You know cottagecore? Porcelain with flowers, tea in the garden, wide-sleeved dresses, straw hats, a few cockers and homemade cakes? This is an aesthetic that has become popular in social networks especially recently (the hashtag has 10.2 billion views on TikTok), but also a lifestyle, a mood. You live in the countryside, you reconnect with nature always in style and in a retro and romantic way. However, there is a problem: Cottagecore is extremely white and as many online creators point out, it has a diversity problem.

The fact is thatCottagecore aesthetic (which has little to do with real rural life and much to do with an idyllic and trendy utopia in nature) is based on a Eurocentric and it draws inspiration from past eras when colonialism was very strong. For blacks, the relationship with the land has been marked by exploitation and often has little to do with a simple but comfortable life aimed at restoring tranquility. “Some historical elements that are often attributed to this aesthetic, such as textiles, furniture or buildings, were forged with black and brown hands during colonial times,” he explains. slice designer Archer-Koite. This will require more attention to the inclusion of racial issues in the analysis and construction of these types of aesthetics.

Added to the historical element is the fact that the #cottagecore photos we find on the internet almost always show white and rich people. and there is little room for black or Asian creators in such an aesthetic. However, there are those who are trying to reverse this trend. Stylist and writer Paula Sutton, queen of Cottagecore on Instagram, points out that the fact that black people have taken care of the land by growing their own food and living in nature since time immemorial is a good reason to reclaim ownership of this land. a dreamy and effortless style (which unsurprisingly caught on after the pandemic). “These are the core themes of the Cottagecore aesthetic,” he explains, “and personally, I don’t see anything unusual about black people who continue to own and appreciate them.” However, there are still those who see something unsavory about a black man owning a Georgian estate in England and post photos having a lawn picnic, so much so that Sutton is discriminated against. As he points out slicethere seems to be a certain racism in the approach to this aesthetic. “From the point of view of my younger black followers,” the stylist continues, “they are perhaps an example of a lifestyle that is not often put into perspective. “But,” he adds, “we deserve the right to be part of any space.”