The last time incense had a true “fashion moment,” it was John Galliano’s fault. At Dior’s haute couture show in 2000, the designer sent a hot priest down the catwalk swinging a thurible full of incense that smoked out the front row with a thick white haze. Since then, incense sticks have mostly burned through yoga studios, spa treatment rooms and the occasional Notting Hill dinner party attended by fading rock stars and dubious “jewellery designers.”

But now, in 2026, there is a confluence of incense-adjacent online trends: The rise of “Etsy Witches” who cast spells-for-hire on e-commerce platforms; a surge in #witchtok content on TikTok that merges goth and romantic aesthetics; fashion-forward movies like the new Forbidden Fruits, which premiered in March and casts Gen-Z superstars like Lola Tung and Emma Chamberlain as unskilled sorceresses. Suddenly, the use of incense is smoking hot. Google Trends reports a 20 percent rise in US searches for the term, year-over-year, with ancillary phrases like “best incense” spiking 50 percent.

“We cannot keep our incense in stock,” said Vyrao founder Yasmin Sewell, whose $60 packs of 30 bamboo-core incense sticks are not only a top seller but also an acquisition tool for her brand at Violet Grey. 

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