Nostalgia Forever
Vision 2026 Update
Nostalgia Forever
Nostalgia is a longing for the past that is often linked to positive memories, a sentimental yearning to return to a time or state that is out of reach. The past is idealized as simpler, happier, or more meaningful than the present; this feeling brings comfort and positive emotions, which explains the surge of nostalgic interest that has been going on for some time now.
Nostalgia is everywhere, and as long as there is uncertainty about the future, people will continue to seek solace from nostalgic memories.
When life feels stable, we are more inclined to look forward to the future, but when it is filled with stress or uncertainty, we often turn to the comfort of familiar memories. Today’s intense, uncertain, stressful and complex world makes slipping into existential anxiety that triggers nostalgia easy. Social isolation during the pandemic has intensified the nostalgia wave, with many people feeling nostalgic for elements of the past or an escape to someplace interesting. Research shows that loneliness often intensifies feelings of nostalgia; people yearn to return to what feels like a better time. In a sense, nostalgia becomes a mental “happy place” to revisit.
As complexities and change speed up, OvN foresees nostalgia staying with us and having an essential impact in the coming decade. There are positive sides to nostalgia, but the danger of the ongoing interest in nostalgia is cultural stagnation, where past aesthetics are continuously reinterpreted or recreated instead of pushing forward with new ideas. This fosters a sense of escapism, where people retreat to familiar cultural moments rather than engaging with the present.
When society feels broken, damaged or without hope, we need to be extraordinarily creative and full of vivid imagination to find other ways to move forward. Even systems that seem stagnated and permanent can be transformed and changed through powerful collective creativity. We also have an artistic obligation to create work that genuinely reflects today, capturing our time's unique look, feel, and mood to create a future nostalgia that will carry forward. We are responsible for making a time capsule for 2024 and the years to come.
By using nostalgia as motivation for change, we can transform it into a tool for growth. Reflecting on the past can offer valuable insights, guiding us toward a more desirable future and helping us understand how to foster innovation. Nostalgia can serve as a bridge to bring our core values, memories, and aesthetics into the future.
Monte di Pietà by Lorraine De Sagazan & Anouk Maugein
You can download the PDF version of the report here
Take aways
* Nostalgia is an enduring megatrend that will not disappear anytime soon; we have mapped its shifts and evolutions all the way to 2050.
* Gen Z may be the most nostalgic generation in 50 years and is bringing nostalgic elements forward, transforming and mixing them into something new and exciting that resonates with today’s world.
* In the future, when we look back to 2024, will we be able to indicate this is from this decade? Since the nineties, decades have become more blurred and less defined.
* Our digital devices serve as portals to the past; everything is stored, and the nostalgic experience has been democratized, making it more accessible. Take a wider view on nostalgia, further into the past and across all continents.
* Artificial Intelligence can be applied to archives to make them more accessible, making our past more dimensional and reimagining and reinventing history. Blurring because of generated AI images will impact what is seen as real and what will be referenced in the future.
* Looking forward, how can we meaningfully bring nostalgia into the present and create space for the new? This approach should be rooted in building a better future, one to look back on with pride. Remember, we are creating tomorrow’s nostalgia.
A universal feeling
The Nostalgia Map, % who feel nostalgic for the previous era’s.
Luback Cafe is a place in Hangzhou, China, where you can enjoy good coffee and a collection of vintage cars
Chinese streetwear brand Goodbai draws inspiration from school uniforms, sports and fan culture and the history of daily life in Beijing.
Generations
Nostalgia for analogue media, magazines, music and off-line gatherings has grown. Brands such as Patta and Bottega Veneta are creating print magazines to express their vision and escape the algorithm
Lived or not-lived eras
While nostalgia refers to events that we experienced in the past, it is also feasible for us to become nostalgic about things that have not happened, a phenomenon called “Anemoia” Our brains have the ability to generate detailed simulations of things and events that never actually experienced and then attach to those ideas empathetically.
For today’s youth, social media and the Internet provide direct access to the daily life of a recent past and have also enabled a longing for unlived pasts. Political and cultural expressions of longing lead to mourning for displacement among younger people: missing the golden age of stability, national strength, home ownership or even a sense of ‘normality’.
The childhood factor
Nostalgia often draws us back to childhood, a period marked by innocence, curiosity, and freedom from the weight of adult responsibilities. During this time, much of life feels fresh and full of possibility, each day bringing discoveries. Childhood experiences deeply shape who we become, laying the foundation for our values, dreams, and sense of self. Sensory stimuli emerge as the most frequent trigger of nostalgia, followed by psychological threats and social gatherings.
Revisiting these memories allows us to reconnect with our younger selves and rekindle the excitement and openness that fueled our early imagination. Behavioural studies show that enduring, lifelong hobbies develop from age 12 and younger. A positive experience at a young age makes people revisit or continue the activity for longer.
Nostalgia & society
Left, sculpture by Louise Bourgeois at the Prada Foundation. Right, Nara Aziza is an influencer who uses traditional homemaking aesthetics in her cooking video’s.
Historic picture of canal St. in New Orleans
Apollo Lunar Module Eagle moonlanding on July 20, 1969
Yearning for yesterday
Cultural moments
Going to the Moon inspired generations of people to become scientists, engineers, and computer programmers. These shared experiences create a sense of collective nostalgia, a group-level emotion that strengthens social bonds and fuels a common vision for the future. Having our own heavily personal connections to culture (our own playlists, films, fashion.) means we lose the shared experience.
The nostalgia for such defining moments is often tinged with pride and unity, reminding people of what they can achieve together. This collective memory not only celebrates the past but also drives aspirations for future milestones and “tour de forces” that could shape culture once again. Not showing a vision of possible, positive futures sets people up for nostalgia.
Social change
Collective nostalgia is often leveraged in politics, more than uniting visions of the future, to rally support for specific ideologies. The "tradwife" movement reflects a sense of unease around rapid societal changes, romanticizing traditional gender roles as a source of stability.
The resurgence of conservative ideals around men’s and women’s roles highlights a pushback against the changes in society, as some seek comfort in rigid frameworks that feel familiar amidst a shifting cultural landscape.
This nostalgia-driven conservatism creates a divide, as conservative young men embrace traditional ideals, while many young women, often leaning liberal, push for greater freedom and equality in defining their roles.
Nothing new
Left, interior from the seventies. Right, interior of the Sun Ranch Lodges in Byron Bay, Australia, by Balanced Earth Architects
Nothing changes by Tigran Avetisyan, 2013
Palace Skateboards & Viviene Westwood collaboration
Recycling the past
Eclectic historicism
Younger generations mix elements from across history and sub-cultures and pull from different eras and periods, ‘90s fashion, cartoons, or retro technology to create something fresh and personal. It is like taking the best from everywhere to tell a story about individuality. This results from growing up in an age where access to global influences is instant and limitless.
Designs embody rebellion, individuality, and a strong anti-establishment ethos, mixing punk, historical references and sustainable fashion choices. It is a form of activism around conflict, climate change and social justice.
Raw emotional depth, introspective lyrics, and themes of alienation in music continue to feel relatable. Poetic yet melancholic songs speak to the complexities of identity, mental health, and societal discontent and offer a needed contrast to the digital production of modern music.
The old speaks louder than the new
We are witnessing a shift away from creating more new products; younger generations increasingly prefer secondhand and recycled goods. This move toward reusing and repurposing items fosters a new cultural cycle and a culture of creativity to find innovative ways to reuse and remix creatively.
The old carries a sense of authenticity that the new often lacks. Delving out something from the past can be a person’s specific point of view on the past, linked to their roots, journey or personal memories. Interiors from the seventies, as above, have a thrifted, unique quality and a sense of freedom that resonates today.
According to GWI, Gen Z and millennials are the most nostalgic generation and drive nostalgia in the media, too. People aged 16-64 generally feel most nostalgic for films at 71%, followed by music at 64% (Zeitgeist 2023). The complete archive of films and music that is now accessible and more individual patterns ensure that the nostalgia cycle becomes more personal.
We are living in the archive
Adidas x MLS Archive Collection, third jersey’s for soccer clubs that draws inspiration from different eras and aspects of their city's cultural and sporting history.
Barbour heritage+ collection fall winter 2024
Kids’ Showtime Greats stamps by Australia Post, a series of stamps based on iconic Australian childhood TV shows and movies.
The choice to preserve
Left, The Eames Archive provides an overview of Ray and Charles Eames's prototypes, experimentation processes, and design philosophy.
Our legacy
Everything is uploaded somewhere, including our memories. As AI uses what we have saved until now and the stream of AI-generated text and images is starting to pollute the Internet, the archive becomes ever more critical. Deciding what to save makes us question what information is useful to store for the future.
The archive is becoming increasingly important, as is capturing an enormous amount of data and defining what is essential in the Internet era. There are attempts such as The Internet Archive, but with the advent of AI and the regeneration of content, capturing what is relevant for the future is becoming more complicated. Historians of the future will struggle to fully understand how we lived our lives in the early 21st century.
The Internet is only 40 years old, and all of its culture is from that time. Much of our digital nostalgia reflects a longing for the early days when the Internet felt like a raw, open frontier untainted by today’s commercialization.
Values of the time
Nostalgia drives the renewed interest in archives, which explore identity and culture and preserve collective memory. Archives can help people connect with their roots and understand their historical place. They provide insights that inspire reflection, understanding of history, and how past events shape the present and future.
As demand for brand authenticity and sustainability grows, brands increasingly preserve and work from their archives. These archives are more than just records of the past; they serve as vibrant research centres and starting points for new creative projects. Releasing archive collections, limited-edition retro items and iconic products relate to brand nostalgia and heritage. Brand heritage refers to a brand's history, longevity, and core values that have been developed and maintained over time. Brand nostalgia is more focused on evoking emotional responses from people based on their memories or perceptions of the past.
In addition to nostalgia from childhood, nostalgia for everything seen as authentic, aspirational or inspiring will be appreciated.
Time & speed
Left, Alessandro Michele’s debut for Valentino. Right, Fondazione FS revived 1930s and 1950s trains for remote Italian villages.
In June 2024, Ricoh released the Pentax 17 half-frame analogue camera, the first launched in two decennia.
Brooklyn's McCarren Park daiting wall
Going back in time
Sharing experiences
Nostalgia reshapes history into collective and personal mythologies, creating narratives that can feel timeless and deeply intimate. Analog experiences, with their slower, tactile qualities, contrast sharply with the immediacy of digital life, making shared, offline moments feel more meaningful and rare.
The "inconvenience" and tactile quality of analogue culture, like vinyl records or film photography, becomes part of its attraction, adding value to experiences that can’t be experenced online. Gathering in real life without digital distractions strengthens experiences and slows down time, fostering deeper bonds through presence and shared, undistracted moments.
Loops
Even with new technology, we come back to the same things. IPs are used repetitively in the film industry. Conversations with large language models continuously tread on the same materials, using past-existing information. While these models only show things that are there to begin with, we treat these results as new information.
Repetition is coming back in the results. We commonly stick to a cycle of 30 years in which nostalgia for a period in time ‘runs’, but the internet and a desire for newness have accelerated the process to 20 years. This may shorten even more with the compartmentalising of ‘-cores’ in microtrends. The cycle can help us to see the shifts in culture as an action for reflection, but if it comes too soon, it is as if nothing changes and we are stuck in a loop of repeating influences.
A wider view of the past
Left, Katseye, the first global girl Kpop group. Right Chappel Roan during the VMA’s.
Adorning the Man by Farrah May Maddox
Frag·men·tal by Michael Kutsche
The disorder of the real
Artefacts
Nostalgia has taken on new dimensions, expanding far beyond the boundaries of tradition and good old simple days. The digital age has changed the way we express and engage with the past, allowing us to curate our experiences and memories. Our phones are making the past more present and accessible, serving as portals to previous eras. Nostalgia is reshaping our present selves and our relationships with our past, blurring the lines between memory and reality.
People are exploring virtual archives filled with cultural artefacts from decades or even centuries ago and weaving together their personal narratives. Nostalgia in the digital age fosters a sense of community as people bond over shared experiences and a newfound appreciation for the complexities of cultural heritage.
Distorted storytelling
With their future hanging in the balance of countless crises, it is no wonder young people find comfort in the past. Eclecticism using elements like heraldry and armour blends the past with the present in unexpected ways. This creates a kind of distorted storytelling where symbols of nobility and strength are reimagined to reflect modern identities.
Gender becomes fluid in this narrative, allowing individuals to portray themselves as either a damsel or a knight, subverting traditional roles to express personal power, beauty and vulnerability. History tells a story of gender. Women throughout history have played often underappreciated roles, shaping society as it is today. Reviewing history empowers a new generation to challenge traditional boundaries, embracing a more inclusive understanding of gender that reflects individual journeys and collective progress.
Slow thinking
Bellow, The Mushroom Colour Atlas by Julie Beeler. Right, drawing lessons by Absalon Copenhagen
Ceramic artisan Takashi Ichikawa brewing tea
Copas by Perez Palacios Architects, Mexico
Resisting speed
Desire for depth
The world is divided between oversaturation and the empty black hole, pushing us into the space for nostalgia. Unfilled moments on social media scare us; we are not comforted by the anxieties of letting our fingers rest and buttons unpushed.
We desire simplicity. The physical process of drawing, the rise of slow coffee culture, and other daily rituals add delicacy to our lives. Hold on to patience, depth, and consciousness, which are at risk in the face of modernisation.
Finding another rhythm
Nostalgia can be a critique of modernisation, technology, and capitalism. It is a longing for another time and another rhythm, a new notion of time that supports and allows critical thinking. Nostalgia should shift from screens and media into real-life experiences that bring people together in physical spaces. It’s time to create more in-person moments that help people feel connected and part of a shared history, out in the world, beyond the confines of home.
Thinking, making, and experimenting take time, but contemporary culture doesn’t allow us time to think. Cultural critic Simon Reynolds claims music innovation subsided in the 2000s. Research and experimentation need time, slow thinking, and slow movement, which can help us embrace another pace of life and create something new and original.
Expanding our views
Left, Black Myth: Wukong adapts mythology through gaming, players in China, who were taught this story when they were younger. Right, The Sankofa bird is a West African symbol from the Akan people of Ghana, representing the importance of learning from the past to move forward into the future.
Splashing Volcano Ash Gaze Mesmerizing Mesh #140 by Studio Haegue Yang
An Alien Spirit with a Breathtaking View by Suchitra Mattai
Ancestral knowledge
Global nostalgia
Indigenous folklore and handcraft serve as timeless vessels of ancestral heritage, holding layers of history that connect the past, present, and future. These practices are more than art or stories, they are expressions of a deep-rooted, collective responsibility toward Mother Earth and the communities built upon her lands. Folklore constitutes an accumulation of knowledge, practices and traditions that are the expression and life of a deep worldview.
For First Nations people and the descendants of those who inhabited the Americas, the Pacific, Asia, and Africa before European colonization, these traditions are living connections to their ancestors. Folklore and handmade crafts aren’t simply nostalgic; they are profound links to a spiritual way of life.
Mythology plays a central role in reflecting collective memories and values. By revisiting these narratives, we gain a deeper understanding of how different cultures honour their heritage and sustain traditions that shape both individual and shared identities.
Indigenous knowledge
As climate change intensifies, there’s growing interest in the knowledge Indigenous peoples hold about living in harmony with nature. This ancient wisdom has been passed down through generations and is deeply rooted in their spirituality, identity, practices, and culture.
Indigenous knowledge is often shared through stories, songs, art, and folklore, making complex ideas easier to understand. By closely studying nature, Indigenous ancestors learned how the cycles of the natural world mirror processes in the human body and how to live sustainably within those cycles.
While early colonizers often dismissed this wisdom, modern science and society are beginning to recognize and validate the insights that Indigenous peoples have preserved for centuries.
Western civilizations must go through a process of “decolonization of thought”, this will allow them to understand that ancestral knowledge is the expression of a deep and complex worldview, which is far from the conception of the Western world.
Memories restored
Left, The slowest food, the hundred-year egg. Right, Tailors & Wearers is a collaborative project focused on the conservation, visibility and accessibility of Afro-Surinamese traditional dress.
Carlos Idun-Tawiah’s photography merges memories with reimagined pasts and futures, guiding broader conversations about joy and beauty in Ghana.
Premier Padmini cars dominated Indian roads until the 1990s.
The history of the world
Hybridity
Global hybridity shapes nostalgia by blending cultural influences that bring new dimensions to familiar memories, creating layered, cross-cultural connections to the past.
As traditions merge and evolve, symbols of nostalgia, such as food, fashion, cars and music, shape how people across the world remember and relate to their heritage. The blending allows nostalgia to become a dynamic, shared experience, bridging diverse histories and creating universal links to the past in a globalized world.
The home
A longing for a lost home plays a dual role in the lives of those in the diaspora. It can act as both a source of comfort and a challenge to the formation of a new identity. Nostalgia serves as a bridge between past and present, helping to preserve cultural memory and tradition, it places the emotion in a cross-cultural context
Food is a way to connect with cultural heritage and the traditions of ancestors, it is a tangible link to history and traditions that have been passed on from generation to generation.
Legacies in the age of AI
Left, AI assisted in discovering 303 new Nazca geoglyphs in Peru. Right, The Cyberfeminism Index by Mindy Seu
AI for Sustainability by Dada Projects and Google Deepmind AI
MIT Future You allows you to chat to an older version of yourself
Increased perspectives
Future converstations
Heritage in digital media reflects an emotional connection to personal and collective histories. Content becomes a dialogue between the past and present, showcasing the evolution of culture, social change, and the influence of technology.
Engaging in AI conversations with our future selves can profoundly influence how we envision the future, guiding our decisions and actions today. By bridging the gap between who we are now and who we may become, we gain a broader perspective that encourages us to live more fully in the present.
Fast developments
Rapid change is happening at an unprecedented pace, driven by the intersection of accelerating AI and evolving user interfaces. AI has transformed daily operations, from note-taking and optimizing workflows to filtering information and suggesting meals. AI enables us to make connections and recognize previously impossible or too time-consuming patterns for humans, offering more profound insights into biology, history, and our collective experience on Earth.
Visualizations that connect data to our stored memories will play a key role in this evolution, as AI systems learn to map abstract information back to familiar patterns. This will link the unknown to what we already know, grounding the future in the context of our shared past.
Future tech nostalgia
Left, Apple Vision Pro Algoriddim’s Djay app. Right, Mud Frontiers, large format robotic 3D printed cave shape
Welcome Aboard, animated short film by Erik Wernquist
Mini conversion project by Restomod Classic
Symbiotic relationship
Her, American science-fiction film written, directed, and co-produced by Spike Jonze, 2013
Future civilizations
We are the first species capable of leaving Earth and expanding our existence into the universe. Humanity has been building toward this achievement throughout history. Space civilization design is often inspired by modernist architecture, with open adaptable spaces and efficient construction for functionality. Next to the practical and functional human adaptation and emotions such as nostalgia will have to be considered.
As we venture into space, we may grow hyper-nostalgic for Earth, embedding elements of culture, history, and nature into futuristic environments to stay connected to our origins. It is interesting to focus on human emotions in the quest to build life on a new world and how how Earth-like features and comforts play a role in our wellbeing in off-world environments.
Going back & forth
Moving between past and future allows us to ground new technology in what’s familiar and cherished, often through skeuomorphic designs that echo the past in modern forms. When innovations reconnect with memories or emotions, they resonate with us, bridging eras in meaningful ways. The radical new is softened by the old and known, creating a comforting continuity.
Repurposing the past makes new futures feel more grounded, human, and relatable. Restomod cars, for instance, blend both vintage aesthetics and advanced technology, using skeuomorphic cues to craft a motor fit for the 21st century yet steeped in nostalgia.
We are living in the archive, eighty per cent of the buildings we’ll use in 2050 already exist. The contrast and connection between old and new will lead to differences in pace, interesting encounters but also increasing social discrepancies.
Speculative nostalgia
You can download the PDF of the report here
Nostalgia future timeline
Looking forward towards future nostalgia, many futures can happen. Where you are located in the world makes a difference, as does the local context and the speed of change in different parts of the world.
When thinking of nostalgia in 2050, Gen Alphas and Betas will be nostalgic for the pre-autonomous and pre-climate period. Authenticity for these generations is related to not being monitored, nature, human creativity and fantasy.
Generational values change. Gen Z highly values authenticity, Gen Alpha values connections and interactions, but the preferences (plus the name and age bracket) of the Betas and Gammas are unknown.
What is seen as authentic in 2050 will most probably be impacted by digitalisation, AI, climate change, and advanced automation.