The Modern Coastal Grandmother

The Modern Coast al Grandmother

Blurring the line between the 21st-century woman and her role in the home

Written by Emma Goshin, PR and Outreach Director Graphic by Emily Han, Contributing Graphic Artist

She’s elegant, she’s carefree, she bakes and she gardens. The coastal grandmother aesthetic, coined by TikToker Lex Nicoleta, embraces a Nancy Meyers-era woman who is clean, organized and unbothered. It gathered signifi cant attention not only from 2.5 million viewers on TikTok, but from news outlets such as NPR, Today and The Wall Street Journal. But does the coastal grandmother aesthetic set us back in time by encouraging women to take on a more “traditional” domestic role in the home?

Search “coastal grandmother” on Pinterest and you will be bombarded with white linen, light-colored decor and classic Cape Cod-style homes. Despite the connotation the trend’s name evokes, you don’t have to be from the coast or even a grandmother to take part in this phenomenon. According to the term’s creator the aesthetic is “an aspirational lifestyle involving wearing white clothing, button-down blouses, gardening, and cooking your favorite Barefoot Contessa recipes.”1

Historically, women have been pressed into a tight mold of conformity that limits the view of their role to domestic tasks like cooking, cleaning and caring for their children.2 With the rise of womens’ rights movements over the last century, incredible progress has been made in bringing awareness to the contributions they make to society.

So where does that leave the coastal grandmother?

TikTok’s latest trend pays tribute to the women who work hard for decades before they have the chance to relax. The coastal grandmother is not a path back in time; it plays into the more tradition-

1 Caitlin Flanagan, “I’m a Coastal Grandmother. Stop Appropriating Our Culture,” The Atlantic, June 1, 2022 2 Marie McKeown, “Women Through History: Women’s Experience Through the Ages,” Owlcation, June 25, 2018 al lifestyle of home and ties it together with the modern professional accomplishments of 21st century women.

Although this trend became popular after her success, Martha Stewart is a great example of how the trend not only empowers women but gives them a beautifully curated setting for their accomplishments. She has built a multi-million dollar lifestyle brand of cookbooks and home decor and has become a tycoon with a massive career.3 At the core of this is branding, marketing and merchandising so strong that it prevailed her to a career comeback despite a 2004 stint in prison. Stewart’s entire brand is the modern coastal grandmother.

As stated by Caitlin Flanagan, a writer for The Atlantic, Stewart embodies the empowering coastal grandmother trend by living by the trendy aspects of the aesthetic, while also working hard every day for what she has.4

“[She] is powerful not because she’s been a corporate wife for 40 years. She’s powerful because she was her own corporate wife for 40 years. When she decides to paint her antique wicker chaise in the exact same shade as her bedroom walls (Pride of the Regiment Eggshell), she’s empowered as hell. She’s earned it.”

The modern coastal grandmother gives women an outlet to embrace femininity while also acknowledging their independence and strength. Don’t forget what makes the aesthetic luxurious— all the years lived and worked before it.

As Flanagan explains, “Coastal grandmother isn’t the thing! Coastal grandmother is the reward for the thing.”5 ■

3 Warren Cassell Jr., “Who Is Martha Stewart,” Investopedia, October 5, 2021 4 Caitlin Flanagan, “I’m a Coastal Grandmother. Stop Appropriating Our Culture,” The Atlantic, June 1, 2022 5 Caitlin Flanagan, “I’m a Coastal Grandmother. Stop Appropriating Our Culture," The Atlantic,