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The Cottagecore Aesthetic in Contemporary Art Landscape

Alexander Allen

Digitalization, AI, and other high-tech innovations are penetrating our lives, opening up new opportunities and offering new challenges. It would seem that trends in art should clearly reflect this impulse into the future and interpret the emerging new world. However, along with phygital or high-tech styles, the opposite trend, looking back to the past, has been spreading in art in recent years. 

This style was called cottagecore, pointing to the main attractor that fuels it — a rural cottage, protected from the storms and unpredictability of modern life. Find out why this style is so popular and how you can use it in your art projects.

Manifestations of Cottagecore in Different Forms of Art

Cottagecore was nurtured by nostalgia for a simple life without automated systems, digital devices, and other technological advances. People lived in harmony with nature and did everything on their own. Cottagecore has become one of the recipes for happiness and wellness, which quickly spread to all areas of art:

  • Music of a pastoral, idyllic nature has spread to concert stages.
  • The interior designer has developed patterns for decor in the spirit of rural life.
  • Fashionistas opened their grandmothers’ chests, and fashion designers released peasant-style collections.
  • Photo shoots against the backdrop of a haystack or an old water mill have taken over social media.

In less than 7 years of its triumphant march, cottagecore has found fans among people of all professions and ages. Weddings in this style are now no less popular than romantic or glamorous ones. And brides happily wear simple dresses in a rustic style, preferring them to luxurious multi-layered dresses.

Reasons for the Popularity of Cottagecore

What attracts the public to cottagecore aesthetics? Why do people happily turn to the past and strive to recreate it in modern times? They invest huge amounts of money to design the interior of their estates in the cottagecore style, change their habits, learn various crafts, etc. There are many reasons for this, but the following should be considered the main ones.

Return to Simplicity of Life

People have prioritized technological innovation for too long. This not only distanced them from nature but also drove them into debt. All high-tech items are expensive, and if you want to keep up with the times, you must overpay for them.

Cottagecore says it’s time to stop chasing progress. If you have worsened your credit ratings as a result of this high-tech fashion, you can take personal installment loans for bad credit at FCLOANS. But you need to spend them not on expensive devices but on something that will bring you back to your roots — renting a small country house, buying natural fabrics, mastering a pottery wheel, or anything else that will give your mind a rest.

Love for Ancestors

For many people, the cottagecore aesthetic is associated with their grandparents and great-grandparents. Even if they didn’t know their distant ancestors, they probably saw them in family photographs. Therefore, cottagecore evokes sentiments towards previous generations, which seem to come to life in modern realities.

Eco Ideology

The spread of cottagecore coincided with the strengthening of social eco-movements. The appeal to maintain an eco-friendly lifestyle has found a wide response in society. The threat of climate change has called into question the spread of many advances in science and technology. Therefore, a return to pastoral harmonious life in contact with nature required its embodiment in art. And cottagecore has become one of these trends, offering its vision of idyll and well-being.

Imitating Celebrity

Many celebrities enthusiastically accepted the new direction in art and began to integrate it into their lives. For some, it was simply a change of scenery in which they could express themselves. Others saw this as their mission, trying to convey the ideals of a simple and harmonious life to the public. And the audience willingly picked up new trends, imitating their idols and looking for ways to use cottagecore in their lives.

The Bottom Line

Will cottagecore stay one of the leading trends in contemporary art? As a niche style that provokes warm feelings and allows viewers to relax their minds, it will certainly be in demand in the future. But it will not be able to strengthen as a central trend, because humanity is focused on the future. And it is associated not with dresses with ruffles and flowers but with spacesuits and temperature-regulating overalls.