Mess Is The Moment: Our Trend Forecast For The Year

We’re back with a new episode of Mess World, a podcast collaboration between FLESH WORLD (by me, Jessica DeFino) and I <3 Mess (a fashion newsletter from Emily Kirkpatrick).

Today we’re talking about: Our 2026 trend predictions: adult babies [5:30], lampshade dressing [6:40], chastity belts [10:45], clown aesthetics [12:12], fetal skincare [16:30], Pleaser innovation (maybe stilts?) [20:55], death-related beauty [25:50], ephemeral fashion [32:10], plastic surgery spon-con [35:00], the “bleph in a bottle” [37:00], outer space [41:45], hyperreal bodies [48:00], hypergender [54:00], mask-off marketing [1:01:05], Americana [1:05:00], 2-D shapes [1:07:00], manufactured messy girls [1:15:00], the obscured face [1:20:40], oil blotting sheets [1:24:00] and pet nail care [1:26:00], as well as our Messes of the Month (Tom Brady’s Instagram and Kris Jenner’s real nose). Plus more!

Media we mentioned: “What Was Beauty In 2025?” [FLESH WORLD], “We Tried It: The $650 ‘Penis Facial’” [People], “Corporate types are clamoring for a new kind of plastic surgery — using dead people’s fat” [Business Insider], Mad Men’s “death drive” scene [YouTube], “The plastic-eating bacteria that could change the world” [The Guardian], Simulacra and Simulation [Jean Baudrillard], “The Year The Beauty Industry Made You Its Biche” [CNN]

Also: We’re on YouTube now, where you can watch previous episodes.

About the podcast: Mess World is a podcast by Jessica DeFino and Emily Kirkpatrick that takes a critical look at the dregs of pop culture. Jessica is the writer behind FLESH WORLD, which has been called the newsletter “the beauty industry fears,” and Emily is the creator of I <3 Mess, a weekly roundup of the best of the worst celebrity fashion. Together, they dissect the biggest and dumbest celebrity happenings every month and give their unfiltered opinion on everything going on in the world of fashion and beauty.

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About the theme music: The Mess World theme song is “Hot Mess” by Carly Lind. Find more about Carly here and listen to her music here.

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