"Once a decade or so, the urban-centric fashion world discovers this delightful concept called The Countryside. With the vanishingly scant levels of self-awareness that are fashion's default setting, it then proceeds to immediately and loudly tell the world about it. There are so many trees! Don't you just love trees? Especially at this time of year when the leaves are lovely tasteful colours, great for selfies, very flattering to the complexion. The pubs are absolutely charming. Sometimes they even have sourdough."
"It began with hiking boots, a couple of years ago. Last winter, the barn jacket was suddenly, inexplicably everywhere, and this season is wall-to-wall Fair Isle jumpers. Dressing like you are on a cosy mini-break is to autumn what dressing for a festival field is to summer: a version of countryside dressing conceived by someone who leaves the city for no more than 48 hours at a time. It is possibly not even a million miles from cultural appropriation."
"And at this point I need to hold my hands up and say: I'm as bad as any of them. I love the countryside but I, in my cold hard heart, am an urban creature, really. The gravitational pull of this look is to do with our longing for wholesomeness I think I hope? it's OK to wear country-coded clothes, so long as you accept that those people with the adorable accents in that sweet pub are slightly rolling their eyes behind your back."
Urban fashion repeatedly rediscovers countryside aesthetics, turning rural signifiers into seasonal trends. Trends cycle from hiking boots to barn jackets to Fair Isle jumpers, producing a cosy mini-break aesthetic for autumn. The countryside look often becomes a romanticized, commodified shorthand for wholesomeness and slowing down in a digital era. Many city dwellers wear country-coded garments symbolically while remaining urban in lifestyle and intent. The adoption can verge on cultural appropriation when rural practices and accents are treated as styling props. The appeal rests on a desire to feel grounded and connected to nature, even when that connection is largely symbolic.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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