Fashion weeks tell you what designers want people to wear. Search data tells you what people are actually trying to work out. In October, Google published its Fall 2026 Fashion Capitals report, a city-by-city reading of what shoppers in London, New York, Paris, Milan, Tokyo, Copenhagen and São Paulo typed into its search bar in September. The comparisons are mostly year on year, September 2026 against September 2025, and a "breakout" in Google's language means a query that grew so sharply, often from almost nothing, that a percentage stops being meaningful.
Read together, the seven cities point in a consistent direction: a softer, higher-waisted silhouette, accessories that do the work of clothes, flat shoes that can survive a city, and a growing interest in fixing what is already in the wardrobe.
London and Milan: the empire waist returns
The single strongest signal in the report comes from London, where Google says "empire waist" is the top fashion trend search of 2026 and has reached an all-time high in its apparel category. What has changed is the context. Until recently the term was searched mainly with formalwear, in queries such as "mother of the bride empire waist dress". In September the breakouts were "empire waist sundress" and "empire waist babydoll dress": the line under the bust has moved from the wedding to the weekend.
Milan is reading from the same page. "Stile impero" and "abito da sposa stile impero" (empire-waist wedding dress) were both breakout searches there, and Google groups the two cities under a heading it calls Neo-Regency. The name is apt. The high waist was the defining line of European dress around 1800, when it was worn in fine white cotton with short sleeves, as in the museum example below.
London's other searches were less romantic. "Knee high boots" was the top autumn item, with equestrian, slim and slouch styles leading. "Sling bag" was a breakout at an all-time high, searched as often with Gucci, Prada and Chanel as with Lululemon, Carhartt and The North Face. "Palazzo pants" rose 300% in September to its second-highest level ever. In menswear, corduroy was the top trending material, olive has been searched twice as much as in 2025, and Barbour was the top trending brand.
New York and São Paulo: the scarf as a garment
New Yorkers, according to the report, are improvising. "How to style large silk scarf" was a breakout in September, alongside more specific questions about wearing a silk scarf as a top for a concert or tying one over a slip dress. In São Paulo, where spring rather than autumn is beginning, September produced a breakout for how to use a scarf or shawl to cover the arms, and another for how to wear a neck scarf. For an accessory long treated as a finishing touch, that is a promotion.
The rest of New York's data is a mix of the practical and the polished. Searches for running shoes rose 750% year on year. "Curve bag" was the top trending accessory search, joined by "curve tote bag" and "pierre laborde bags", while "gucci bags" rose 535% and "cos bag" 310%. Polo shirts were up 435%. Going the other way, the bubble hem is fading: "maxi skirt with bubble hem" fell 70% and "bubble hem maxi dress" 90%.
Paris and Tokyo: flat shoes, two ways
In Paris, "mocassin" (loafers) and "ballerines" (ballet flats) dominate footwear searches, with pointed slingback pumps also prominent. Tokyo's top footwear queries were ballet shoes and platforms, and São Paulo's "sapatilha" (flats) rose 375% to a five-year high, with the split-toe, tabi-style "sapatilha pata de vaca" its most-searched flat. Google pairs Paris and Tokyo under ballet and pointed flats; the wider point is that the flat shoe is now a global search habit rather than a Parisian one. The resale market sees it too: Fashionphile's 2026 resale report, covering January to July, recorded a 751% rise in searches for ballet flats and a 369% rise for "silk scarf" on its platform.
Paris also showed a taste for personalisation: "bijoux de sac" (bag charms) and "sac cabas en daim souple" (a soft suede shopper) were breakouts, "sac chanel" rose 325% and "sac goyard" 180%. In menswear, the oiled field jacket was a breakout. Tokyo was more weather-minded: raincoats were the top trending apparel topic, at an all-time high, with transparent styles searched more than any other; women's rain boots rose 395% and "eco bag" 605%. Racing-style trainers are cooling there, with searches for the Puma Speed Cat down 55%.
Milan and Copenhagen: tailoring and heavy boots
Milan's loafer searches rose 95% and slingbacks 110%, while "gioielleria" (jewellery shop) was the top accessory breakout. Menswear stayed rooted in tailoring, led by Suit Supply and the Neapolitan tiemaker Marinella. Formal women's suits ("tailleur donna") fell 50%.
Copenhagen, unsurprisingly, is dressing for rain and cold. Searches for winter boots rose 235%, the Danish shoemaker Angulus 285% and Timberland 190%, and "new balance loafers" was a breakout. Checked shirts were a breakout too, as was a query that neatly sums up the season: a request to suggest a style inspired by The Row, using less expensive brands. The top inspiration query was "japansk inspireret tøj", Japanese-inspired clothing.
The quietest trend: repairs
The most interesting thread may be the least glamorous. In Milan, breakout searches included "segna orlo da sarta" (marking a hem with a seamstress) and a hyperlocal query for trouser-hem repairs in the Bicocca district. In São Paulo, searches for a sewing-machine bias-tape foot rose 320% and for how to fix a loose zip 135%. Brazil, Google adds, has been the top country in the world for crochet searches since 2004, and "easy and quick crochet bag" rose 240% there.
Search interest is not sales, and none of this proves that people are buying less. But it does suggest that alteration, styling and repair are part of how shoppers now think about getting more from their clothes. For what the runways proposed for the same season, see our autumn-winter 2026 trends report.
How to read the data
A few cautions. Google reports relative growth rather than sales or absolute volumes, so a 600% rise in one city may involve fewer searches than a 50% rise in another. Breakouts can come from very small bases. And each city's list reflects its own season: São Paulo is heading into summer, which is why bikinis also appear in its report. For the runway view of the season ahead, see our spring-summer 2027 trends report.
Featured image: Lilac.mundo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped for this page; the cropped version is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
