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Their waists are enclosed in corsets, they pick potatoes, they compose bouquets of wild flowers, they are dreamers in green meadows. They go to meet deer, owls and foxes on foggy mornings, have picnics on a checkered tablecloth, make their own bread and jam, spin wool on antique wheels and naturally knit. On social networks, especially on TikTok, more and more young women they put themselves in these pastoral situations. They indulge in cottagecore.
Everything you need to know about cottagecore
They first understand a way of questioning themselves about their priorities and reconnecting with the present moment. It advocates a return to the sources and nature, in contrast to the frenzy of modern society.
On her account you will find beautiful pictures of country houses with thatched roofs, running in the fields in big white dresses, reading by the light of a candle or under the leaves of a chestnut tree. Nature enchants and romance sharpens!
If the craze around this phenomenon began to develop in the 2010s, it was only in 2018 that it was officially called cottagecore (a contraction of “chaumière” in French and the suffix “core”, used to describe a certain number of new trends).
On Tumblr, it has led to a radical +153% increase in searches over the past few years. “Cottagecore has seen a resurgence in popularity since the Covid pandemic hit the world in 2020,” the TikToker reports. Additionally, as of 2020, #cottagecore has had more than 16 billion views.
If they are ubiquitous on digital platforms today, it is so that those who want to try to live more simply, or those who seek to connect with other people of the same state of mind, can easily find each other. Directly inspired by the 19th century English aesthetic in the style of Jane Austen, cottagecore, seemingly rustic in its simple lifestyle, is actually reserved for a certain elite who fantasize about these archaic practices.
The royal family of England has strongly influenced the trend. Perhaps it is due to the craze surrounding the TV series The Crown, which depicts Her Majesty from her childhood. At her summer residence in Balmoral, Scotland, until her death in September 2022, she swore off nothing but horse riding and long walks in the Highlands and muddy boots.
Generation Z has become enamored with this anachronistic idea, as if living in the countryside is like a dream. While some like its aesthetic, others find refuge in cottagecore because it is a reflection of the exhaustion of our society, the normalization of stress, the depression, burnout.
That was all it took to trigger this comeback in time. Paradoxically, cottagecore fans use TikTok, the most modern and viral medium of communication, with non-stop visual and audio noise, to celebrate this lifestyle that is supposed to approach authoritarianism.