Pie, flowers, pottery, knitting: why Taylor Swift loves cottagecore and how it’s taking over social media during Covid-19

How do you practise cottagecore? Just log off social media, and embrace nature and childlike wonderment. A lot of people have during the Covid-19 crisis

They go for a walk or bake bread, pick up an old-fashioned hobby like knitting, quilting, journaling or pottery that can ground you – and then post about it

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Cottagecore is a lifestyle aesthetic that’s taken the internet by storm. At its heart is a return to a simpler, rural way of life – or, for some, an idealised longing for such a return. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 5:45pm, 21 Sep 2020Updated: 6:01pm, 21 Sep 2020

It’s a sun-kissed, romantic fantasy come alive, soundtracked to dreamy folk music.

A moss-covered cottage in the woods, jars of honey, an apple pie baking in the oven, outdoor picnics with red gingham blankets, foraging for mushrooms and berries in woodland, scented laundry hanging in the backyard. These pictures of bucolic bliss can transport you away to a fairy-tale land.

This is cottagecore, a lifestyle aesthetic that’s taken the internet by storm, on social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Tumblr.

It’s an interesting paradox, given that cottagecore is about living without technology, going back to the simplicity of a sustainable rural life, leaving the stress in our lives behind, and living off the grid. Celebrities including English footballer David Beckham and American singer Taylor Swift have tried it.

Cottagecore celebrates a return to traditional skills and crafts, such as foraging, baking and pottery. Though the word first cropped up on Tumblr in 2014, it recently began to gain traction on social media platforms, with the advent of the coronavirus pandemic. It is all about looking like you’re in some sort of pastoral painting – even if you live far from a farm, the seaside or countryside.