At first blush, the cottagecore trend may seem counterintuitive. Why are urbanized digital natives, people connected 24/7 by technology and social media, romanticizing a time and place without WiFi? What about the hard realities of rural living, let alone rural living a hundred years ago? It's safe to say that many who ascribe to the cottagecore aesthetic have never mucked a horse stall or grown vegetables. It's even more confusing when you see how many women and members of the LGBT community covet the cottagecore lifestyle, when historically 'simpler times' meant oppression for them.
But cottagecore isn't about running away to the 1800s or trading in hard-won equality for antiquated social norms — it's about reconciling the soul to the hollow demands of modern life. If a person can take one step away from the outside world and look toward a more peaceful existence, what does it matter if they're wearing rose-colored glasses to do it
