02 June 2025

By Silvia Gerlsbeck

Despite not being the height of ‘cosy season’, rainy days like these have many of us reaching for a cup of tea, our favourite book, and bingeable comfort TV and curling up on our sofas in our cosy homes, decorated in warm colours, while wearing our most comfortable loungewear. What was once a seasonal mood and decorative trend now seems to be a year-round way of living and mentality: ‘Cosy culture’ – encompassing phenomena such as hygge, cottagecore, or countrycore – has become a lifestyle ethos in the wake of post-pandemic burnout, economic insecurity, and digital exhaustion.

Rooted in the Scandinavian concept of hygge (“creating a warm atmosphere and enjoying the good things in life with good people”, according to visitdenmark.com), cosy culture rose in popularity during the pandemic and has seemingly lost none of its appeal since then. Lockdowns pushed people inward and created a desire for slowness and safety in an uncertain world. This has given rise to everything from loungewear fashion and “cosy murder mysteries” („If you're looking for a murder set in a pleasant environment – often an English village – with a charming sleuth and minimal bloodshed, cozy mysteries could be the genre for you“) to “wholesome” video games. Kim Townend describes these as providing “a relaxing, calming, and stress-free gaming experience, usually with simple gameplay mechanics, non-photo realistic visual styles, and a focus on activities like crafting, farming, exploring, or building“. The aesthetic now touches everything from media consumption to home décor. It is especially strong among millennial and, to a lesser extent, Gen Z women. Celebrities like David Beckham, Harry Styles, or Taylor Swift have also popularised cosy culture, which, in its promotion of a simpler life, seems to represent a backlash to “hustle culture” and its demands for competition, self-optimisation, self-discipline, and constant productivity. As Holly Williams puts it in a recent BBC article, it’s “[l]ess gym bunny, more snoozy bear.” Cultural products such as Gilmore Girls, with its quaint small-town charm and endless cups of coffee, have provided the visual and narrative elements for the retro, soothing, and ultimately nostalgic aesthetic that lies at the heart of cosy culture. 

However, ‘cosycore’ is not without its pitfalls and is more than just an innocent lifestyle. Its deeply rooted nostalgic quality, often centring on rural, pre-digital, altogether seemingly simpler times, raises questions about the idealisation of such a past that was always just that – a fictional ideal – and the accessibility of the very same: cosy living is by no means free and outside the logic of consumerism, as the maintenance of this particular aesthetic requires constant investment – of time and money. Furthermore, the emphasis placed on self-care in its wellness-oriented, consumer-facing forms must be understood and criticised as a symptom of neoliberal individualism. Rather than addressing systemic issues such as workplace burnout, social inequality, the climate crisis, or the state’s withdrawal from essential services like public health and mental care, responsibility is shifted onto the individual. Under this logic, care becomes a personal project, achieved through consumption rather than a collective or structural concern. Moreover, the retreat into the private sphere that is part and parcel of cosy culture, moreover, is simultaneously a retreat from the outside world and can hinder attempts at social transformation. Both, in anthropologist Grant McCracken’s words, fast and slow culture – as that which is “vivid, visible, obvious, and, yes, fashionable” (41) as it spreads via platforms like TikTok and the #CozyGirl, and simultaneously expressing a desire for a slower, simpler life, cosy culture thrives on digital networks while promoting offline life. As both a product and a critique of late capitalism, cosy culture may offer comfort, but it risks becoming yet another way of surviving a system that it never dares to question.

Sources and Further Reading:

https://fivebooks.com/best-books/the-best-cozy-mystery-books-sophie-roell/

https://kimtownend.com/blog/2024/05/the-rise-and-rise-of-cosy-culture/

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240105-the-joy-of-cosycore-and-hunkering-down

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jan/17/cottagecore-millennials-traditional-interiors

https://www.visitdenmark.com/denmark/things-do/danish-culture/what-hygge

McCracken, Grant. Chief Culture Officer: How to Create a Living, Breathing Corporation. USA, Basic Books, 2009.