New Year, New Trends? Fashion Predictions for 2026

Every January my For You Page becomes inundated with trend predictions for the new year. With the videos often claiming to reveal the ‘colour of the year’, ‘next big pattern,’ and sometimes offer obscure takes about new fashionable silhouettes.  

While 2025’s most notable trending pattern was the polka dot, the ‘trend prediction experts’ claim that stripes are the new ‘it girl.’ Though the classic polka dot has been seen on almost every item of clothing imaginable, animal prints also seem to be everywhere. Leopard print has reached a level where it’s practically considered a neutral by some (I wear my leopard print adidas with absolutely everything).  

Using this logic, we can expect an increase in the popularity of zebra and tiger prints throughout the year as well. Though animal prints, polka dots, and stripes are all relatively timeless, recently they have been appearing at every event, whether that’s in the library, 601 or even at balls. This could be due to predictions of maximalism making a comeback making people wanting to experiment and have more fun with their everyday outfits.  

Though the ways these patterns are worn and styled into outfits is changing, animal prints and patterned materials in general have remained incredibly popular. So even though there are smaller and fast-changing trends under the pattern umbrella, funky prints are here to stay.   

As well as making claims about the biggest pattern of the new year, trend forecasters often obsess over what the next trending colour may be. While Pantone’s ‘Colour of the Year’ decisions appear to be increasingly neutral (Cloud Dancer, Mocha Mousse and Peach Fuzz have been named the colours over the last three years). Vogue predicts that bright fuchsia, lime, and Klein blue will appear throughout the spring, While others think that 2026 will be the year that we see the return of millennial pink amongst other trends from 2016. Millennial pink feels like a natural progression from the butter yellow that seemed to characterise 2025, with its soft femininity often partnered with slightly edgier textiles and silhouettes such as leather, chunky jewellery, and studs. 

However, Millennial pink isn’t going to be the only 2016 trend that is likely to circle back this year.  Some even believe that this may be the year that skinny jeans return and are hoping to see the comeback of the bomber jacket. Many are also switching the minimalist 90s sunglasses for much larger pairs, which are arguably better suited for a summer’s day on a sunny beach, or (as one of my friends said before she pressed ‘add to basket’) far more fitting for a dreary Thursday morning in St Andrews. 

With my TikTok For You Page being full of 2016 nostalgia and Instagram feed jampacked with celebrity 2016 throwbacks, the nostalgia for ten years ago is present on every social media platform. On one hand, this suggests that the trend cycle is becoming shorter and shorter, pointing to the increasingly fast-paced consumerism of our generation. Even in the last few years, the trend cycle seems to have almost halved with the 90s and Y2K trends of 2020 pulling inspiration from 20 years before, now people are pulling inspiration from just a decade ago.  

The trend cycle becoming shorter and shorter can be easily attributed to the rising influence of social media on trends. Microtrends, the purchasing of trendy items on a whim that will inevitably be deemed ‘out of style’ within a few weeks or months, particularly promotes niche consumer behaviour. While the return of 2016 trends is fun and exciting in many ways, if specific items like embroidered khaki bomber jackets or black chokers return, it's very likely that they will go out of style just as quickly as they came into style. At the end of the day, don’t stop yourself from buying something just because someone else has said it might go out of fashion soon, but it’s important to consider if you really do love a piece or if you’re just purchasing it because everyone else is. 

On the other hand, the resurgence of this 2016 aesthetic is surrounded by nostalgia for many legitimate reasons. For some, it illustrates a personal nostalgia that reflects the more carefree approach to life they had as children or teenagers.  

However, this nostalgia can also be considered on a more general scale. For many, 2016 seemed like a far more politically stable time, particularly in the US. In the UK and Europe, 2016 was a time before the consequences of Brexit came into effect and in the US, though there was uncertainty about the impending Trump presidency, the Obama regime is often looked back on as a period of stability. This stability is something that people may hope to return to as the global political landscape becomes increasingly unstable. 

Even though we’re surrounded by constant narratives of what is and isn’t fashionable, I can’t wait to see how people interpret these new trends and make them their own if they decide to buy into them. Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing more bright colours around town... but, if I’m being honest, maybe that’s just in response to the awful weather.