The Fisherman Aesthetic
Diving into the newest design trend
Earlier this week I came across this Architectural Digest article about the latest design trend, the Fisherman Aesthetic. I know the ever-changing “core” aesthetic trends that cycle through TikTok and design media can feel overdone and clickbait-y (as was the case at least with “Barbiecore” and “Royalcore” after Bridgerton), but overall I think they’re a fun nod to unique styles that might otherwise be considered too campy or kitsch to ever be photographed for AD. And maybe they are and that’s the whole point: to go all-in on a lifestyle and decor aesthetic that makes you feel the most at home, whether in personal style or decor.
I remember when Greta Gerwig’s Little Women came out at the end of 2019, right before the pandemic and Taylor’s album Folklore debuted later that summer. That six month period birthed “Cottagecore” which was such a moment. We were stuck in our homes, watching Jo and Laurie frolic on a hillside in long skirts and windswept braids, baking banana bread while listening to Taylor’s woodsy, ethereal pivot. It felt fun and frivolous and feminine, a complete diversion from our real lives at the time. We could, depressingly, possibly make the connection that the pandemic-cottagecore-era of bread baking, Doen dresses and finding the joys in homemaking, turned a sharp right smack into Tradwife territory, taking all the fun out of everything by having to defend that the things we choose to do for pleasure are not fundamentally required of us. But that’s a tangent for another day, this is meant to be fun!
I love Fisherman Aesthetic. As a native East Coaster it feels familiar to me, although I’ve actually fished maybe three times, did not grow up in New England and don’t personally know any fishermen. But roadtrips to Maine, rocky coastlines, creaky old houses and sea-salt breezes are something I definitely miss while living in Colorado. Sharon Mrozinski (right, in the collage above) has been an inspiration to me for years and this feature in Lonny Mag of her and her husband’s Vinalhaven, Maine home is the perfect depiction of the Fisherman Aesthetic to me: layered, worn-in, sea-inspired chicness.
If you want to bring a little fisherman aesthetic to your walls, you can find my Sardines print, lighthouse print, and several New England area map prints in my shop linked below!
Shop Fisherman Aesthetic prints!
I personally love it. There’s a melancholy romance to the sea 🌊 (as opposed to the ocean or beach) and it feels right that this trend would happen in the depths of February.