Beards, being thin, Diet Coke... style guru Nicky Haslam lists ALL the things that are 'common' in 2026

They are regal enough to be sported by princes William and Harry, but beards have been dismissed as 'common' in a damning annual list.

Also making the shameful grade on Nicky Haslam's 'Common List' are Diet Coke, 'being thin' and even quails' eggs - the latter coming as a shock to those paying about £5 a dozen for the treats at Waitrose or Marks & Spencer.

The controversial criticisms have been made by the socialite interior designer, 87, who has been issuing such declarations for almost 30 years.

Previously known only by the in-crowd ranging from royalty to Mick Jagger for his furniture and wallpaper recommendations, he came to wider public attention in 1999 by saying both 'jet lag' and 'being ill' were 'common'.

He so enjoyed the reaction that since 2018 he has been making money from his judgments, printing a new 'Nicky Haslam's Common List' on a tea towel every year. This year's is on sale on his website for a plate-cracking £60, with a CD by Mr Haslam thrown in.

Alongside beards (Mr Haslam adds on his costly cloth 'I'm with Hegseth' in reference to US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's ban on beards in the Armed Forces) are the word 'nuanced' and term 'no-brainer'. 

Mr Haslam also says the word 'foodstuffs' is common 'food' alone would do, but also claims that feeling 'pity' is common, while expanding in conversation to say, oddly, that 'self-pity' is understandable.

Meanwhile, the middle-class literary event on the Welsh border, The Hay Festival, is common in its entirety, he says, as is referring to the Prime Minister's wife, currently Mrs Burnham, Marie-France van Heel, as 'First Lady'.

Interior designer and socialite Nicky Haslam, 87, has sparked debate with his latest annual 'Common List'

Mr Haslam also damns 'people wanting to show photos on their phone... then can't find them', 'birthday cakes unless under 14', 'frills on cushions downstairs' - upstairs is fine apparently - and 'folding-in wing mirrors', a request from his friend TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson.

'Still finding The Goons funny' sounds like another anti-royal jibe, on top of beards, given the only current famous fan of the 1950s radio show is King Charles.

But old Etonian Haslam - who boasts of having received 'lots of nice notes' from the late Queen Elizabeth II and says he finds Queen Camilla 'adorable', and whose own mother's godmother was Queen Victoria - insists his lists are not to be taken seriously.

He similarly claims that he is not being snobbish, saying it is all about taste rather than class, which is, he reckons, why he would never redecorate for David and Victoria Beckham.

But Mr Haslam's list does leave him open to criticism. After all, is it not 'common' to charge £60 for a tea towel, with a CD thrown in?