Mob Wife, Cottagecore and Book Shelf Wealth: The TikTok Microtrends Taking on Saratoga
PLUS: Belmont booze ban work-arounds, a local chef goes viral and Saratoga says good-bye to a beloved dentist.
For me, it was eclectic grandpa.
The fashion term, coined by Pinterest, defines a look dominated by colorful sweater vests, tweed jackets and sensible loafers—and was the aesthetic that sent me down the rabbit hole of “microtrends.” I doubt I’ll ever return.
Before eclectic grandpa, which has only recently become a thing, there was coastal grandmother—but also coastal cowgirl, vanilla girl, clean girl, tomato girl summer, night luxe, stealth wealth, indie sleaze, normcore, barbiecore and balletcore. Put “-core” on the end of pretty much anything (frog, goblin, mermaid, etc.) and there you go: you’ve created your own microtrend. A friend of mine has even begun using the term “Petecore”—clothing that would likely be worn by my boyfriend, Pete. Just last night, I told another friend, in my best Gen Z impression, that her new dress from Shein was giving Picasso. Turns out, that’s a microtrend, too.
“Microtrends aren’t really anything new,” says former New York Times Style section Photo Editor and current Saratogian Tiina Loite. “We just have a new word for it now.” Also new: the fact that TikTok has made it possible for such niche aesthetics—and their catchy names—to spread across the country instantly.
“We have perhaps gone a bit overboard with labeling anything a microtrend, and words like goth or preppy are irrelevant now since those looks have splintered into varied sub-categories,” Tiina continues. As others have said, we’ve been slapping a moniker on something someone threw together randomly from their closet, and then that goes on to be intensified, perhaps refined by followers. I think that pretty much sums up most of what passes for ‘coastal’ and ‘core.’”
Nonetheless, cores are like crack to social media users, and online media companies haven’t missed out on the opportunity to debate their relevance and critique their commodification. (Guilty.) Are you even cottagecore without a $250 KitchenAid stand mixer in which you’ll make your own pasta? Are you even coastal cowgirl without the $18 cowboy boots from a fast-fashion company in China that you’ll wear twice before the heel falls off?
“While aesthetic components were once integral to the formation of traditional subcultures, they’ve lost all meaning in this algorithmically driven visual landscape,” Vox wrote in a 2022 article entitled “Trends are dead.” “Instead, subcultural images and attitudes become grouped under a ubiquitous, indefinable label of a ‘viral trend’—something that can be demystified, mimicked, sold, and bought.”
But regardless of your stance on microtrends, they’re likely here to stay—in the larger world of social media and in Saratoga. When I asked Tiina if she’d noticed any of the above trends making their way into the Spa City, she responded cheekily: “But wait, we have Saratogacore, no?”
Sure, Saratogacore could be defined by Old Smoke polo shirts and equestrian home décor, but we’re also seeing some of the bigger microtrends (oxymoron much?) manifest locally.
Mob Wife
Yes, mob wife. While many fashion microtrends are “criticized for their shallowness and disconnect from anything anyone is actually doing or feeling in real life,” Harper’s Bazaar writes, mob wife stands out “for its real-life roots in culture”—think The Godfather, The Sopranos and Goodfellas—”and its mature, brazen attitude, which feels like a shift.”
The trend is being wholeheartedly embraced by at least one social group in Saratoga. “Clean girl aesthetic is out, mob wife aesthetic is in,” says SLAH fashion correspondent Carina Rodriguez. “Think big curls, makeup, big jewelry, red nails, leather, tight clothing, fur, lace, high heels…maximalism. Having a hard time picturing it? Think Fran Drescher in The Nanny. OK, I think you’ve got it now.”
Want to see the mob wife aesthetic IRL? Head to The Sagamore ice bar tonight, where Carina and her entourage—queens of the themed dress code—will be mob wife-ing it up in full force.
Bookshelf Wealth
Not all of TikTok’s hottest microtrends are about fashion. Bookshelf wealth is a new fad in home décor that centers around—yup—one’s bookshelves. “We see this trend as a mutiny against that perfectly polished, minimalist home that we’ve been seeing the last few years,” says Diane Meyer of Saratoga’s Interior Designs Atelier. “We believe the items you have—items that have a story and have been collected over the years—are what makes your home authentic and real and distinctive.”
It’s these items—books, tchotchkes, oriental rugs and artwork—that define bookshelf wealth. “Polished, but not stuffy,” The New York Times explains. A bronze lamp here. A vintage vase there (with fresh-cut flowers, of course). Perhaps there is a cozy seating area near the floor-to-ceiling display, with an overstuffed couch topped with tasteful throw pillows.”
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Interior Designs Atelier pulled off the look in a recent renovation of a local doctor’s home office. “He’s been collecting books for over 50 years,” Diane says of the client. “He has a collection of Civil War books, World War II books, presidential biographies, lots of medical research books.We created custom built-ins with book shelves, added task lighting, and just edited it to make sure it wasn’t messy.”
Cottagecore
Sometimes, a microtrend can incorporate fashion, interior design and even a way of life. One example is cottagecore, a phenomenon that began when people were stuck at home during the pandemic and has endured longer than the typical viral trend.
What is cottagecore? “It is doilies, snails, and DIY fairy spoons crafted from seashells,” a 2020 Vox article reports. “It is illustrations from Frog & Toad, stills from Miyazaki movies, two girls kissing in a forest in springtime. It is a laughably arduous tutorial on how to make homemade rosewater whispered to you in a British accent.”
Perhaps one reason cottagecore has stuck around? It’s not actually a new phenomenon. “People have romanticized country living and rural escapism for centuries through the arts—writing, poetry, painting, photography,” says Darien Rozell, who has never called her @pantryhill Instagram account “cottagecore” formally, but whose content aligns with many cottagecore tenets. “Social media has simply provided a new way of experiencing that escapism from the comfort of our living rooms. I think the basic fundamental of cottagecore is something people really connected with during the pandemic, asking themselves: Is my current pace of life sustainable and healthy? Am I happy?”
While there’s plenty to critique when it comes to microtrends that go out of style as quickly as they come into style, they’re not all bad. “Fashion is by nature all about changing tastes,” Tiina says. “Something’s in, something’s out. We like it today, we’re bored by it tomorrow, we move on to something new. Fashion responds. Fashion leads. All of these trends are amazing for the fashion industry, and even more so for those who care about what they want to telegraph about themselves. Are clothes your uniform, your costume, your armor? Or can you rock all three of those at once?”
—Natalie
Quote of the Week
“Other people’s socks are really none of my business. That’s my mantra.”
—Overheard at Uncommon Grounds
Belmont Begins
Finally, horse racing fans got some news regarding this year’s Belmont Stakes, which will be held at Saratoga for the first time ever on June 8. The four-day festival will include 23 stakes races with purses totaling a record-busting $10.1 million.
The biggest news to come out on Thursday, though, is that in accordance with past Belmont protocols, attendees won’t be allowed to bring alcohol into the venue like they can for the Saratoga meet. Coolers with food and nonalcoholic beverages will be allowed, however, and Saratogians are already scheming up ways to get around the no alcohol rule: “Water bottles full of clear alcohol. Fruit punch bottles with premade Alabama Slammers. We have ways…..” someone commented on a What’s Going On Saratoga? post. Someone else shared the above photo of a product you can buy on Amazon that will disguise your beer cans as soda cans. And NYRA, we don’t make the news; we just report it.
Ballet Is Back
Also announced this week was the season schedule for the New York City Ballet at SPAC. The company, which will celebrate its 75th anniversary this year, will return to Saratoga for the 58th season July 9-13. The 2024 residency will kick off with NYCB On and Off Stage, a behind-the-curtain experience (great for beginner ballet fans) featuring excerpts from the week’s ballets and culminating in a celebratory after-party. Highlighting the five-day run are two full-length performances of George Balanchine’s dazzling Jewels, two evenings of work by contemporary choreographers including Amy Hall Garner, and two jam-packed shows that include Balanchine’s one-act Swan Lake and his resounding Stars and Stripes. Tickets go on sale at 10am on February 9 for SPAC members and at 10am on February 22 for the general public.
Just Joshing Around
Rensselaer native Joesph Carr’s Josh Cellars wines are enjoying some time in the spotlight—and brought Capital Region restauranteur Dominick Purnomo along for the ride. The affordable-yet-delicious vino was already popular, but in a “let’s not spend more than $20 bucks on a bottle of wine tonight, honey—grab that Josh Cab” kind of way. Now, it’s gone-viral famous. How? The internet works in mysterious ways, but here’s what we know.
On January 6, the Twitter/X handle @OptimusGrind wrote, “I’m not gonna keep telling y’all to grow up and leave that Stella and Barefoot alone” in a post that ran with a photo of a bottle of Josh Merlot. Something about it connected, and 20.7 million (not a typo) views later, Twitter/X is flooded with meme posts about Josh Cellars. But Josh’s actual Twitter/X account was left in the dust (only 1.7k followers—embarrassing!) despite coming back from its ill-timed five-year absence with the joke, “What’d I miss?” Instead, all of this exposure somehow leapt over to YouTube, where recent commercials now have 17 million views. One of these “Sunday Supper” episodes co-stars—you guessed it—Yono’s owner Dominick Purnomo.
Meanwhile, the company’s Instagram account (which has a healthier 49.7k followers) has spent all week poking fun at itself—including a meme of a smiling young woman captioned “our new intern” being handed a bottle of Josh that’s captioned “the twitter password we finally we reset.” Need a drink after all of this? We won’t judge—after all, it’s Josh o’clock somewhere.
Remembering Dr. B
On January 6, Saratoga lost a beloved community member when Dr. Gerald Benjamin, DDS, passed away at Saratoga Hospital. A Brooklyn native, Dr. Benjamin is survived by Susan, his wife of 52 years, as well as countless other family members and friends, some of whom came to know him through his dental practice on Division Street in downtown Saratoga. “He loved dentistry so much and he loved his practice so much,” close friend and patient Shane Stiel said in his eulogy. “He loved his patients, and I can tell by the amount of people in this room that he was loved right back.”
Around the World in 3 Hours
On Monday, Coat Room hosted an invite-only journey around the world…by way of cocktails. The special menu included 12 drinks from six different countries; attendees could order from Italy or America between 8-9pm, from France or Japan between 9-10pm, and from India or Mexico between 10-11pm. Topics of discussion at the bar ranged from the best places to play indoor golf (The Bunker is allegedly eyeing a February open) and Single in Saratoga Speed Dating (stay tuned!), to the Belmont (“everything I’ve heard is pointing to sh** show,” said one attendee, who asked to be identified as “creamy mouthfeel”), and defenestration (the act of throwing someone out a window). Oh, and Saltburn, of course.
And the drinks? Normally, when given the option to have an espresso martini, I have an espresso martini. But when I read the description of the American Bunny Hill cocktail—”an espresso martini for the weak”—I went with the Italian Agrodolce (gin, lemon, Campari, Montenegro and sweet vermouth). Later in the night, after a French Seventy Seven—a take on the French 75—I ordered adventurously again, opting for the Indian Taya Takes Time (honey, lemon, cayenne, curry and gin). “It tastes like a samosa,” I commented, offering a sip to a friend. “I want to bite it.”
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