CFNN Reporter, Faith Harden – Drake
While being stuck inside for these past few months, you probably found yourself taking up new hobbies. Maybe you tried baking a loaf of bread, planted a garden, or maybe tried to take up embroidery to pass some time during this pandemic.
Vox referred to these types of new hobbies as “micro-trends” or “quarantine trends,” and you wouldn’t be alone in taking up these types of hobbies. These hobbies also fall under one huge trend, known as “Cottage Core.”
Cottage Core is an aesthetic trend that focuses on romanticizing cottage life and of western agricultural life. It overlaps with a plethora of other aesthetics and fandoms, including, but not limited to: Goblincore, Grandmacore, Fairycore, and Dark Academia.
Davina Ogilvie, founder of “Wovn Home,”(a start-up company that makes custom and affordable window treatment’s) is quoted saying, “As a concept, it embraces a simpler, sustainable existence that is more harmonious with nature. Aesthetically, it’s a nod to the traditional English countryside style, romantic and nostalgic,” once asked about the Cottage Core aesthetic as a whole.
The Cottage Core style has been around since 2017, but it was more recently popularized with some help from social media apps including Instagram, TikTok, and Tumbler (the number of searches for Cottage Core has increased almost 150% since March 2020). Whether you enter into this community through any of these social media, one thing that becomes obvious is the aesthetics focus on a sense of nostalgia and a dream-like world.
Fashion:
The style of Cottage Core relies heavily on more homemade clothing and pastel colors. Some staples of the Cottage Core style include: flowy dresses and skirts (think 1900’s-1950 housework wear), large layered clothing with big puffy sleeves, button blouses, sundresses, naturally occurring or faded colors, pastel and earthy tones(including but not limited to baby pink, yellow, olive green, and baby blue), patterns (stripes, paisley, faded floral, etc.), embroidered clothing, lace, shortalls, overalls, knitted clothing, hand-crafted accessories, and longer loose-fitting clothing.
Some really great brands for fashion include Faithful the brand, a company focusing on earthed toned colors, that has reminiscent of the 1970s. It was created by Australian Sarah-Jane Abrahams and Norwegian Helle Them-Enger together.
According to Faithfuls about page “They the name ‘Faithfull’ for its warm, feminine appeal. The essence of their label, apparent in each collection, is youthful and uncomplicated in design, with a nostalgic nod to vintage wardrobes of summers past. They fuse Scandinavian simplicity with the Australian laid-back spirit and the island life ambiance they have now have become accustomed to in Bali.”
Another really good Cottage Core-themed business is Linennaive. Although the clothes are more expensive, the material they use is worth the price. They use materials like Italian linen, French linen, and Chinese silky linen. To learn more about the material you can go here.
On the about page of their website they say “ We believe that comfortable and well-considered designs improve our life. My Cloth – My Comfort. Clothes are not about the brand, cut, pattern, or color combination, clothes are about feelings. I always tell that clothes we wear have to have only a positive impact on us and our psychical experience while wearing them is very important.“
Last but not least, Shien. Although this isn’t technically a “cottage-core” based brand. An easy google search on their website on the word “cottage” can bring you to one of the cheapest alternatives to the two websites listed above. Usually, you can find a full Cottage Core themed outfit for less than fifty dollars. By far, this is my personal favorite.
Cape Fear News Network 