Taking pride of place on a lifestyle scrapheap near you

Having a boyfriend is embarrassing, 'Vogue' declared earlier this year. Helen Coffey wades into the debate and decides who or what will be out in the cold over the next 365 days

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Boyfriends officially became embarrassing in 2025.

That’s according to a viral article by Chanté Joseph for British Vogue, which articulated a distinct vibe shift: that it is now “fundamentally uncool to be a boyfriend-girl”. Far from being aspirational to post about your partner online, it became a bit, well, cringe. Women refrained from “hard launching” their relationships on social media; if they did ever include their man, he’d be mainly out of shot, with perhaps just a hand creeping into frame. Subtle hints without the confirmation - and certainly minus the gushing posts of old.

“Being partnered doesn’t affirm your womanhood any more. It is no longer considered an achievement and, if anything, it’s become more of a flex to pronounce yourself single,” observed Joseph.

So if openly having a boyfriend is the most decidedly off-trend behaviour of 2025, what’s destined for the lifestyle scrapheap in 2026? Here are my predictions for the most obvious casualties…

Being an influencer

Whisper it, but… isn’t posting about your life on social media a bit naff these days? It certainly looks like it. Tired of the infinite scroll and being manipulated by algorithms, people are spending less time on platforms overall and sharing less of their personal lives. This is reflected in young people’s changing tastes; screens may have ruled the roost over the past two decades, but Gen-Zers are all about going analogue, more likely to be pursuing a latent passion for whittling bespoke milking pails than cruising for likes or mindlessly watching TikToks. They’re experimenting with dumbphones, leaning into tech-free hobbies, going off-grid and taking life offline. And, for Gen Alpha, social media is where people like their parents hang out. What could be more deeply uncool?

Giant water bottles