Fashion has a short memory. Every season, something is declared “brand new” that your grandmother’s jewellery box could have told you about decades ago. The Spring/Summer 2026 runways — from Balenciaga’s hard metallic collar shapes to Chanel’s brooch-heavy tailoring — are no exception. This year’s biggest jewellery trends read like a stock list from the golden age of costume jewellery. Here’s where things are heading, and why vintage got there first.
Chunky gold chains are trending in 2026
Oversized gold chain necklaces dominated the SS26 shows at Balenciaga, Michael Kors and Ralph Lauren. Bold link bracelets, curb chains and heavy collar-style necklaces are being worn as standalone pieces rather than layered. The look is confident, architectural and deliberately weighty.
None of this would surprise anyone who has handled a 1980s Monet or Napier chain. These American manufacturers were producing heavyweight gold-plated chains decades before “quiet luxury” became a hashtag. Monet, led by designer Edmond Mario Granville — who came to the company from Cartier in the 1930s — became known for beautifully engineered clasps and a triple-plating quality that still feels substantial today. Napier’s best collar necklaces sit surprisingly flat and wearable, even when the links are bold and sculptural.
The difference between a vintage Monet chain and a contemporary high-street version isn’t just age — it’s the weight in your hand and the way the piece moves.
Sculptural silver and bold cuffs
After years of gold dominance, silver is shouldering its way back in. The SS26 runways at Ralph Lauren and Bottega Veneta leaned into polished, architectural silver shapes — fluid cuffs, oversized hoops and sculptural bangles that feel closer to wearable art than conventional jewellery. Several fashion titles have pointed to a renewed appetite for clean, sculptural minimalism, very much in the spirit of Elsa Peretti. With gold prices at record highs, the shift makes practical sense too.
Vintage costume jewellery has always done silver-tone brilliantly. Givenchy’s 1970s and 1980s cuff bracelets — often wide, textured and boldly geometric — predate this sculptural mood by decades. Trifari’s cleaner-lined silver-tone pieces, shaped during Alfred Philippe’s long tenure as head designer, feature substantial profiles that still look current on a 2026 wrist. The construction of many of these pieces — solid, weighty and designed to last — is something you’re unlikely to find in mass-produced modern equivalents.
Are brooches back in fashion for 2026?
Emphatically yes. Brooches appeared on the SS26 catwalks at Chanel, Celine, Wales Bonner, Tory Burch and Bora Aksu. Pinterest’s 2026 trend report flagged them as a key prediction for the year, with searches for “brooch aesthetic” up 110% and “heirloom jewellery” up 45%. The styling has shifted — brooches are now pinned to linen blazers, cotton shirts and knitwear rather than reserved for formal occasions. Pinterest also predicts that millennial and boomer men will adopt vintage pins and crystal clip-ons as part of everyday dressing.
This is arguably the trend most directly served by vintage costume jewellery. Chanel treated the brooch as essential — the finishing touch that pulls everything together. In the Lagerfeld era, with Victoire de Castellane overseeing costume jewellery design from the mid-1980s, the house’s brooches became bigger, bolder and more logo-forward. Dior’s gold-tone brooches from the 1980s, often featuring their CD logo or bow motifs, were produced by Henkel & Grossé in Germany in a partnership that spanned half a century. Kenneth Jay Lane’s enamel and crystal insect brooches — dragonflies, butterflies, bees — carry the same decorative confidence that is back in circulation now, often without the same level of hand-finishing.
A single vintage brooch pinned to a blazer lapel will do more work than an entire tray of modern alternatives.
The gothic jewellery revival
With gothic screen culture in the mix — from Nosferatu to the continued influence of Wednesday — dark romanticism is having a moment. Recent SS26 collections leaned into gemstone-encrusted crosses, ornate heart-shaped pendants and blackened metal pieces that feel pulled from a Victorian novel. Gothic jewellery in 2026 is romantic rather than theatrical — inky, moody and deliberately antique in feel.
Vintage costume jewellery has an extraordinary back catalogue here. Avon’s 1970s and 1980s catalogues are full of faux-antiqued crosses, cameo pendants and ornate filigree brooches that were affordable then and remain accessible now. The darker, more dramatic pieces from the Givenchy and YSL costume lines of the late 1980s and early 1990s — heavy gilt metal, dark enamel, oversized medallions — sit comfortably within this revival. The natural patina that older pieces develop over time brings a depth that modern oxidised finishes sometimes struggle to capture convincingly.
Resin, lucite and coloured bangles
Resin and lucite bangles are back, driven by their appearance at Ferragamo, Chanel and several other SS26 shows. The look is stacked, colourful and deliberately playful — mismatched bangles piled up the wrist, mixing translucency with opaque blocks of colour.
This is a direct callback to the 1960s, when mass production of plastics like Lucite, acrylic and resin completely transformed costume jewellery. Designers embraced these materials to produce bold, pop-coloured bangles in turquoise, orange, yellow and pink that defined the Mod look. Lea Stein and her husband Fernand Steinberger began experimenting with layered cellulose acetate in Paris in the late 1960s, bonding coloured sheets together to create distinctive laminated pieces.
Finding a stack of original 1960s or 1970s resin bangles today gives you colour depth and warmth that many modern injection-moulded copies lack. The older cellulose acetate often has a translucency and tactile quality that feels different on the wrist.
Mixed metals — finally allowed
For years, mixing gold and silver was considered a fashion mistake. In 2026, it is being worn with deliberate confidence. Designers are pairing gold and silver together, and producing individual pieces that combine both tones in a single design.
Vintage costume jewellery was never particularly precious about this rule. Trifari, Monet and Napier all produced mixed-metal pieces from the 1970s onwards. Many striking designer pieces — particularly from the YSL and Nina Ricci costume lines — combine warm gilt metal with cooler silver-tone or rhodium finishes in one design. A well-made 1980s mixed-metal necklace often shows a level of finishing and balance that modern pieces, frequently produced to tighter cost constraints, do not always match.
Baroque pearls and non-traditional pearl jewellery
Pearls remain dominant in 2026, but the look has shifted decisively away from the uniform single strand. Designers are favouring baroque and irregular shapes, mixing pearls with chains, metals and coloured stones. The emphasis is on asymmetry and a more relaxed approach to a traditionally formal material.
Vintage Chanel has been mixing oversized faux pearls with gold chains and Gripoix glass for decades, long before irregular pearls became a headline trend. The Lagerfeld-era pieces — where pearls were combined with interlocking CC logos, heavy gold chain and coloured glass — feel strikingly aligned with what is being styled now. Dior’s costume lines, produced in collaboration with paruriers like Francis Winter and later Henkel & Grossé, also combined faux pearls with rhinestones, enamel and gilt metal in ways that still read as modern.
A vintage Chanel pearl and chain necklace from 1991 does not need a 2026 trend report to justify itself. It justified itself thirty-five years ago.
Every trend on this list points back to the same conclusion: the vintage pieces are not following the trends. The trends are part of a cycle that keeps returning to the design intelligence of mid-to-late twentieth century costume jewellery. The originals were made with care, weight and intention — and they have lasted accordingly.
Browse authenticated vintage costume jewellery at jaggedmetal.com