20 Beautiful Drinking Glasses to Upgrade Your Everyday Glassware

A few weeks ago, I found myself meandering through my local Target (as a gal in her thirties with time to kill will do). Since it was nearly fall, I headed straight to the seasonal section to browse the early drop of cozy candles, throw blankets, and other autumnal home essentials. As I made my way to the kitchen aisle to dig through the mugs and festive cups, I saw it: a pumpkin-printed Anthropologie Icon juice glass staring back at me across the shelf. Only we weren’t anywhere near an Anthropologie, and we were still weeks out from Halloween.

I was overcome with confusion (I was at Target, right?), disappointment, and, dare I say, a little bit of rage. I left that day still thinking about that damned juice glass. Why had this $8 dupe pushed me over the edge? What was it about this stupid thing, which I’d seen zillions of times in one pattern or another, that pissed me off so much??

Well, therein lies the answer. I believe we’ve gone too far with the Anthropologie Icon juice glass. As a society, we need to rein it in and buy, literally, ANYTHING else. I’m begging you.

What started as a kitschy vessel for zhuzhing up morning matchas and sleepytime mocktails has expanded into the (albeit photogenic) demon of drinkware. There are Icon glasses for every season, holiday, milestone, aesthetic, and mood.

My main issue with these beloved and mostly innocuous $16 drinking glasses is less about their design and more about their never-ending trail of replicas. (Although there was that concerning period when folks on TikTok filmed their Icon glasses exploding from thermal shock…scary!) They’re everywhere. What was created to be unique and delightfully tacky has become so boringly mainstream and expected. And I am tired!

The Icon glass has gone the way of the Stanley cup and MacKenzie-Childs teapots: cute for a moment, now over-hyped and uninspired. What’s the fun in having something everyone else has? Especially when there are so many other cool, superior water glasses out there.

We’ve overdone it with Icon glasses, but I’m here to throw you a lifeline: 20 lifelines, to be exact. Now that I’ve settled down from my spooky encounter at Target, I’ve compiled my favorite alternatives to Anthro’s viral cups. Below are beautiful water glasses for every taste and budget that I implore you to buy instead.

Tastefully kitschy

If you love the whole kitschy, slightly twee energy of the Icon glass but don’t want the same one everyone else has, start here. These glasses have plenty of personality with playful prints, unexpected motifs, and fun patterns. Basically, all of the fun with significantly less oh, you have that glass too?