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We’re in bleak midwinter in Australia, plotting summer escapes while dodging bomb cyclones, but according to TikTok, our summer vibes won’t be shrieking over Aperol spritzes with the girls. Instead, it’s silence, scripture and self-reflection.
Interest in #Monkmode is spiking in the US, and convents and monasteries are filling with women following White Lotus‘ Piper Ratliff’s lead and booking holy retreats. Originally, #Monkmode had its place in the manosphere, where men turned to monastic principles of abstinence as a form of self-improvement. But now, the girlies are in the building. TikTok user MC, who has built an audience documenting her side quests, was noticed by Bustle when she declared her favourite Catholic monastery in upstate New York was all booked out for the season. Usually, “You just email the nuns”, but this year, she was waitlisted.
Monasteries and convents have usually provided settings for nightmarish metaphors for patriarchy in horror movies. In 2024, Sydney Sweeney played Sister Cecilia, a young American nun joining a remote Italian convent in Immaculate. That same year, The First Omen depicted women taking the cloth with similarly spooky outcomes.
But in 2025, they’re being treated like wellness centres. On TikTok, women are drawing a line, or a walled castle, between themselves and the demands of everyday life by taking silent retreats at convents and monasteries. And it’s not just about looking for male-free zones (MC clarified that she’s “in love” and has a boyfriend, but when the monastery calls, you simply have to answer it.”)
Publications like The Cut and Bustle suggest that women are drawn to everything from the notion of more communal living to a chance to reduce their screen time and interior decor inspiration. There is a kind of extreme Marie Kondo minimalism to some of the monastic stays featured on TikTok.
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Putting some doubly reinforced brick walls between you and the outside world in the hope of some inner peace makes sense when there are so many areas of our lives where we can be contacted. Apps on our phones, from Feeld and Hinge to Uber Eats, are sending us push notifications, and our DMs are a hive of activity. Entering a space where it seems like a spiritual faux pas to take a peek at our screens seems like our best chance at a technologically silent retreat.
However, this rise in monkishness hasn’t just been evident on our social media feeds and holiday planners. It’s also been on our runways and wardrobes. Some of the biggest trends this year have included Pinterest-predicted Castlecore, along with a medieval core (and the more Ella Enchanted-inspired Medieval Y2K Core). As noted by Vogue, labels from Zoe Gustavi, Christopher Esber, Fendi, Ullah Johnson and Alberta Ferretti made allusions to the cloister in their fall/winter collections, while Burberry went whole holy war, sending a medieval knight down the runway.
Away from the international runways, indie labels like Catholic Guilt, which dressed Julia Fox on her recent visit to Australia, and J’adorable are taking over the club.
Given the current political climate in which the most corrupt individuals in our society seem to hold the most power and visibility, the notion of a kind of spiritual war and retreat into asceticism (away from the Bezos and Sánchez wedding of it all) makes sense.
The post Why Are Young Women Are Going #Monkmode? appeared first on ELLE.
