Yes, You Do Need a Brooch in Your Accessory Rotation
Looking to shake up your jewellery box? It’s time we “brooch” the subject.
Once considered old-fashioned, brooches are no longer precious relics of the past. Today, these baubles are markers of experimental self-adornment. Seen across the Spring 2026 runways, the outfit-embellishing badge is undeniably beloved, from ornate, vintage-style pins at Dolce and Gabbana to sparkly standouts at Tory Burch. Now, with a major spike in popularity ahead of the upcoming holiday season, brooches are proving to be much more than just a passing trend.
Street style is following suit. Brooches are piled with reckless abandon on bomber jackets. They’re used as an unexpected finishing touch on sharply tailored ensembles. And they’re worn in place of neckties for a hit of avant-garde menswear.
In short: The brooch is booming yet again. To find out why, let’s take a look at where it began. Dating back to the Bronze Age, ornamental pins have helped shape the art of fashion storytelling. They’ve been worn to communicate class, religion and even hidden messages. The Victorian era popularized “love brooches” as a token of romantic longing. During the suffragette movement, certain brooches signalled political solidarity.
And over the centuries, they’ve been a ceremonial staple for people in positions of power, from kings and queens to red-carpet-gracing celebrities. Whether sitting plainly on a coat, a lapel or a hat brim, brooches have historically been imbued with meaning, often conveying something unspoken about the wearer. That’s what makes their contemporary return all the more relevant.
In the age of algorithmically induced sameness, where familiar outfit formulas are funnelled through our feeds, the brooch provides styling singularity. Whether it’s kitschy and outré or simple and elevated, a press-on pendant never fails to add character to clothes. In its most basic form, the brooch brings a burst of old-school opulence to the mundane act of getting dressed.
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Product descriptions by Stephanie Davoli
This article first appeared in FASHION’s April 2025 issue. Find out more here.
Natalie Michie is the Fashion & Features Editor at FASHION Magazine. With a pop culture obsession, she is passionate about exploring the relationship between fashion, internet trends and social issues. She has written for Elle Canada, CBC, Chatelaine and Toronto Life. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and over-analyzing movies on TikTok.
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