If you wear fragrance, spritz yourself with floral scents. Jasmine, rose, and lavender are popular floral fragrances.
Not big on floral scents? Go deeper into the woods! Pick scents inspired by other natural elements, like mountain streams, cedarwood, musk, or vanilla.
Slow fashion is another big cottagecore value: when you buy secondhand fashion, you will cultivate a more sustainable, eco-friendly wardrobe. [4] X Research source If you’re interested in 50s vintage looks, look for a brand named Modcloth—they make fit and flare dresses that capture a classic 50s silhouette.
Wearing clothing that will last a long time has the added bonus of contributing to your slow fashion wardrobe!
If you’re out for a subtler cottagecore look, you don’t have to go full Brontë: swap out the prairie dress for a chic maxi skirt and loose blouse with a Peter Pan collar.
The more handmade your cottagecore outfit looks, the more it fits the cottagecore aesthetic. So if you’re not a skilled seamstress, don’t fret: it’s the small imperfections that will showcase your outfit as handcrafted! Take a deep dive into self-sufficiency and create your handmade outfits from discarded materials in your home, like tea towels. You can also practice self-sufficiency by repairing worn or holey clothes you already have, instead of tossing them out!
Go simple and elegant with an unadorned peasant dress, or accentuate your cottagecore glam with a maximalist ruffled neckline!
You can sport a conservative Peter Pan collar for a subtler cottagecore look, or go full cottagecore by wearing a shirt with an oversized, frilly collar.
Lace headbands and chokers make excellent accent pieces to any cottagecore outfit. And don’t forget to slip on some elegant lace gloves to complete the transformation into cottagecore champion!
Going for a less overt cottagecore look? Try gingham accessories, like headbands, bandanas, or handbags.
Maybe you don’t want to mimic Dame Maggie Smith’s look in Downton Abbey. You can still achieve a casual, contemporary cottagecore look by pairing a button-down with tiny puff sleeves with a chic pencil skirt.
Follow the cottagecore spirit of self-sufficiency and knit or crochet your own sweater! If you get warm really easily, treat your cardigan as your jacket!
Carrying flowers or gingham textiles in your basket or embroidering your wicker accessories with floral and botanical decals will give your look an extra cottagecore oomph!
Add some floral-printed tights or botanical-patterned fishnet stockings for a look that says “My other horse is a unicorn. "
If you don’t have the time, space, or money to invest in an outdoor garden, you can start a quaint herb garden in your kitchen. For the cottagecore look without the cottagecore labor, decorate your abode with dried flowers and fake plants. Fill your home with the scent of flowers using candles and room sprays.
For the ultimate cottagecore experience, throw a cottagecore potluck: invite your friends to make their own dishes too, and then share the feast in your cottage or at a hilltop picnic.
Or buy local handmade goods—it’s the next-best thing to making them yourself!
Of course, keeping lambs can be expensive and inaccessible. You can satisfy your fluffy baby animal hug quota by volunteering at a farm, or visit a petting zoo. If you can’t keep your own farm animals, adopt a kitten, puppy, or bunny. And be sure to deck your house out in farm animal knickknacks and designs!
Try Florence + the Machine for a more ethereal, dramatic feel, Hozier or Taylor Swift’s “folklore” for cozy indie vibes, Vashti Bunyan for vintage cottage folk, Sufjan Stevens for narrative songwriting and dreamy piano (and a good amount of banjo), or Joanna Newsom for fantastical medieval freak folk (and lots and lots of harp). Enhance your vintage vibes by getting an old-school record player to play your favorite cottagecore music. Or go full cottagecore and learn to play an instrument yourself: try a harp, banjo, piano, or acoustic guitar. Or just float around your cottage practicing your bird calls.
You don’t need to stop with furniture: buy or make baskets to hold all of your flowers or cottagecore books, or just set up baskets around the house for decoration.
Two birds with one stone: grow flowers in your garden and turn them into garlands or potpourri!
Focusing your efforts on bringing the outdoors inside is also a great way to approach cottagecore if you don’t live in a rural environment! Every day is a day at the farm when your tea towels are covered in baby pigs.
Don’t forget to add fairy lights to your garden or yard for magic outdoors, too!
A more feasible (but just as whimsical) option is to use a vintage clawfoot tub as a planter in your garden. Let the tub spill over with crawling vines and flowers—or use it to grow your produce!
