I’m finally getting around to a thread thinking through cottagecore and William Morris! (This won’t be a BUCKLE UP type of thread because I’m by no means an expert on either, use lots of conjecture to pad the connections out and am open to suggestions and criticism)

First of all: what is cottagecore? Cottagecore is a lifestyle aesthetic that has grown in popularity this year, especially since lockdown has started. It promotes craft, baking, gardening, handiwork like sewing and knitting and a general gentle way of life.

See: this tiktok by @/hellowhatareyou7

this tiktok by @/jesca.her

and this thread on wildflowers by @/gar_rat

Who is William Morris? Even if you don’t know who Morris is, you’ll most likely be aware of his designs like The Strawberry Thief. Morris was a committed nineteenth-century socialist, designer, public speaker and writer.

Morris *hated* the changes that the Industrial Revolution brought to Britain: the factories in cities, cottage industries and handiwork declining, industrial capitalism and the country leading in the World Market through colonialism.

Morris believed that a rejection of the modern cityscape and the capitalist system that created it would be fundamental in improving the human condition. He was particularly interested in returning to pre-industrial, medieval modes of work (without feudalism)

Some excerpts from a lecture given to the Hampstead Liberal Club in 1884 and then published as an essay, Useful Work vs Useless Toil:

"The ‘manufacturer’ aims primarily at producing, by means of the labour that he has stolen from others, not goods but profits, that is, the ‘wealth’ that is produced over and above the livelihood of his workmen."

"All our crowded towns and bewildering factories are simply the outcome of the profit system. Capitalistic manufacture, capitalistic landowning, and capitalistic exchange force men into big cities in order to manipulate them in the interests of capital."

Finally: "There is no reason why they should not follow their occupations in quiet country homes, in industrial colleges, in small towns, or, in short, where they find it happiest for them to live."

Morris published a novel (originally in serialised form in his journal Commonweal); News From Nowhere was his vision of a Utopian Britain after a violent revolution, abolishing prisons, money, standardised education and industrial modes of work.

(Btw I know I’m not even touching the surface of Morris’ career here -- I won’t be mentioning the Arts & Crafts Movement for example -- there’s too much of it to include and not all of it is relevant to this subject area)

If you know even a little bit about cottagecore then, hopefully, by now, you should be able to see where I’m going with this. Aesthetically, cottagecore fits in well with Morris’ designs because of its focus on the pastoral. Eg:

Morris wanted to see a return to pre-industrial methods of labour, beat explored in his vision of a future society in NFN, in which everybody mostly works by hand (and enjoys it). Cottagecore also has a focus on labour, eg cookery, gardening and making

These similarities are p basic, I know, but they’re undeniable. What I really want to get into is the implications of politics and labour in these videos and images, and how this both fits in with and opposes Morris’ more concrete socialism.

First of all: who does cottagecore appeal to? Queer women have really come into their own with this one, with “cottagecore lesbian” being an entire separate hashtag on social media. Rowan Ellis goes into this in her video essay, here:

Ellis has a few ideas around why queer women have so strongly idenftied with this aesthetic. Personally, I think it’s because cottagecore rejects the kind of masculinity that thrives under capitalism.

Academic John Tosh argues that our conception of the ‘modern man’ was created and developed under 19c industrial capitalism; the concept of being ‘self-made’, entirely reliant on the exploitation of others, was encouraged within the factory system

Anyone not interested in this kind of superiority complex has the room to live without it in cottagecore type activities that are more about rejecting marketplace competition and using resources typically found in more rural areas, like wildlife

As with anything, it’s not just one “type” or “category” of person that it appeals to -- as we’ve already seen, men participate in creating content with the hashtag of cottagecore attributed to it, as well as heterosexual women, non-binary people etc etc

As Ellis also points out in her video essay, the potential whitewashing of the aesthetic is being resisted by non-white content creators also, especially by young Black women ( @suban1998 blessed us with this image, for example)

I point this out especially because another movement has also been attributed to it -- the alt-right, especially the “trad wife” figure.

Trad (short for traditional) wives have existed as a self-aware category for years, and they promote a kind of Trumpian, far right heteronormativity that centres around upkeeping “white family” values.

Try as they might to say that they have been doing cottagecore for years, I think that the cottagecore lesbians and Black cottagecore people are slightly louder in their existence and quite frankly, much, much better at it :-)

It appeals to people who are clearly resisting *something*. Basically -- neoliberalism that thrives in the busy and overcrowded cityscape that constantly outprices the people it exploits.

The absolute opposite to that is, in simple terms, a cottage in a rural setting in which its inhabitants create things outside of the marketplace...and so we go full circle to Morris’ hatred of his contemporary cityscape

There is a direct line running between Morris and cottagecore -- one that started way before Morris and will continue on into the future. But what is interesting in comparing these two things side by side is that their shortfalls are also similar.

Firstly, cottagecore is supposed to be an aesthetic that values handiwork, rurality and a life outside of neoliberalism. Although the boundaries are not fixed, it is recognisable for very particular traits

In the *execution* of activities, like gardening, knitting or cooking, a person can live out these values if they do it for themselves or for another person, with no expectations of payment -- it is as outside of the marketplace (as much as anything can be under capitalism)

What a lot of “accidental” cottagecore content makers have in common is that they have previously done such activities within these parameters and then found themselves as part of an aesthetic when they upload content

However, as with any kind of aesthetic, you then have people emulating these activities (and recording themselves doing it) to intentionally be part of a mainly online community -- it is more much about the look rather than the philosophy

As cottagecore values authenticity, this seems like a contradiction -- to do something to fit in with the ethos of a lifestyle trend and then upload content about it, usually in a very stylised way, is a blueprint for many aesthetics that don’t have the same values

However, I’m aware that is a generalisation and that a lot of people take up new hobbies (or showcase ones that they’ve developed) that they genuinely enjoy and present under cottagecore hashtags

This is similar to how Morris, through his company Morris&Co, sold very expensive handmade furniture and wallpaper. He was constantly frustrated with how his socialism was not in line with the demographic of his artistic output

(The chapter in Michael Robertson’s The Last Utopians on Morris has some great anecdotes about his resentment towards the people who bought his furniture.This is also generally just a very good book and I recommend it)

As part of this frustration, he write News From Nowhere, in which Britain has gone through a violent revolution to establish communism and its society has no marketplace but everybody enjoys creating lovely but practical stuff

These things have a mix of influences; the fourteenth century and Classical modes of dress are mentioned. Like cottagecore, it lives outside of a recognisable time period because of this mishmash

Morris believed in ethical labour and *also* having beautiful things that reflected the natural world, as cottagecore does.

He knew that this was not a conceivable ideal to aim for under industrial capitalism, *just as* an organic cottagecore lifestyle is not conceivable under neoliberalism

Where I think the two differ, is that Morris saw his aesthetics as an extension of his philosophy and beliefs which were firmly rooted in socialism. Cottagecore is not so firmly rooted and has the potential to be co-opted by a number of less authentic/ right-wing intentions

However, that is the nature of anything that exists online, especially something that is heavily reliant on a particular image.

Something that does kind of bridge them together, however, is the condition of Morris&Co now. As well as selling furniture and wallpaper which is about £80 a roll, they also sell accessories...most of which are made in outsourced labour factories in Asia

They also collaborated with fast fashion brand H&M, with all of the items being made abroad.

This is precisely the thing that Morris was against -- disposable items that are cheaply made. Just as cottagecore is "supposed" to promote crafting and making outside of the marketplace, that often isn't true.

And that is...the end! Here is my v cottagecore type tea, NFN and Useful Work vs Useless Toil to celebrate