Imagine a world full of sewing, baking, and daydreaming, where the chickens getting out is your biggest problem.
Flowery dresses, picnics, chickens? What’s happening?
If you’ve been active on social media this year, scrolling through Instagram or binging Tiktoks, you’ve probably seen the many subset “cultures” the internet has created. The allure of making cute, aesthetically pleasing videos has led people to take their hobbies, interests, and fashion styles to the next level.
Perhaps you’ve seen people wearing light, flower-patterned summer dresses, making bread from scratch, and feeding chickens in their own backyard. The first video or two are cute, somewhat interesting, but after seeing a plethora of these prairie-style picnic posts, you start to wonder what’s going on? Welcome to the Cottagecore aesthetic.
Cottagecore is a lifestyle and aesthetic, mainly popularized on the video platform Tiktok, that focuses on classic prairie living, caring for farm animals such as chickens and cows, making food and clothes from scratch, and -of course- cute little cottages.
Where it all started
Cottagecore can originally be traced back to 2014-era Tumblr, where users would share photos of frogs on mushrooms, aprons and dresses decorated with strawberry patterns, and other aesthetic posts. Cottagecore has recently experienced a rebirth on Tiktok in 2020, largely in part due to the widespread Covid-19 quarantines, that lead suddenly lonely people to find community on the app.
This newfound love of farm-like living hasn’t been exclusive to Tiktok, or social media apps in general. A simple search of “Cottagecore” on the DIY website Etsy yields hundreds of crafted products, ranging from clothing to Knick-knacks to garden decorations, and basically anything else that could have a mushroom or frog on it. The rolling pins that imprint whimsical patterns on cookie dough are especially cute.
One of the first DIY Cottagecore trends to take off on Tiktok was the popular “strawberry dress,” the original by Lirka Motoshi running at almost $500. A plethora of creators made their own versions of the dress, adding more inclusive sizes and sometimes swapping out the strawberry pattern for their own favorite fruit. Their sewing adventures were often set to “Strawberry Blonde” by Mitski.
Who can do Cottagecore?
Although anyone can take part in Cottagecore, there’s clearly a tip of the scale when it comes to women, and queer women specfically, in the community. Cottagecore became a haven for bisexual and lesbian women, living out a fantasy of a life without the influence of men. Cottagecore allows for the idealization of staying home on the farm cooking, cleaning, and creating, without the patriarchal mirror of that long-gone ideal. Women, through Cottagecore, are able to fantasize about a more idealistic life, without sacrificing their autonomy.
Those seeking relief from worsening mental health, made no better from Covid-19 isolation and fear, also find joy in the Cottagecore aesthetic. It’s a form of escapism from the frightening and uncertain times we are currently in. Ari Lightman, a media and marketing professor at Carnegie Mellon University says the past holds more certainty. “Rather than looking ahead to a dystopian future full of uncertainty, society looks back to the past when things were less complex with less uncertainty,” he stated for Huffington Post.
Tumblr (and regular) discourse
Of course, as will all internet trends, Cottagecore does not exist without controversy. Some accuse the trend of over-glamourizing farm life, or even encouraging domestication and feminine subservience to men (ironic considering the large queer, specifically lesbian, following Cottagecore has). Tumblr user SolarPunkCast, points out how Cottagecore trends ignore the colonization of America, and idealizes a time when people of color were majorly oppressed. Another user, Plantyhamchuk, reblogs to point out all the good that Cottagecore does, such as allowing women to explore their femininity, escape our current world, and improve their mental health. The argument continues from there, with several reblogs and links to sources.
Despite the second user making good points about the positivity of the aesthetic, the first user’s mention of colonisation and ignorance of a racist past are unfortunately still relevant today. When scrolling through whimsical Cottagecore videos on Tiktok, or posts on Instagram, you’ll start to notice that almost every user is white, skinny, and overall conventionally attractive. As with most popular trends, Eurocentric white beauty takes over as the standard, and other groups are left in the shadows.
In an attempt to create a more diverse, and accepting platform for Cottagecore creators, min-trends have started to boost videos of people of color, those with disabilities, and other groups to the front of the Cottagecore trend. As posts like the one below, by Twitter user @cinephany, trend the aesthetic becomes more diverse and accepting. As for the community, there aren’t any popular posts or movements to keep the Cottagecore trend the way it is — overwhelmingly white.
Will you become Cottagecore?
In the end, Cottagecore is a lovely escapist fantasy that some people dream about,and others attempt to achieve in their daily lives. If you’re interested in trying the Cottagecore aesthetic, a great place to start is adding some floral outfits to your wardrobe, learning to bake bread from scratch, or buying honey from your local bee farmer. Of course, if you want to follow this aesthetic lifestyle even more, you could always buy your own chickens and goats.
