So boring is ‘in’ – and it’s bringing us unbridled joy. Inside borecore, the internet’s latest (and actually quite healthy!?) trend. Kelly Bertrand looks into it.
FINALLY – a social media trend that this gal can get on board with!
Yes, you’ve read right – in 2024, it’s trendy to be boring. Dubbed ‘borecore’, anything that is traditionally dull (and anything your teenage self SWORE to never become interested in) is the trend du jour and we are absolutely bloody jazzed about it.
That’s right, it’s now fashionable to rejoice in such things as:
- Organising your fridge
- Getting jazzed about buying an air fryer
- Using said air fryer
- Nailing that carrot cake recipe
- Cups of tea
- A tea collection for said cups of tea
- Your favourite mug for said cups of te
- Figuring out how to use dryer balls
- Meal prepping
- Your Scrub Daddy collection
- Crisp, blue-sky autumn mornings
- Biscuits
- Keeping house plants that aren’t dying.
EXCITING STUFF.
I’ve really leant into my own boring self since the pandemic, when we had all the time in the world, and in fact HAD to find joy in the mundane because hell, what else was there to do?
“Borecore can probably be traced back to the explosion of TikTok during the pandemic, when enforced isolation and idleness for many (but not for everyone) turned the mundanity of the everyday into our social currency online, as well as our entertainment,” Annie Corser, senior trends editor at Stylus, a trend tracking organisation, told Stylist magazine on the subject, adding, “The content creation habits formed during that strange time persist today in much of what we’d consider borecore: detailing our takeaways, organising fridges and filming how we do laundry.”
But borecore as a concept actually traces back to 2015, where The New York Times first used the term to describe the minutiae of ‘young people’ on Vine (RIP) – essentially, the precursor to the idea of teens documenting their everyday lives on social media (is Be Real still a thing?)
It’s been translated int a fashion trend too – the idea of power dressing that only alludes to wealth, rather than shouts it brashly (no labels, gaudy details or flashy embellishments). Instead, think Shiv’s wardrobe in Succession – well-cut neutrals with strong lines and tonal detail (and turtlenecks!?) It’s quiet luxury, which has also translated into home décor and even automotive trends (and apparently, a grey knit will be the single most fashionable piece you can have in your upcoming winter wardrobe).
You also see borecore’s influence in JOMO – the JOY of missing out (GOD I wish this was a thing when I was a teenager, I remember vividly crying at home with FOMO because I wasn’t invited to a party and all of my friends were. Jesus that was a cruel time.) You know that absolute thrill you get when you get that phone notification that informs you that your plans have been cancelled and you can, in fact, stay at home in your loungewear?
God – LOUNGEWEAR: it might as well be borecore’s official uniform.
Perhaps, to combat the chaos of the world, we’re deciding to lean into the joy the boring little things gives us because those ARE surely easier to control. Or, we’ve learnt that true happiness and contentment doesn’t come from the big stuff, rather it’s the everyday, smaller occurrences.
Of course, a cost of living crisis doesn’t help – it increased seven per cent for the average Kiwi household over the last quarter.
Now, instead of hiding our boring joys, we celebrate them. Instead of pushing ourselves to leave our homes, we revel in their slow cosiness. Gen Z’s seem to really be taking to the trend – they’re having less sex, drinking less booze and generally going out less – instead their time is taken up with pottery, or knitting, or other traditionally nana-inspired activities.
Whatever it is, it seems borecore is here to stay. Thank God!
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