazy place, and a million bodies are constantly showing you what to wear. But I want to tune out that noise and just concentrate on what feels natural. I invite you to do this fun little exercise with me—grab a piece of paper, write down the same title, and decide which trends you can opt out of. I want us all to feel like our most authentic selves in 2026/2027.
Trends I’m Not Participating In
Floral brooches
You know those big floral brooches (I can think of this one from By Malene Birger or this one from Khaite, or this viral brooch tank from Tory Burch)? Yeah, you won’t find me in one of those.
Military jackets: I know Khaite made military jackets the next it-jacket to own, but I will absolutely not be wearing one.
The color purple
If I managed to avoid the red train, then I can miss the purple one too.
Color maxxing
In fact, all this talk about mixing and matching vibrant colors (and patterns) is going to have to miss me altogether.
Argyle print knits
It’s not that I don’t like argyle—in fact, I really like preppy styles. It’s more that they don’t really look good on me. And therefore I’ll be skipping this trend too.
Loud accessories
It’s just not me. I’d rather have dainty, high-quality jewelry.
