Picture Hansel and Gretel in the woods, think Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit illustrations. Cottagecore is the romanticised version of agricultural living, IRL. The popular internet aesthetic is a visual-heavy concept that incorporates fashion, interiors, makeup, and sometimes activities.
A Cottagecore mood board would certainly include picnics, flower arranging, baking from scratch, and long flowing dresses. Dainty, delicate, feminine.
As seen on TikTok
Cottagecore TikTok videos show basket weaving, blushed cheek makeup tutorials, and frolicking through fields wearing gingham. Upon reflection, the trend could be considered quite ironic. The styles and inspirations come from a place of little technology, stripped-back countryside living – an idyllic escape from 21st-century reality.
On TikTok, Cottagecore is more visual than experiential. Few of us in the current generation can realistically spend our days baking and flower pressing, so the physical Cottagecore experience is limited. However, TikTok’s short video time allows users to capture the perception of living the ideal Cottagecore lifestyle by making a 60-second or even 15-second showreel of their potentially not so ‘aesthetic’ 24 hour day.
Although Cottagecore may seem like a step backward from our progressive, tech-savvy world, there’s no denying that the trend is imperatively cool on TikTok. The hashtag #cottagecore has achieved an immense 5.2 billion views. Even fashion house, Vogue, incorporated Cottagecore style into their trend forecasting, embracing the craze that is sweeping the internet.
At the heart of the Cottagecore TikTok trend is nostalgia. The tech-free, stress-free, sunny aura that Cottagecore provides is attractive to young people who want to escape from reality, especially during a time where their reality is lacking idealism, uplifting trends such as Cottagecore are very welcome.
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