Cottagecore

TW: This page includes documentation of politics and political controversy, and includes mentions of fascism and white supremacy.

Cottagecore
“Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty." -Albert Einstein
Other names	Farmcore, Countrycore, Teacore
Decade of origin	2010s
Key motifs	Cottages, farm animals, wildflowers, pies, crops, gingham
Key colours	Green, Brown, Yellow, Cream/Off-White
Key values	Rejection of modernity (both camps) Agrarianism (both camps) Femininity (both camps) Serenity (both camps) Anti-capitalism (progressive camp) Queerness (progressive camp) Tradition (reactionary/tradwife camp) European heritage (reactionary/tradwife camp)
Related aesthetics	Art Hoe Bloomcore Butterfly Cabincore Cottagegore Crowcore Earthcore Ethereal Fairy Academia Fairycore Forestpunk Grandparentcore Earthcore Honeycore Mori Kei Naturecore Natural Philosophy Nautical Plant Mom Prairiecore Ravencore Shabby Chic Vintage Warmcore Witchcore Dark Fairycore Hellenic Villagecore
Related media	The Moominvalley franchise Kiki's Delivery Service My Neighbor Totoro Winnie the Pooh Beatrix Potter Lord of the Rings Anne With an E Maleficent

Cottagecore, also known as farmcore and countrycore, is inspired by a romanticized interpretation of western agricultural life. It is centered on ideas of simple living and harmony with nature. Themes associated with cottagecore include self-sufficiency, baking, and caring for people. While the aesthetic is prevalent on several social media sites, such as on Instagram and more recently TikTok, the community notably prospers on Tumblr. It is particularly popular within lesbian and woman-loving-woman (WLW) communities.

Despite a number of its followers taking a progressive and subversive outlook on life, Cottagecore has been also criticized for its romanticism of eurocentric farming life. It has also been criticized in the context of North American and Australian settings, an inadvertent celebration of the aesthetics of colonialism, as well as the ways it often simplifies and underestimates the labor of farmers. It is due to these connotations that the use of Cottagecore aesthetics has been adopted by the TradWives community and members of the far-right as forms of propaganda. This has led to media criticism despite their opposition to LGBTQ+ and anti-capitalist adherents of Cottagecore.

Cottagecore is often compared to aesthetics such as Grandparentcore, which seek to evoke a similar sense of nostalgia. It is also related to Naturecore and Warmcore.

History

This section is under construction

Cottagecore is a continuation of ideas that have existed for millenia and uses visuals that are based in the aesthetic of the European countrysides. The evolution of these ideas into contemporary Cottagecore, an aesthetic borne out of the internet and among teenagers to young adults, is the primary history of this section, but also describes the history of Cottagecore's precursors as well.

Visuals

Cottagecore visuals include:

• Fairies
• Pressed flowers
• Crowns
• Gardens of any kind (herb, vegetable, fruit, flower)
• Farm, forest, and domesticated animals
• Handwritten letters
• Vintage crockery, most notably tea sets
• Cottages and farmhouses
• Cross stitch and embroidery
• Baking simple/rustic recipes such as bread, muffins, pies, etc
• Mostly mushrooms on furniture and glass dishes
• Open fields, flower farms, sunlight through any species of plant or forest
• Reading outdoors
• Poetry

Fashion

Many cottagecore outfits are impractical for the farming and gardening work that the aesthetic revolves around.

Cottagecore fashion commonly involves:

• Longer, loose-fitting, flowy dresses and skirts often (but not always) reminiscent of housework wear from the 1900s-50s.
• Large layered clothing (as stated above) big pockets, puffy sleeves, and button blouses
• Naturally occurring or faded colours including brown, baby pink, olive green, ivory, maroon, beige, ochre, dusty rose pink, light yellow, and baby blue.
• Patterns such as stripes, paisley, faded floral, and gingham.
• Embroidered plants, animals, and insects.
• Hand-crafted accessories such as simple jewelry and knitted hats, socks, and outerwear.
• Shortalls/overalls
• Lace.
• Longer, loose-fitting clothing
• (can also be seen wearing two braids or loose waves)

Vendors

• Adored Vintage
• Amantine
• BEDRA VINTAGE
• Breath of Youth
• Christy Dawn
• Cottagecore Aesthetic (Contains elements of Mori Fashion and Light Academia.)
• DÔEN
• Faithful The Brand
• Forest Girl Clothing - Cottagecore
• Frills and Farms
• Linennaive
• Moonflower
• Orezoria
• Roam Vintage
• Subrina Heyink Vintage
• The Cottagecore

Media

Movies

By year relesed

• Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (1937)
• Alice in Wonderland (1951)
• Sleeping Beauty (1959)
• The Sound of Music (1965)
• The Tales of Beatrix Potter (1971)
• Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
• Anne of Green Gables (1985)
• A Room with a View (1985)
• My Neighbour Totoro (1988)
• Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
• Only Yesterday (1991)
• My Girl (1991)
• Howard's End (1992)
• Sense and Sensibility (1995)
• Life is Beautiful (1997)
• FairyTale: A True Story (1997)
• The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns (1999)
• Tuck Everlasting (2002)
• Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
• The Holiday (2005)
• Atonement (2007)
• The Secret of Moonacre (2008)
• Tinker Bell (2008)
• Barbie and the Diamond Castle (2008)
• Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure (2009)
• Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
• The Velveteen Rabbit (2009)
• The Fighter (2010)
• The Secret World of Arietty (2010)
• Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue (2010)
• Tangled (2010)
• Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
• Secret of the Wings (2012)
• The Pirate Fairy (2014)
• Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast (2014)
• The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales (2017)
• Call Me By Your Name (2017)
• Paddington 2 (2017)
• Liz and the Blue Bird (2018)
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society (2018)
• Midsommar (2019)

• "Burrow" by Pixar (2020)

TV Shows

• Winnie the Pooh (1924-present day)
• The Golden Girls (1985-1992)
• Little House on The Prairie (1974-1983)
• The Moomins (1990)
• The Animals of Farthing Wood (1993-1995)
• Angelina Ballerina (2002-2006)
• When Calls the Heart (2014-present day)
• Anne with an E (2017-2019)
• Good Omens (2019)

Literature

• The books of Beatrix Potter
• Heidi by Johanna Spyri
• Pettson and Findus by Sven Nordqvist
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• The poetry of Ralph Waldo Emerson
• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• "1.1" by Tibellus
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton

YouTube Channels

• The Green Witch
• Darling Desi
• TheCottageFairy
• 李子柒 Liziqi
• nekoniwa

Politics

While the cottagecore aesthetic is not necessarily an organized political movement with stated goals or leaders, much of the conversation around cottagecore is political, especially given the aesthetic has become infamous for its association with two directly opposed political groups with radically different outlooks on life despite the shared frustration with modernity.

While the opposition to modern life is shared among Cottagecore adherents across the political spectrum, what is specifically being opposed tends to vary. For more progressive-leaning followers of the aesthetic, it is particularly capitalism as well as heteronormativity. While many people involved in cottagecore identify with an ideology that more concretely advocates for the restructuring of society, they may also express a dislike of capitalism in a more casual tone through or alongside cottagecore.

Many progressive-leaning members of the cottagecore community reject heteronormative gender roles and seek to remove the stigma and stereotypes of traditional life from the aesthetics and culture of times past. Cottagecore enjoys niche popularity within the LGBTQ+ community, particularly among lesbian and bisexual women, for this reason. Many express dissatisfaction with the roles and expectations placed on them in a heteronormative society. Some have suggested that cottagecore presents an ideal world in which young people are able to express their personality freely in a rural space, contrasting the homophobia or transphobia faced by young people in rural areas.

On the other side of the political spectrum, another more controversial large community subscribing to the aesthetic is the Tradwife movement, found largely on Instagram and Facebook's "Politigram" community. Contrasting the progressive Cottagecore community, the rightist adherents to the aesthetic proclaim their opposition to modernity is based on a loss of conservative values in the 21st Century and fondness for a pre- rather than a post-capitalist economic system. Tradwives specifically are described as women who "embrace 'submissive' heteronormative lifestyles involving homemaking and child-rearing and reject feminism" according to Wikipedia. Members of the tradwife movement often utilize cottagecore imagery, fashion, memes, and aesthetics to promote. They may also romanticize the revitalization of traditional heteronormative gender roles for women, a popular aspect of far-right ideology. Even further niche is the utilization of cottagecore imagery and inspired memes by Eco-fascist and Eco-nationalist circles who openly and intentionally uphold western colonialist and eurocentric views as an ideal as opposed to accidentally as was the criticism for Progressive Cottagecore followers. However, those within the Tradwife movement often do not associate openly with the cottagecore community and the two sides oppose each other.

"Patriarchy! The proven way to raise High-Quality Children! "- ‘Tradewife’ Facebook page.

Music

Artists

• Andrew Bird
• Bon Iver
• Cavetown
• Chloe Moriondo
• Conan Gray
• Cosmo Sheldrake
• Dodie
• Dr. Dog
• Taylor Swift
• The Beatles
• Fleet Foxes
• Florence and the Machine
• Fleetwood Mac
• Fox Academy
• Enya
• Foxpaw
• Gregory Alan Isakov
• Gregory and the Hawk
• Hozier
• In Love With A Ghost
• Iron & Wine
• John Denver
• Liana Flores
• Lord Huron
• Mt. Joy
• The Oh Hellos
• Vashti Bunyan
• Tally Hall
• The Crane Wives
• Sufjan Stevens
• Virginia Astley
• Vashti Bunyan
• Simon & Garfunkel

Songs

• Moments in Love by Art of Noise
• Return to Innocence by Enigma
• Dreams by The Cranberries
• Choking on Flowers by Fox Academy
• Strawberry Blond by Mitski
• Strawberry Fields Forever by the Beatles
• Yellow by Coldplay
• Dear Fellow Traveller by Sea Wolf
• lavender blood by Fox Academy
• Oats We Sow by Gregory and the Hawk
• Feels Like Home by Caamp
• I Love A Rainy Night by Eddie Rabbit
• Scarborough Fair
• Greensleeves
• Salut d'Amour by Edward Elgar
• La Mer by Django Reinhardt
• The Crane Wife by The Decemberists
• We Fell in Love in October by Girl In Red
• Lemon Boy by Cavetown
• The Record Player Song by Daisy the Great
• Ophelia by The Lumineers
• La Mer by Charles Trenet
• Douce France by Charles Trenet
• Schön Rosmarin by Kreisler
• Hungarian Dance No.7 by Brahms
• Navarra by Sarasate
• Cappricio Op.18: Allegro moderato by Chaminade
• Etude No.9 "Butterfly Wings" by Chopin
• Humoresque No.7 by Dvorak
• Lieder ohne Worte No.6 by Mendelssohn
• The lark ascending by Vaughan Williams
• Le tombeau deCouperin by Ravel
• Arabesque No.1 by Debussy
• Flute Sonata by Poulenc
• Prelude to the afternoon of a faun by Debussy
• Miroirs III. Une barque sur l'océan by Ravel
• Polovetsian Dances from Prince Igor: Introduzione by Borodin
• Polovetsian Dances from Prince Igor: Moderato alla breve by Borodin
• The Enchanted Lake Op.62 by Lyadov

Spotify

Official Aesthetics Wiki playlist

The Aesthetics Wiki staff creates official Spotify playlists for aesthetics, which compile the songs most frequently featured on existing playlists dedicated to those aesthetics. This is the official Aesthetics Wiki Spotify playlist for cottagecore: Cottagecore

Other playlists

• ⚡AESTHETIC: cottagecore by Chaotic Good
• 🧺cottagecore choruses🧺 by Moonflower
• cottagecore lofi for studying and reading (tea party with faeries but instead of tea it's peach soju) by jessie
• Cottagecore/green aesthetic playlist by miraya ☁️
• cottage + a fairy gf 🍄🌼 Spotify playlist by Idk Anymore UwU
• cottagecore 🍯🌼 by claire
• demeter's fave gardener by elicia
• 🍄Cottagecore🍄 Spotify playlist by fresaemoji
• Cottagecore TikTok Songs Spotify playlist by Carolina Batista
• cottagecore lesbians wake up to sunlight and butterfly kisses Spotify playlist by elsie
• Cottagecore Feels🍃 Spotify playlist by Kenneyo
• cottagecore lofi. Spotify playlist by rysalin
• cottagecore 🧺 Spotify playlist by ela.
• picnic Spotify playlist by lauren
• Cottagecore (classical) Spotify playlist by matcha
• im closing my eyes and drifting away from this world by Rosie
• 🏳️‍🌈Rainbow Cottage🏳️‍🌈 by fairy_cult
• Cottagecore Spotify playlist by pinksandposies
• cottagecore Spotify playlist by gloriaaaa
• https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1wSlK8IfNj8KfLbLD8qJdh?si=884c106ed64f4cfa
• cottagecore by hi

Activities

• Picking flowers
• Sewing, knitting, crocheting, embroidery
• Gardening
• Writing a handwritten letter to family (or your lover)
• Writing poems
• Picking fruit from your garden
• Weaving flower crowns
• Picnics
• Baking
• Painting and drawing
• Building a birdhouse
• Reading
• Swimming
• Walking in the woods
• Making fruit preserves
• Catching bugs

Subgenres

Bloomcore

Main page: Bloomcore Bloomcore is an aesthetic that is similar to Cottagecore in many ways, but has more of a centralized focus on flowers and gardening in a small, quaint village.

Cottagegore

Main page: Cottagegore Cottagegore is a darker take on the Cottagecore aesthetic with more of a focus on the more negative aspects of cottage and natural life that Cottagecore often tries to veer away from.

Honeycore

Main page: Honeycore Honeycore is an aesthetic based around the rural production and consumption of goods such as honey, bread, and waffles. It is similar to Cottagecore in that agricultural imagery and values are emphasized, but the visuals are streamlined to create a color palette of mostly pale yellows and browns. In many of the pictures that can be classified into the Honeycore aesthetic, bees, honey, or flowers can be seen and there is a big emphasis on agriculture and conservation of bees.

Vaporcottage

Vaporcottage is largely a joke aesthetic originating from the Aesthetics Wiki Discord, mainly done as a thought experiment to see if one could take the grounded, earnest, and realistic escapism of Cottagecore could be mixed with the surrealist, sarcastic, and incredibly dystopian nightmare that is Vaporwave in an attempt to prove that any aesthetics can be blended. It was described as "what you'd see after ingesting mushroom soup laced with xanax; you start seeing a bunch of weird shit while away for a weekend in the cottage to get away from the big city and its rampant hyperconsumerism. The radio that won't stop playing advertisements and the billboard in the farm fields haunt you as the light from the ad shines through your lace curtains, and while crickets chirp and a stream trickles softly, you can't sleep because the giant Burger King ad illuminates your quiet cottage in the countryside and the gentle flicker of the lights of the fireflies triggers a sense of dread that the Christmas season is about to begin. You look at the warm, cozy fireplace and wonder how you'll decorate your Christmas tree this year, what will you buy for your friends?" If one can figure out how this aesthetic could work in a realistic capacity, please let us know and share your results with the world.

Southwest Cottagecore

Southwest Cottagecore moves away from the forest-inspired, green color palette of cottagecore. The willows and vines are switched out with succulents. The main aspects are quite identical, just adapted to more southern/western life. Instead of a stone cottage, you may prefer an adobe house framed by yuccas. The fashion becomes more suited for warm weather and is generally paired with warm colors and the occasional nautical, whimsical look, characterized by run-down shacks on the coast and beach grass. Lizards, rabbits, snakes, and hawks are characteristic of the aesthetic.

Resources

Pinterest Boards

• aesthetics: cottagecore 101 by Moonflower
• Aesthetic ♦︎ Cottagecore ♦︎ by Silverz
• cottagecore by mouse
• Cottagecore Aesthetic by finddyouraesthetics
• Cottagecore ✨ by 💞✨

Gallery

cottage house

A vintage tea set.

flowery-

The tag often includes images like this one. Outfits inspired by the show Moomins.

An outfit inspired by Moomins.

A Snorkmaiden inspired look.

Small white flowers.

Source: Melanin Cottage on Tumblr

An example of Renaissance esc cottagecore fashion/photography

fr0g🍥

Coco from Animal Crossing