Today, “cottagecore,” the term for a popular aesthetic of recent years, can bring to mind several things. The early pandemic, for example, when cottagecore started spreading rapidly on social media. Or the flowy dresses, floral motifs, delicate decors and rural settings that largely determined the aesthetic.
Less often, the fairytale look is associated with beaches or swimming pools. Selkie, a brand that became a symbol for cottagecore fashion after its release Puff pastry dress in 2019 hopes to change that by expanding into swimwear this year.
Selkie founder Kimberley Gordon said she wanted to deliver “an explosion of femininity” with the Puff Dress – a pouffe-like dress, typically made of organza, with a fitted bodice and voluminous skirt. The style is available in many colors and patterns, as well as sizes XXS through 6X.
Selkie’s swim line, which includes bikinis and one-pieces and costs between $90 and $225, was also designed with an emphasis on femininity and size inclusivity, Ms. Gordon, 41, said.
She drew inspiration from pieces from across the decades – especially from the 1930s through the 1950s, a time before revealing, overtly sexy styles began to replace the more modest suits that flattered women’s bodies without showing as much skin .
“I don’t want to have to shave or get my bikini wax waxed every time I go swimming,” Ms Gordon said.
The swimsuits are available in patterns such as toile, gingham and banana check. Sold in the same sizes as the brand’s dresses, they are meant to channel the “ethereal feel” of those garments, says Justine Babb, Selkie’s lead designer. But instead of organza, the swim line was made from materials such as cotton and spandex.
“We actually wanted to make something that was like putting on a Puff Dress or a Selkie dress to go to the pool,” says Ms. Babb, 38.
Most pieces have imaginative elements such as ruffles, ribbons, frills and cap sleeves. There are also swim skirts and cover-ups for those who, as Ms. Gordon put it, “don’t want to show their whole body when they go out.”
Some Selkie fans weren’t sure whether swimsuits inspired by the look of the “Bridgerton”-meets-Disney princess dresses would resonate.
Camryn Garrett, 24, a freelance writer in Brooklyn, was drawn to Selkie because she “wanted to find a plus-size dress that didn’t look boring,” she said. But she was somewhat skeptical about whether the brand’s approach to dresses would translate to swimwear.
“I wonder how they’re going to do that,” Mrs. Garrett said.
Sophie Desmond, 31, another follower of the brand, said the swimwear ‘seemed a bit out of context’.
Still, Ms. Desmond, a freelance editor who lives outside Washington, D.C., thinks the swimwear will find an audience. Especially since, as she put it, “30-something adults or millennials are trying to reclaim that piece of girl time.”
