I received a text from my younger sister Emma at 7: 23 AM: “Madison are you more cottagecore or dark academia?” Before receiving that message, I had literally zero idea what she was asking. Don’t get me wrong, I knew what each individual word meant. Cottage?
Check. Core? Yup.
Dark and academia? Of course.
Together?
My mind was still registering that my alarm went off five minutes ago and I needed to brew some coffee ASAP. “I’m barely awake- core rn,” I responded. TBH I was feeling pretty clever for a caffeine-deprived human. Emma replied with three crying emojis followed by obliterating my phone with TikTok links.
As I scrolled through video after video of girls dressed like they robbed several different decades/style blogs all at once, I realized I had been living under a rock. Even with literally working in graphic design and scrolling through Instagram daily, I had somehow missed a large cultural phenomenon. Let me give you a little backstory if, like me, you weren’t hip to the “core” trend.
In 2014, a new fashion trend arose by the name of normcore. Essentially, it was dressing like you forgot to wear pants ironic, think Seinfeld but on purpose. Then came cottagecore during the height of the pandemic.
Hours spent doomscrolling had us all daydreaming about running away to the cottage in the woods to bake sourdough bread and adopt baby animals. Maybe get murdered for trespassing? Either way, from there the aesthetic rabbit hole went downhill.
Fast forward to 2024, TikTok has generated way too many aesthetics to count. Literally everything is now it’s own “core” You want weird? There’s weirdcore.
Like literal bright green and yellow clashing clothes? Goblincore. More toned down?
Maybe light academia vs. dark academia. What makes things even more insane is that TikTok feeds aren’t giving everyone the same content. Each of our cores are individually tailored by the algorithm.
What Emma was being fed during my hours of consumption? Fashion posts for “coquette.” After I spent my mornings, lunch breaks, and some questionable late-night shopping (thankfully I abandoned my cart) googling, I have finally put together a (mostly) comprehensive guide to understanding your fellow millennial’s odd fashion descriptions. Barbiecore – yup you guessed it, as Barbara Mitchell.
Literally every piece of clothing is hot pink and you cannot blink or people will know your secrets. Fun fact: I remember wearing pink in middle school and getting made fun of for being “basic” and “anti-feminist” ironic, grown women are spending hundreds on Valentino dresses because Barbie came out with a movie this year. Balletcore – Ballet flats have taken over the world ( RIP feet if you actually wear them outside of your room ) and pale pink wrap sweaters are everything.
Fun fact: I tried this core for about 24 hours and my coworker asked me if I was teaching Pilates after work. Coastal grandmother – What if you stole your grandmother’s wardrobe and she lived by the beach? Flowy linen clothes, neutral cashmere sweater, straw hats, and baby you’re baking bread now.
Fun fact: I accidentally mastered this core for a client meeting and received more compliments than I’ve gotten in the last year. Dark academia – Aesthetic centered around literal wanting to attend a university while also lived in the 1700s. Tweed clothing, argyle prints, Oxford shirts, pleated skirts, loafers, and the vibe that your backpack is full of old books rather than a laptop and three chapsticks.
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Light academia is the same concept but less villain. Cottagecore – Someone please explain to me why this aesthetic refuses to die. Flowy floral skirts, puff sleeves, pioneer women dresses, and who doesn’t want to own baby goats?
Sidenote – these aesthetics come and go faster than I can keep up. By the time I understood goblincore, TikTok decided we no longer liked it and moved on to coastal cowgirl (what is that even). It’s like keeping up with fashion week but on steroids.
What I’ve also realized after my week-long obsession with reading about all cores is that they’re more than just a way to outfit describe yourself. They became lifestyles. Someone who dresses in dark academia probably wants to spend their day in Gothic universities drinking old tea out of brittle teacups.
Same thing goes for cottagecore and rocking linen boyfriend shirts. Blend aesthetics together that fit your lifestyle. If you, like me, have attempted to wrap your head around this core world and actually apply it to your daily life beyond Tumblr asks, I’ve gathered some helpful tips.
Stay realistic- I work at an ad agency in Portland, ore. I don’t exactly work at an all-girls school in New England or own a beach house. I cannot fully embrace dark academia without people questioning my sanity.
But I can ease pieces into my wardrobe that pay homage to my favorite aesthetics. Dip your toe in- Rather than jumping into Barbiecore full force by wearing bright pink from head to toe, buy one amazing pink blazer you can tie your normal all-black wardrobe. It gives you a pop of color and fun without screaming TikTok personality quiz took me.
Focus on accessories- Want to dip your toes into certain cores? Add on accessories that pay homage to the aesthetics! A cute plaid scarf for dark academia, pearl earrings for coastal grandmother, or hair ribbon for balletcore.
Dig through your closet- Chances are you probably own items that could fall into certain aesthetics. That linen shirt you only wear on vacation? Cottagecore.
That oversized sweater you got from your grandma? Coastal grandmother goals. Please please please don’t support fast fashion – I know it’s tempting to want to jump on every trend you like but those clothes will fall apart quicker than they come in.
Buy from thrift stores instead or see if anyone in your friends have items you could borrow or buy. My friends and I have recently took up doing clothing swaps as our style changes and it’s helped with our budgets as well as the environment. Don’t take any of this too seriously- I think that’s my biggest piece of advice.
These “cores” are supposed to inspire you and help you find your style, not limit you.
If you like elements of certain styles that lean more into another core drop them! Aesthetic mean nothing if they don’t apply to your everyday life.
When I finally sent Emma back my analysis that I was most definitely “coastal grandmother with hints of dark academia and cottagecore for the weekend”, she replied with satisfaction that “totally makes sense for you.” She followed up with a mirror picture of herself where she had blended balletcore, y2k, and I think anime? Maybe? Idk about your childhood but mine was very outdoorsy. “Trying something new today,” was her caption.
And that’s the beauty of this newfound core culture. Not only can you really pinpoint what style fits you best, you can find others with similar styles to yours. Instead of saying someone is preppy vs bohemian, you could now say dark academia with cottagecore aspects and a sprinkle of coastal grandmother on the weekends.
As someone who loves to scroll through TikTok for hours on end, I love seeing these aesthetics grow and branch into others. But as someone who is still struggling to pay off college debt, I love that a lot of these styles can be found at your local thrift store or with clothes swaps. You can pick and choose your cores like your favorite ice cream shop- there’s something for everyone.
