Goblincore is an internet aesthetic and subculture inspired by the folklore of goblins, centered on the celebration of natural ecosystems usually considered less beautiful by conventional norms, such as soil, animals, and second-hand objects. [1] [2] [3]
Second-hand and thrifted clothing feature prominently in the fashion of goblincore, often emphasizing comfort and brown, green, and clashing colours. The aesthetic often features idealised imagery of natural creatures such as snakes, frogs, snails, and earthworms; animal skeletons and rocks; plants and fungi like ferns, moss, and mushrooms. Journalist Sabrina Faramarzi has stated that the subculture is about "chaos, dirt and mud." [4]
Proponents of the subculture have also been noted to collect shiny objects, similarly to folklore goblins, such as silverware, small jewelry, and coins. The subculture has been described as connected to maximalism and escapism. [5]
Alternative names also used for the subculture include crowcore, dirtcore, cottagegoth, and feralcore. [6]
Goblincore is believed to have surfaced in online communities in the late 2010s, particularly on Tumblr and TikTok, with Amanda Brennan stating that it "started picking up in spring 2019 and hit full steam in 2020 as people stumbled upon it during the pandemic." As of July 2021, the goblincore subreddit had 19 000 subscribers, an increase of 395% from July 2020. E-commerce company Etsy reported a 695% increase in searches related to goblincore in June 2021. [4] [7]
The subculture has been described as anti-consumerist, with Mashable writer Morgan Sung stating that "in a maximalist goblincore home, decor is found or built, not bought." [5] It has also been noted as having a significant number of LGBT+, and specifically non-binary, proponents, with a common catchphrase being "no gender, only bugs". [8]
Some have described the subculture as a darker companion to cottagecore, with Faramarzi stating that "goblincore is cottagecore for those that actually spend time in nature, who know that nature is not sunlit wheat fields but gnarly forests and chaotic animals". [4] [9] [10]
The scene subculture is a youth subculture that emerged during the early 2000s in the United States from the pre-existing emo subculture. The subculture became popular with adolescents from the mid 2000s to the early 2010s. Members of the scene subculture are referred to as scene kids, trendies, or scenesters. Scene fashion consists of skinny jeans, bright-coloured clothing, a signature hairstyle consisting of straight, flat hair with long fringes covering the forehead, and bright-coloured hair dye. Music genres associated with the scene subculture include metalcore, crunkcore, deathcore, electronic music, and pop punk.
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Soft grunge was a fashion trend that originated on Tumblr around the late 2000s and early 2010s. Beginning as an outgrowth of the 2000s indie sleaze fashion trend but with a greater influence from the 1990s, particularly grunge fashion, the style began as a reaction against the glamor fitness culture which was dominant in popular culture at the time. It is characterized by its merger of cute and aggressive fashion hallmarks like chokers, tennis skirts, leather jackets and boots, flower crowns, distressed denim and pastel colors. Soft grunge reached its peak popularity around 2014, by which time it had been embraced by high fashion designers including Hedi Slimane and Jeremy Scott and been worn by celebrities including Charli XCX. Its internet-based merger of subculture, fashion and music made it one of the earliest examples of an internet aesthetic. In the early 2020s, the style experienced a minor resurgence due to videos posted on the video sharing application TikTok.
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Cottagecore is an internet aesthetic idealising rural life. Originally based on a rural European life, it was developed throughout the 2010s and was first named cottagecore on Tumblr in 2018. The aesthetic centres on traditional rural clothing, interior design, and crafts such as drawing, baking, and pottery, and is related to similar aesthetic movements such as grandmacore, goblincore, gnomecore and fairycore.
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An Internet aesthetic, also simply referred to as an aesthetic or microaesthetic, is a visual art style, sometimes accompanied by a fashion style, subculture, or music genre, that usually originates from the Internet or is popularized on it. Throughout the 2010s and 2020s, online aesthetics gained increasing popularity, specifically on social media platforms such as Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram and TikTok, and often were used by people to express their individuality and creativity. They can also be used to create a sense of community and belonging among people who share the same interests. The term aesthetic has been described as being "totally divorced from its academic origins", and is commonly used as an adjective.
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