Goblincore
Jun. 26th, 2025 12:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithGoblincore is an aesthetic based on the darker side of faery and the appreciation of imperfect things that other people often consider ugly or otherwise undesirable. Many of the reference pages are less than flattering, but the entries on Wikipedia and Aesthetics Wiki offer a starting point. It is laughably dated to the 2020s. I'm guessing whoever wrote that missed the entire history of fairytales, curiosity cabinets, and the rest of its very long history.
Goblins as characters are often maligned and usually the villains in a story. There are occasional exceptions. But we live in a world that tends to adore beauty and perfection, while hating all that is ugly or imperfect. Hence why some disabled people identify as monsters, since monsters are powerful and disruptive as well as grotesque in form. Similarly, dark fae like goblins thrive on chaos.
So the goblincore aesthetic derives from that. It is natural, raw, messy, chaotic, imperfect, worn, lumpy. It crosses over with a variety of other aesthetics that also veer off the beaten path. These include crowcore, earthcore, mushroomcore, vulture culture, and wabi-sabi. They often wind up with warnings, too. This stuff makes normal people uncomfortable. It can be useful for discouraging from from intruding into freak refuges.
Colors include those associated with goblins, other dark fae, death, and decay. Neutrals are black, gray, brown, and bone or ivory. Other colors are moldy shades of green and blue, along with goldenrod. Metals typically show tarnish or patina. Some goblincore fans like bioluminescence or things that glow in the dark, particularly glowing fungi or fireflies.
Motifs draw from wild places such as forests, and particularly those considered gloomy such as swamps or moors. These include soil, stones, shade plants, poisonous plants and flowers, bryophytes like mosses and liverworts, ferns, amphibians such as frogs and toads, snails and slugs, mushrooms and other fungi, candles, bones and other animal parts, caverns, burrows, goblins and other dark fae.
Goblincore decor and clothes tend to be old and worn rather than new, natural rather than synthetic. There is strong crossover with the "distressed" or "shabby chic" looks. Clothes may favor lagenlook, or layers, often ragged. Wool, cotton, and linen are popular fibers plus leather and fur. Many items are found, thrifted, and/or upcycled rather than bought new. Curiosities or oddities are objects, usually natural ones, with a nonstandard form or just interesting appearance. The cabinet of curiosities is the root of natural museum displays. One place where synthetics do stand out is with replica bones; you can buy a sabertooth skull or a dragon skull, and so on.
While many places are downright hostile to goblincore aesthetics, others are quite supportive. A stroll through Etsy offers delights such as Goblincore, Goblincore Clothes, Goblincore Decor, Crowcore, Curiosities, Distressed, Earthcore, Fairycore, Forestcore, Goth, Mushrooms, Oddities, Ragged Clothing, Shabby Furniture, Strega, Upcycled Products, Unseelie, Vulture Culture, Wabi-Sabi, and Witchcore.
I will leave you with my favorite goblincore comic about darkfic. That's what dark things are for.
Goblins as characters are often maligned and usually the villains in a story. There are occasional exceptions. But we live in a world that tends to adore beauty and perfection, while hating all that is ugly or imperfect. Hence why some disabled people identify as monsters, since monsters are powerful and disruptive as well as grotesque in form. Similarly, dark fae like goblins thrive on chaos.
So the goblincore aesthetic derives from that. It is natural, raw, messy, chaotic, imperfect, worn, lumpy. It crosses over with a variety of other aesthetics that also veer off the beaten path. These include crowcore, earthcore, mushroomcore, vulture culture, and wabi-sabi. They often wind up with warnings, too. This stuff makes normal people uncomfortable. It can be useful for discouraging from from intruding into freak refuges.
Colors include those associated with goblins, other dark fae, death, and decay. Neutrals are black, gray, brown, and bone or ivory. Other colors are moldy shades of green and blue, along with goldenrod. Metals typically show tarnish or patina. Some goblincore fans like bioluminescence or things that glow in the dark, particularly glowing fungi or fireflies.
Motifs draw from wild places such as forests, and particularly those considered gloomy such as swamps or moors. These include soil, stones, shade plants, poisonous plants and flowers, bryophytes like mosses and liverworts, ferns, amphibians such as frogs and toads, snails and slugs, mushrooms and other fungi, candles, bones and other animal parts, caverns, burrows, goblins and other dark fae.
Goblincore decor and clothes tend to be old and worn rather than new, natural rather than synthetic. There is strong crossover with the "distressed" or "shabby chic" looks. Clothes may favor lagenlook, or layers, often ragged. Wool, cotton, and linen are popular fibers plus leather and fur. Many items are found, thrifted, and/or upcycled rather than bought new. Curiosities or oddities are objects, usually natural ones, with a nonstandard form or just interesting appearance. The cabinet of curiosities is the root of natural museum displays. One place where synthetics do stand out is with replica bones; you can buy a sabertooth skull or a dragon skull, and so on.
While many places are downright hostile to goblincore aesthetics, others are quite supportive. A stroll through Etsy offers delights such as Goblincore, Goblincore Clothes, Goblincore Decor, Crowcore, Curiosities, Distressed, Earthcore, Fairycore, Forestcore, Goth, Mushrooms, Oddities, Ragged Clothing, Shabby Furniture, Strega, Upcycled Products, Unseelie, Vulture Culture, Wabi-Sabi, and Witchcore.
I will leave you with my favorite goblincore comic about darkfic. That's what dark things are for.
