Flirting with Fashion? The Coquette Style Aestethic might just wink back ;)

Sugar, spice, and everything nice! This pretty much sums up the modern take on the coquette aesthetic. 

This fashion trend caters to our romantic and playful side. With its retro nostalgic roots going back to the Victorian times, and the dance halls of Versaille, the coquette aesthetic has the perfect mix of sweetness and audacity. 

It’s where bold confidence meets playful flirtation, and it might just be the style crush you need to explore!

What Exactly is the Coquette Aesthetic?

The coquette aesthetic is a fashion trend that first appeared in the 1990s and then saw a reboot in the 2010s. And no surprise, it was recently re-popularized on Tiktok. But, the overall vibes of this style trend have roots going back to the 18th-century Rococo era and the Victorian times.  So if you’re truly vibing with this trend, I suggest you deep dive into the history of it and find your unique spin on it, so that you might carry those details through to your authentic personal style expression.

Unlike its previous appearances, the resurgence of the coquette aesthetic nowadays has a more solid and well-defined presence. The Gen Z audience, Hollywood celebrities, and many Fashion houses made sure to give it a place of prominence.

The coquette style is a playful, flirtatious, and unapologetically feminine style that’s visually and sensually appealing. It’s a far cry from the other core trends that have been popping up lately like the Mob Wife Aesthetic or the Office Siren. It has some similarities to Cottagecore and the whole Barbie pink world, but, with much more lace and frills. 

And while it can veer girly/romantic and pink, it seems cheekier than the Barbiecore trend we saw rise in popularity during the Barbie movie premiere. 

The key elements of the coquette aesthetic are delicate romantic silhouettes, soft colors, delicate details, and playful accessories. 

I want to emphasize that there are many creative ways to try this style trend and it doesn’t need to be overly sexy, show skin, or only include dresses.

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Where Did the Coquette Fashion Trend Come From? 

18th-century European fashion styles directly influence the coquette aesthetic. It’s a replica of Jane Austen’s country dresses and Marie Antoinette ball gowns. The corsets, pastel colors, floral prints, and excessive romanticism are all common across that historic era fashion and today’s recreation of it.   

One of the factors that contributed to reviving the coquette look is the Japanese Lolita fashion trend of the 1990s. This subculture draws from the controversial story by Nabokov, along with Victorian and Rococo-era fashion. 

In the 2010s, the soft girl aesthetic made a strong comeback. It was a movement that balanced the rough cuts and unisex styles of the millennium. Florals, polka dot prints, sheer fabrics, and playfulness found their way to every runway. However, it wasn’t a well-defined style just yet. 

Brands like Anna Sui and Blumarine, are great examples of the coquette aesthetic.

If we want to examine where the term “coquette” was first used as a fashion term, a lovely member of my facebook group, shared the following example. It is from the book “Designing Women” by Margaretta Byers.

Now, this may stray from the trend that is currently happening in fashion 2024, but it’s fascinating to the roots of these words and how they have been interpreted over the years! And, I’ve already bought my copy of the book to deep dive into further.

Social media platforms started focusing on celebrities who adopted the coquette look around 2020. They pushed and promoted this fashion statement heavily in 2023, to the point that it became easily recognizable and quite popular.  And we are seeing it carry and evolve into 2024.

Coquette Outfit How-To

The coquette aesthetic is all about sweetness and playfulness, with a touch of audacity and flirtatiousness. Here are some of the hallmarks of that fashion trend.

1. Color Palette

Pastels dominate the coquette aesthetic, there’s no doubt about that! Typically, you’d see pink, lavender, mint, cream, and baby blue. White is another classic color for this trend, and probably one of the easier colors to wear out in the real world. 

A coquette wouldn’t stick to any rules though, so you’ll occasionally find this trend merged with some other color palettes or some vampier colors integrated to add a more mature look. 

High chroma or bright colors aren’t often used for this trend as it can go a bit 80s with the added vibrancy.  So if you’re a winter in seasonal color analysis, try opting for the white colors or using one of your “icey” shades.  

2. Clothing Silhouettes

Vintage-inspired silhouettes are a great place to start for a coquette outfit. Ruffled blouses, puff sleeves, corsets, flowy skirts, and baby-doll dresses are all flirtatious statements. 

A-line dresses are also acceptable as coquettish outfits, as long as they have the right color, a few added delicate details, and you wear them with suitable accessories.  We want them to be floaty and have movement. 

Empire waist dresses are also fantastic, as well as simple slip dresses.  With a a simpler silhouette you can allow your makeup and hair to shine and complete your look.  This doesn’t need to be complicated or filled with allll the accessories and details. 

You want soft fabrics and delicate details. Nothing overly heavy or stiff.  Bows, ruffles, and small beading can also be great touches to look for. 

Sheer fabrics and light-colored laces are also especially effective. 

3. Delicate Details

Lace is an easy yes for this fashion trend, but focus on lighter color laces which more easily accomplish this look.  If you go too dark in value or pick a more typical romantic style like red or burgundy you might veer into siren territory instead of coquette! 

Then come ruffles, bows, and ribbons. Silks, satins, and sheer fabrics like chiffon or organza can be great.  Organza does have more structure than a typical coquette, so it’s best if you pair it with an obvious coquette silhouette to nail the full picture.  This dress is the perfect example of slightly more structure but still coquette in essence. 

You can also go with some beading if the color palette works and you keep your overall head-to-toe outfit flow in mind. Sydney Sweeney has a more romantic fitted dress but the light color palette, large bow, and energy of the look merge the coquette with the romance in a very successful way

Flora prints, dainty prints, and polka dot prints are all sweet and delicate enough to accentuate and define a coquette look. 

Smaller scale prints are usually the most effective or if you go larger try to opt for a more vintage-inspired or muted print.  We want to avoid any prints that scream “bold” or “daring”.  Because you are bold in a different way 😉

4. Hair and Makeup

Remember that a coquette is magnetic and playful, so the makeup should reflect that natural glow. An almost nude palette with round pink blush is perfect. But don’t be afraid to play up the cat eye or eyeliner, to give it a more modern take. Lily-Rose Depp embraces her coquette facial features with some more glam makeup and it fits this trend beautifully. 

Or if you prefer, you could opt for a bit more Marie Antoinette vibes. 

Hair styling should be delicate and soft. Soft and slightly messy are the vibes we are going for.  Soft volume a la Kirsten Dunst in Marie Antoinette is also an option.  Anything from that Sophia Coppola film could be used as great inspiration. 

Or you can go soft messy low bun, or use delicate hair accessories.  Soft voluminous scrunchies, hair bows, or even some floral hair clips can all help you achieve the flirtatious essence of the coquette. 

5. Playful Accessories

To give the outfit and hair styling the grand finale, accessories add cuteness and completeness to the look. Pearls, headbands, floral accessories, choker necklaces, heart-shaped jewelry, and dainty little purses will help you complete your look!  

You can even go a bit satirical with this.  Or you can opt for a bit more natural vibes, it depends on what style suits your essence and personal style goals best. 

6. Overall Vibe 

The overall vibe of the coquette aesthetic should be primarily playful and flirty. It should also feel sweet, feminine, and romantic.

Finally, this look is all about celebrating individuality and feminity, and tackling a new trend means you need the confidence to do that! Don’t think that you need to cosplay a young helpless girl to achieve this look. Strength, confidence, and softness can all co-exist!

Is Coquette Aesthetic the same as Ingenue Essence?

Both styles are easier to understand once we explore the meanings of ingenue and coquette in their original language. In French, the word “ingenue” means innocent, while “coquette” refers to being flirtatious and playful.

The ingenue aesthetic has a youthful energy and brightness but can also appear womanly and dress in a mature fashion.  The Coquette aesthetic is a vibe to create a head-to-toe look in this trend style, whereas the ingenue essence is the overall vibe your body/facial features/mannerisms exude.

The Kitchener Ingenue Essence has that youthfulness and does beautifully with the small details and color palette of the coquette aesthetic, but it’s not a “mandatory” look if you will.

So while this is a trend someone with Ingenue essence could try, I don’t want this aesthetic to box you in or make you feel like you need to dress overly girly or with coquette vibes.

Similarities Between Coquette and Ingenue Styles

There’s some overlap between the ingenue essence and coquette styles, especially in the youthful femininity and freshness of the look. 

When it comes to styles, both styles use pastels, delicate prints, florals, polka dots, pearls, and headbands.  They can also both lean into “small scale yin” details and light/fresh makeup styles.

A coquette could choose to go with soft makeup or opt for a little bit more definition. The idea is to be playful, not overtly seductive. Lana Del Rey, Lily-Rose Depp, and Sydney Sweeney are poster girls for the coquette look. While Alexis Bledel (unverified but my opinion*), Meg Ryan, and Emma Stone are perfect examples of the Kitchener ingenue essence.

Note: It was just brought to my attention that Kitchener uses the term “Coquette” to describe Romantic/Gamine blends (or romantic/high-spirited). Maggie Gyllenhal is typed as this blend. However, this style trend is not the same essence interpretation that he has and while it could be applied to someone with that RG blend, this is NOT a Kitchener based article.

So you can see that any Kibbe ID or Kitchener essence blend could accomplish the coquette aesthetic.  And to be honest I kind of love when yang-leaning women like Lana Del Ray do it so well.  It creates a wonderful and impactful impression. 

Coquette Outfit Ideas {Kibbe IDs}

Now, I’m not personally creating Kibbe-centric content in the way I used to, and if you want to know why, I have an article on that here.  But this section was requested and I thought I might just throw some coquette aesthetic outfits together for each Kibbe ID. 

Remember that these are not only my interpretations, but greatly generalize the suggestions for each ID and don’t account for an individual’s unique star image and head-to-toe outfit preferences. 

And it’s also very, very important to note that when going for a trend like this, the goal is not necessarily to harmonize it with your body type.  Kibbe’s system (imho) is about finding your “truest” personal style and proceeding through a “Metamorphosis” into your own star image.  So while I’m suggesting certain looks “might” harmonize better with your ID I’m in no way insinuating that this is the path to finding your ID or following Kibbe’s plan.  So please read those disclaimers carefully before you go and say “See, she clearly doesn’t understand what Kibbe’s system is about!”. 

Shop Coquette Outfits 

Here are some ideas to get you started with this trend (including a lot of the pieces from the above outfits!). 

However, before purchasing any trend pieces I recommend trying to get creative with the closet you already have and stretching your creativity to what this trend can mean to your personal style expression.  And, if you do plan to buy something for this trend ideally it integrates with your larger style goals. Alternatively, you designate a small* portion of your style budget to achieve the look.  We don’t want to clog our closets with too many pieces that are ultimately unaligned with our style goals! 

So after all of that, what do I really think of the coquette outfit trend? 

I think trends should be pursued as a fun way to explore your style and to bring you a bit of joy into your daily outfit game.  It’s fun to expand on what you think your style is and try and get creative with melding a trend WITH your own style toolbox.

I don’t recommend trying every trend out there but approach these burgeoning aesthetics as a style crush. One you explore and play around with, but that you might not “marry” long-term.  And with this in mind, approach it in a low commitment (time, effort, money), joyful place.

Fashion should be fun and stretch your creativity, but it also shouldn’t be so transient that you get to an overwhelmed state of too many trends, and not enough personal expression. 

Let’s find strength through style, together.