Decolonizing Cottagecore: Confronting the Dark Reality of the Dreamy Aesthetic
Cottagecore is a term used to describe an aesthetic or lifestyle. It’s full of flowers, homemade bread, gardening, and floral/hippie/vintage goodness. I have always been on the girlier end of the spectrum when it came to my gender presentation and after falling deep, deep into tiktok, I came across this “look” and I fell in love with it. It’s basically all I ever wanted but had no idea there was a community behind it.
A few months later and I am a fully fledged cottagecore lesbian who makes her own jam, bakes copious amounts of bread, has a growing crystal collection, and tends to her little herb garden. Cottagecore, from my understanding and experience, is a practice of returning to homey comfort, nature, and mindfulness. The aesthetic tends to be full of golden hues, florals, dresses, and fun earrings. Over the last few months it has grown from an aesthetic to a dreamy idea of a pastoral life where one can return to a simpler time without the dogma past decades held. It’s a beautiful dream.
However, that it’s that dream that glosses over the reality that we live in and face. While I understand that for many this is a…
