Cottage Cash

“Oh, I could wear that in the mountains,” I mutter to myself as I add an overly dramatic, minty, puff-sleeved top to my cart. “Ah, yes. The frolic will be mine.”

“Cinderella vibes!” I say to the powder blue princess gown. *Click*

I examine a green wool cloak. “I shall be…The Fellowship of the Ring.” *Click*

“I’d look like one of the little animals from Over the Garden Wall in these overalls!” *Click*

“Laura Ingalls? Absolutely.” *C L I C K*

“Cottagecore” as it exists today, is largely known as an aesthetic that “originated” on Tumblr and recently became popularized on Tiktok. The aesthetic revolves around romanticizing simple cottage life and a connection with nature in a fairytale-like manner. Popular fashion trends of this aesthetic include romantic silhouettes, florals, pastels, overalls, corduroy, pinafores, vests, puff sleeves, sun hats, bows, lace and in general, vintage style. Of course, this did not really start on Tumblr. The internet can’t be credited with the invention of a style that’s been around for hundreds of years, but it can be responsible for resurrecting it!

If you’re like me, you felt an enormous rush of joy when you realized that the clothing style you love is finally “trendy,” meaning that it has suddenly become more widely available. As clothing stores began to fill their racks with peter pan collars, florals, lace, puffy sleeves, and embroidered treasures, I knew my wallet was in danger!

However, one store in particular stepped into the cottagecore spotlight through a rather hilarious string of viral Facebook and Twitter posts.

Enter: Target

A customer of the one-stop-shop for everything you need and everything you don’t, Target, posted a photo of a new line of dresses that had emerged in the women’s clothing section. You might know the ones.

That’s right. The prairie dresses. Appearing in a multitude of colors, these puff sleeve, ruffled dresses are definitely Target’s contribution to current cottagecore fashion, but thanks to some humorous customers, they became much more!

The post that appeared along with the photo made a jab at the timing of the clothing release (during a pandemic), relating it to the hardships of prairie life, joking that the dresses look like something someone would wear if they’d just lost their crops to the locusts. The original post was worth a chuckle, but I truly thought the dresses were cute! I’d wear them in a heartbeat.

Shortly after the post, tons of people rushed to the store or ordered the dresses online. They seemed to have a shared goal: Take hilariously miserable looking old-timey photos in their “pandemic prairie” dresses. I will not lie; the flood of photos was amazing. The creativity and humor that people put into taking the photos, posing “authentically,” and adding hilarious props like shovels or even chickens, kept me in stitches! This became known as the “Target Dress Challenge.” (Some of the creative photoshoots can be found here).

While scrolling through the entertaining photos, I noticed something. Everyone who wore the dresses seriously looked great! My favorite was a gruff, older man with a beard, who looked like he could beat anybody in a fight, confidently rocking the dress with a pair of work boots. He really pulled the look together with an awesome pose as well.

Like I said, the dresses were really cute and fit my personal style, but I don’t think that was why I felt that everyone looked great in the clothing. I think that the real reason they all looked amazing is because they were having fun.

That is what clothing should be. That is what it should do. It should be fun and inspire others to be creative. It should make you smile.

As I clicked on the “pandemic prairie” dress of my choosing (a goldish-brown one), I imagined my own fun poses and props. I imagined the laughter and smiles I might create with dress.

Into the cart, pandemic prairie masterpiece! *Click*

I wish I could provide the link to the dress that I ordered. Unfortunately, the product is no longer available on the website. I hope that this will be amended in the future so that more people can join the ‘miserable’ fun. The dresses still frolic abundantly on Depop, Poshmark, and Ebay for those who search!

For those still on the hunt for more “Little House on the Prairie,” styles, Target has plenty of other looks to choose from like this puff-sleeve eyelet dress, this balloon sleeve maxi dress, or this long sleeve tiered dress.

Other places that I have found delightfully whimsical cottagecore styles at include Shein (like this suspender skirt and this lovely milkmaid blouse) and CottagecoreThings which includes treasures like this little Disney princess-before she becomes the princess- style dress.

I can honestly say that the wave of old-fashioned, fairytale clothing has truly brought me joy and I am going to embrace it as long as I can. (Which is forever, if I want! There are no real rules in fashion- remember that, kids).

So, one might wonder, what was the verdict on the "pandemic prairie" dress that I purchased? Did I like it? Did it live up to the dying crops and locust swarms as it was foretold?

Well, to get your answer, you can simply ask the teenage boy who saw me wearing the dress at the supermarket, who so sweetly asked:

“What the heck, lady? You goin’ to milk some cows or somethin’?”

A dream come true.