A cottagecore dress is exactly what your wardrobe needs, and we've found 19 dreamy designs to shop

The cottagecore dress trend, and indeed aesthetic, is one that has followed us from summer 2020 and doesn’t appear to be going anywhere any time soon. As we were all escaping the city to WFH in the countryside, taking it back to basics by baking homemade bread every other day while binge watching period shows like Bridgerton and The Crown, it’s easy to see why the style took off.

If you’re unfamiliar with the prairie-inspired movement, picture puff sleeves, shirred waists, whimsical prints and floaty hemlines and you’ll be on the right track. Much more than just an aesthetic though, cottagecore is a way to embrace a simpler lifestyle. It has taken over interiors just as much as it has wardrobes and is inspired by living a countryside/cottage lifestyle (shocking, we know).

It harks back to the Romantic era and is most evident in everyone's recent adoration for handmade pieces. Think quilted blankets and coats and embroidered denim alongside Peter Pan collars and corsets and fabrics that evoke another time period.

Cottagecore dresses are a welcome addition to summer dress collections, not least for their season-appropriateness (exactly what you’ll want to wear for all those sunset picnics and barbecues), but for their ability to suit a variety of occasions. One look at the ‘wedding guest dresses’ and ‘workwear’ sections of all your favourite brands will tell you that. Don’t be afraid to dress them down either - it's not uncommon to spot people wearing a milkmaid-style puff sleeve dress paired with chunky white trainers or converse.

While other fads like balletcore, dark academia and the coquette aesthetic have tried to overthrow it, cottagecore is more loved than ever - even now in a post-Covid era. It allows you to reach that comfortable-yet-effortlessly-put-together look that so many desire yet so many find difficult to achieve. Anything to make getting dressed in the morning easier, right?

For more from GLAMOUR UK's Commerce Writer Georgia Trodd, follow her on Instagram @georgiatrodd.

Ready to embrace the lifestyle? 19 cottagecore dresses await you below.