Goblincore [r/goblincore] refers to fashion that features natural things supposedly considered ugly: molds, slimy gastropods, muddy ponds, and so forth, with a strong flavor of fairyland's wilder mutations. Mainstream attention brings the usual paradoxical forces of capitalism: the cool thing becomes successful [The Guardian], but popularity subverts it and you end up with blatantly cute mushrooms and butterflies and gnarled trees and hot cosplayers. But that's just David Bowie in The Labyrinth surrounded by muppets. Who is complaining?
The hashtag has more than 498m views on TikTok and is a rising trend on Pinterest in the UK. On Reddit, the r/goblincore subreddit's 19,000-strong membership has increased its subscribers by 395% year-on-year, with one recent poster hoping for an exchange of their "tiny mice and vole bones in vials" for other goblincore items.
Goblincore fashion and paraphernalia are selling well. On Etsy, there has been a 652% increase in searches for related items in the last month compared with the same time last year. Individual sellers attest – at the Divine Occult Shop there has been a dramatic increase in sales of elf ear cuffs; while goblincore is the top search term at the Mushroom Babes, which sells body-positive mushroom art.
An echo of how fantastical romantic art around the Georgian era was sublimated into Victorian fairy painting, but this time around gets to keep its hands dirty. I like it! Also, anyone got those notes on a formal distinction between –core and –punk suffixes?
