Cottagecore (also known as Farmcore and Countrycore) is a cultural movement drawing inspiration from the rural lifestyle and the local artisans' skills and crafts, rising fast on social media.
The suffix "core" derives from 1980s hardcore punk music and is used nowadays to delineate a type of genre or category.
Early mentions of Cottagecore term appeared in 2017 on Instagram and Tumbler.
Bucolic scenery (rural, countryside, or country life) that had proliferated these social media platforms over the last five years were christened with a name.
However, Cottagecore reached global recognition in 2019, thanks to influencers promoting the lifestyle on TikTok.
Nowadays, cottagecore is everywhere on social media, from Instagram to Pinterest.
Think rare countryside scenery, nostalgic peasant dresses, rustic handmade crafts, and artisanal creations in fashion and homeware.
You may have even partaken in some Cottagecore activities without even realizing it, by wearing dresses with ruffles and floral prints or by finding refuge in a rural setting, from time to time.
This article is the ultimate guide to the Cottagecore movement, its construct, aesthetics, and fashion.
First, I will explain what Cottagecore is and why it has become so popular right now, in 2021.
Then, I will introduce to you the most popular Cottagecore aesthetics and how to achieve them.
Finally, I will share the trendiest Cottagecore fashion styles and the top fashion brands and shops.
What is Cottagecore?
According to the urban dictionary, Cottagecore (also known as Farmcore and Countrycore) is an aesthetic and fashion style inspired by romanticized interpretations of rural and farm lifestyles.
[caption id="attachment_48361" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Cottagecore Urban Dictionary definition[/caption]
However, Cottagecore is more than just an aesthetic as, beyond styles and dress, Cottagecore taps into other rustic and rural concepts such as the existence of witches or fairies.
Overall, the concept of Cottagecore is centered around ideas of a simple life in harmony with nature.
"As a concept, Cottagecore embodies the idea of a simpler and sustainable lifestyle that is in harmony with nature. Aesthetically, it's a nod to the traditional English countryside style, romantic and nostalgic," says Davina Ogilvie.
The activities and aesthetics that Cottagecore embraces are wide-ranging and complex, covering everything from fashion to gardening, cooking to frolicking, so too are its origins.
[caption id="attachment_48265" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Courtesy: 9gag[/caption]
Cottagecore is, in part, a reaction against the capitalist-consumerist society and an increasing time spent in front of a computer screen, but also related to raising interests in sustainability and wellness.
In the Cottagecore universe, no phones are pinging non-stop with messages and updates, as it attempts to assuage burnout with a passive enjoyment of life's mundane tasks.
[caption id="attachment_48266" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Courtesy: We Heart It[/caption]
There are no urgent work emails or evenings spent responding to the demands of a tyrannical boss.
There is no labor beyond a domestic village life's simple daily task, where workaday tasks are completed with a sense of fulfillment.
Simply put, the concept of Cottagecore reflects the desire to live a quiet and straightforward life, away from technology, big city streets, and other modern types of stress-inducing activities.
[caption id="attachment_48267" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Courtesy: Flickr[/caption]
However, most cottagecore people experience this movement/subculture mainly through images and videos on their computers and smartphones.
This fact reveals another wrinkle in the central purpose of the Cottagecore movement:
"The concept is less about achieving a simple, rural lifestyle and more about longing for it."
It is about the yearning that maybe things would feel different if we went back to our roots or looked a little bit like in our parents' times.
[caption id="attachment_48264" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Courtesy: Sarah Christine[/caption]
Cottagecore becomes less dreamy when you consider the realities of living a life alone in the woods.
"That idyllic image of English countryside is what makes so many people desperate to buy second homes there," explains Quinn, the director of the Chichester fairy tale center.
[caption id="attachment_48262" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Courtesy: Pinterest[/caption]
However, most Cottagecore lovers ignore that rural areas have plenty of problems, such as floods, no internet, no roads, or even electricity.
"Seeing Taylor Swift wearing a chunky Irish knit on the cover of her album made most people dream about living on the remote parts of the island," he adds.
"But, while these rural settings make you want to live there, often, once you get there and the reality of no electricity, no water, no internet kicks in, you want to leave fast."
Cottagecore deals with a complex concept; a place that's real and inescapable for some while desired and unattainable by others.
[caption id="attachment_48263" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Courtesy: Pinterest[/caption]
But that's what's so wonderful about digital subcultures, though.
"Cottagecore is about coziness at home," says Molly Hatch, and she's right.
Nothing stops you live a Cottagecore lifestyle from the comfort of your modern apartment in London or New York.
You can always make a cup of tea with honey, stare at pictures of meadows, castles, and windmills.
You can dress up Cottagecore, tend the plants in your garden, and even mail a handwritten letter to a friend.
Above all, you can do them all, from the comfort of your sofa.
Why Cottagecore Is So Popular Right Now?
Seen through that lens, Cottagecore is just one of the dozens of iterations of movements fetishizing the countryside and coziness over the past few hundred years.
However, it is a movement that exists almost exclusively online via smartphone from cluttered apartments or suburban bedrooms.
[caption id="attachment_48295" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Courtesy: @subrinaheyinkvintage[/caption]
Right now, Cottagecore lifestyle and aesthetic are everywhere.
You see it on Instagram, TikTok, Tumblr and beyond, and even on New York Times - when, at the beginning of this year, they published a great piece about Cottagecore, calling it "a budding aesthetic movement."
[caption id="attachment_48365" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Cottagecore on New York Times[/caption]
So, what made Cottagecore so popular right now, in 2021?