If you don’t have an urban aunt yourself, you probably know someone who does—or a woman who lives this ultra-chic lifestyle: Think Auntie Mame meets Annie Hall, with a touch of Glinda the Good Witch. An urban aunt has an unbelievably affordable (rent-controlled) apartment she’s lived for decades, where she’s created an environment uniquely and unequivocally centered around her tastes. She has a fully-stocked bar with expensive wine, a customized bookshelf, and a coffee table she splurged on. Everywhere you look in her curated home, you only see items that reflect her personality—which is as multi-layered and fascinating as her space.
Unlike some recent design trends (Barbiecore, dark Americana), the cool, urban aunt lifestyle has been around for years, but it’s just recently being translated into interior design. (It also provides a counter for the "tradwife" trend.)
“Aunts offer alternatives,” Patty Sotirin, author of the 2013 book Where the Aunts Are: Family, Feminism and Kinship in Popular Culture, told the Los Angeles Times. “They offer different ways of connecting us and give us a sense of other possibilities. These days, they are so important.”
The urban aunt decor aesthetic encapsulates maximalism layered with natural textures and finishes. You have exposed beams, brick walls, clean but scuffed floors, piles of books, and more art on the walls than you’d find in some small museums. Your urban aunt is a collector of people, clothes, and things. Souvenirs from trips she’s taken, gifts from spurned suitors, immaculate designer clothes found at second-hand stores: You can find all of these in her home. However, there’s no defined style that an she adheres to, and she’ll freely mix an antique rug with a brutalist table and ’70s chrome light fixtures. It’s about whatever catches her eye.
An urban aunt loves to entertain, and her home, no matter its size, is designed to have people over. There’s definitely a bar somewhere, whether it’s built-in and grand, filled with every kind of bourbon, or a small, vintage cart with cut-glass drinkware. The sofa can likely fit piles of people to lounge or crash on for the night, comfortable and timeworn in just the right way. The kitchen may not get much use (your urban aunt loves taking herself out to dinner), but there’s always plenty of ice in the freezer and the makings of a charcuterie board on hand.
Above all, the urban aunt home aesthetic focuses on individuality. If you told an urban aunt that her pink sofa clashes with her red pillows or that pairing plaid with polka dots doesn’t work, she’d probably laugh in your face and hand you another cocktail. Your urban aunt always knows best—so instead of questioning her choices, learn from them.