Mess World Podcast – Episode Summary

Podcast: Mess World
Hosts: Jessica DeFino & Emily Kirkpatrick
Episode: Mess Is The Moment: Our Trend Forecast For The Year
Date: January 6, 2026

Episode Overview

In this lively and incisive episode, Jessica DeFino and Emily Kirkpatrick share their annual forecast for the most provocative, absurd, and influential fashion and beauty trends for 2026. Known for their sharp wit and unfiltered takes, the hosts predict how pop culture, politics, and consumer behavior will intersect to shape everything from skincare ingredients to the aesthetics of the Met Gala. Infused with equal parts irreverence and critical theory, this episode serves both as a tongue-in-cheek road map and a searing critique of where fashion and beauty are truly headed.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Rituals, Realizations, and Personal Resolutions

• Exploring the "liminal space" between the holidays, Jessica and Emily share small life upgrades, like descaling a coffee machine.
  • Emily admits: “Much like everything that's good for you, I hate to report my coffee tastes better.” (01:00)
• Embracing "being a little bitchy" as a new year mantra, especially in critique of celebrities and the fashion industry.

2. Prediction Cycle & Self-Congratulation

• Jessica and Emily both review their previous predictions, and jest about being “fashion soothsayers” or “oracles.”
  • “When I hit the merkin, I hit the merkin hard.” – Emily (03:27)
  • Acknowledgment of the self-congratulatory tone of trend forecasting.

3. Major Fashion & Beauty Trend Predictions for 2026

a. Adult Baby & Fetish Evolution

• The "adult baby" trend, marked by infantilized aesthetics, is fading, in part due to world events making it distasteful.
• Likely evolution into a more “twee/indie sleaze” vibe (Mary-Kate Olsen’s flannel and tights, “lampshade dressing”) but with rock/grunge energy.
  • “I think the adult baby thing might evolve a little bit into more of like, twee, indie sleaze, American Apparel type baby... rock, indie sleaze version of it.” – Emily (05:54)
• Mainstreaming and escalation of “fetish” aesthetics—celebrity “foot fetish” is now passé; latex, immobilizing outfits, and chastity play might step forward.
  • “They’re going to have to get increasingly fringe, honestly, because we’ve kind of done what I would consider like... generically popular [fetishes].” – Emily (07:35)
  • Clown makeup, clowncore, and even Pagliacci-inspired looks forecast as the next wave. (12:01)

b. Clowncore & Cosmetic Toxicity

• Clown makeup goes mainstream, both as a statement and a cultural mood.
  • “Pagliacci core is going mainstream this year.” – Jessica (12:10)
  • “I think powdered or whiter skin is going to happen too... Pantone color of the year ‘cloud dancer white’... powdered faces or powdered wigs.” – Jessica (13:21)
• Explicitly links toxic historical beauty standards with current regulatory rollbacks (e.g., talc not being tested for asbestos).

c. Fetal/Placenta Skincare & Eugenics Anxiety

• Surging interest in fetal-inspired skincare (vernix, placenta, foreskin-derived growth factors).
  • “I do think we’re gonna see fetal skin care.” – Jessica (16:11)
  • Prediction of products and discourse pushing “optimal baby skin,” prenatal interventions, and eugenics-coded beauty regimens.

d. Innovations in Height & Body Proportions

• Celebrities’ obsession with height leads to speculation about “stilts” or even leg-lengthening surgery.
  • “Who will be the first to wear stilts? Because I don’t get why not, clown core.” – Emily (22:26)

e. Death as a Beauty Aesthetic

• Beauty products and routines themed around mortality.
  • “People describing their favorite beauty products not in terms of, like, my desert island picks, but literally, like, my death pics.” – Jessica (25:51)
  • Reference to the use of cadaver-derived substances in procedures.

f. Ephemerality & Real Life Experiences

• “Time-based outfits” — clothing that degrades, evolves, or dissolves (akin to Andy Goldsworthy installations).
  • Forecast for a cultural shift “offline,” with experiences and garments that must be seen in person.

g. Plastic Surgery Transparency & Sponcon

• Surge in real-time plastic surgery documentation and affiliations, including “kickbacks” to celebrities for referrals.
  • “The next big thing in skincare is going to be a blef in a bottle.” – Jessica (37:03)

h. The Hyperreal Body

• “Hyperreal” bodies: exaggerated, AI-like, padded, drag-inspired forms, with disjointed or divine aesthetics.
  • “We’re going to continue to see representations of bodies placed upon the bodies... our bodies are no longer limited to their human form.” – Emily (49:05)
  • Correlation with “hypergender” and the use of cosmetic intervention to exaggerate cisgender traits, partly as a response to anti-trans politics.

i. Space, Surveillance, and Corporate Beauty

• Predictions for beauty space races (Blue Origin/SpaceX) and luxury space spa experiences.
  • “Who will be the first to do a fashion show in space?” – Emily (43:13)
  • Anticipation of NASA/Blue Origin-backed skincare, surveillance-laced (Palantir) beauty tech.

j. Politicized Aesthetics Without Politics

• Trends such as “messy girl” and “grunge” look will be meticulously curated, devoid of genuine political or subcultural meaning.
  • “It’s not mess. It’s not real. It’s curated chaos. It’s like meticulous mess. Make believe mess.” – Jessica (75:18)
• Punk, grunge, and goth aesthetics will be worn as fashion, stripped of any communal or ideological content.

k. Americana Aesthetic Resurgence

• Anticipated boom in Americana themes tied to the 250th anniversary of U.S. Independence; think 50s bombshell, patriotic colors, re-imagined “housewife” aesthetics (65:00).

l. Obscured Faces & Exclusivity

• Celebrities increasingly hiding their faces—massive sunglasses, blindfolds, Margiela masks, wigs with airbrushed anime eyes.
  • Kim Kardashian and Addison Rae are used as prime examples (81:50).

m. Pet Beauty Boom

• Expansion of pet beauty into new categories, especially pet nail care, possibly including accessories and luxury “pet mani pedi” kits (86:01).

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On trend prediction culture:
  “What ideas will people be stealing and not crediting us for in the future? You’re hearing it here first. Jot ‘em down. Take note.” – Emily (02:07)

• On death in beauty:
  “Death is definitely a very powerful... You know, it gets attention. Because I’m just thinking about ...a T-shirt that says ‘Death’… people were so upset, so triggered by this T-shirt, thinking I'm, like, just promoting the concept.” – Emily (28:11)

• On “hyperreal bodies”:
  “It’s humans seizing control over the image of their own body, like extending it beyond the physical limitations... That to me is playing the role of a demigod.” – Emily (49:19)

• On the fashion world’s absorption of critique:
  “Americana is so powerful it just, like, reabsorbs everything back into itself. So it’s kind of impossible to have a... Bizarro Americana is its own sort of hyper reality.” – Jessica (66:36)

• On beauty industry’s consumer contempt:
  “It feels like these brands are mad at us that they have to go through us to get our money.” – Emily paraphrasing a TikTok insight (61:27)

• On ‘messy’ aesthetic branding:
  “It’s not mess. It’s not real. It’s curated chaos. It’s like meticulous mess. Make believe mess.” – Jessica (75:18)

Important Segment Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment Topic | |:-----------|:------------------------------------------------| | 04:02 | Embracing “bitchy” critique as a new year vision | | 06:05 | The death and mutation of “adult baby” trend | | 12:01 | Clowncore & Pagliacci makeup | | 16:11 | Rise of fetal and placenta-based skincare | | 22:26 | Fashion innovation: celebrity stilts & height obsessions | | 25:51 | “Death” as a beauty aesthetic | | 43:13 | Prediction: Fashion show in space | | 49:05 | The “hyperreal body,” AI aesthetics, and divinity| | 55:53 | “Hypergender” and cosmetic interventions | | 61:27 | Brands’ contempt for consumers | | 65:00 | Anticipation of Americana boom | | 75:18 | Messy girl and curated chaos | | 81:50 | Obscuring celebrity faces, Margiela masks | | 86:01 | Pet nail care as next beauty boom |

Tone and Style

Jessica and Emily’s banter is both acerbic and self-aware, mixing academic references (Baudrillard, Freud’s death drive) with meme-like pop culture allusions. Their language is playful, dense with hot takes, and consistently irreverent toward both industry and celebrity.

End Segment: "Mess of the Month"

• Emily’s pick: Tom Brady’s unfiltered Instagram overshares—“That’s the most divorced behavior I’ve ever seen in my life.” (88:57)
• Jessica’s pick: The Kardashian “nose-gate” and cosmetic transparency—“It’s the Ship of Theseus... if you replace every part of your face, is it still your face?” (93:08)

Conclusion

Jessica and Emily deliver a blistering, sometimes absurd, always insightful forecast of trends that is as much about critiquing the machinery of pop culture as it is about fashion and beauty themselves. From cultural death drives to the rise of “fetal skincare,” hyperreal bodies, and staged “messiness,” Mess World’s 2026 forecast is both a warning and a celebration: “You’re hearing it here first.”