Pinterest's Global Trends Lead Sydney Stanback on Curating Style Inspiration, Plus The Trends Everyone Is Pinning Right Now
Mar 31, 2025
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Sydney Stanback, Pinterest's Global Trends Lead, shares her expert insights on curating style inspiration and predicting fashion trends. She discusses how Pinterest encourages self-expression and helps users craft personalized boards. Sydney also explores the emerging 'stereo punk' style fueled by events like Coachella, and the rise of micro trends that focus on individualism over fast fashion. Additionally, she highlights the vibrant connection between music and fashion, showcasing how artists influence fans' style choices.
Pinterest empowers users to curate personalized style boards that evolve with their interests, facilitating a deeply engaging creative process.
Current fashion trends on Pinterest significantly reflect nostalgia, encouraging users to blend past aesthetics with modern personal expression in their wardrobes.
Deep dives
Pinterest as a Personal Inspiration Hub
Pinterest serves as a powerful platform for personal style inspiration, reflecting individual preferences through curated content. Users often utilize the platform for everyday style decisions, expanding it beyond major life events like weddings. The experience on Pinterest is intimate and tailored, allowing users to explore trends and ideas in a quieter setting compared to more chaotic social media. This unique feature enables individuals to build personalized boards that evolve with their interests over time, creating a digital scrapbook that showcases their artistic journey.
Effective Pinning Strategies
To optimize the Pinterest experience, users are encouraged to engage actively with the content they love, starting with interests that resonate with them. This interactive approach allows Pinterest's algorithm to better curate the user's feed, presenting relevant ideas and inspirations. By continuously exploring and saving pins, users can refine their style and discover new trends that appeal to their unique aesthetics. This process empowers individuals to break out of style ruts by visually identifying what they want to express through their fashion choices.
Trend Forecasting Methodology
Pinterest's trend forecasting relies on user behavior data, highlighting the intentional nature of the platform where users plan ahead for various life events. An annual report, known as Pinterest Predicts, effectively captures emerging trends with a strong success rate based on extensive user activity. By analyzing the collective behavior of users, Pinterest identifies shifts in consumer interests and styles before they become mainstream. This user-centric approach differentiates Pinterest from other platforms, as trends on the site are reflective of genuine user desires rather than just brand-driven narratives.
The Intersection of Fashion and Nostalgia
Current fashion trends observed on Pinterest are significantly influenced by nostalgia and personal expression, with users seeking bold, audacious styles. Trends like 'stereo punk' illustrate how past aesthetics are reinterpreted, fulfilling a desire for self-expression through fashion. The platform encourages users to incorporate elements from past eras into their modern wardrobes, blending personal history with contemporary trends. This connection showcases how the revival of past styles interacts with the current desire for hyper-personalized fashion, highlighting greater engagement in the creative process.
There’s no better source of inspiration than a well-curated Pinterest board. From wedding plans and recipes to outfit ideas and beyond, Pinterest is an endless stream of creativity waiting to spark your next idea. In today’s episode, I’m joined by Sydney Stanback, the woman behind Pinterest’s trend forecasting, to talk about the most-pinned ideas in fashion and entertainment, how to make your Pinterest boards work for you, and the festival trends about to take over your social feeds.