Samyukta Menon, Visakhapatnam
It’s that time of the year again when our Instagram feeds are filled with pictures of a cup of coffee in front of a window and every post is captioned “sweater weather”. It’s finally time to bring out the scented candle labelled ‘pumpkin’ and try to remember to light it every day to get into the autumn mood. The fall aesthetic is a unique one, it is right between hot girl summer
and 'icy girl szn' (because that’s definitely a thing), and is an aesthetic loved by all.
The term ‘fall aesthetic’ covers everything that makes up the season of autumn as we know it. It ranges from books and movies to clothes and décor and even includes food. Though it initially gained traction in the western culture, it has slowly seeped into the Indian culture and here it has taken its form.
While the western fall aesthetic and the Indian fall aesthetic have several differences, in some aspects they are quite similar. Both revolve around the same colours and food which warm you up from the inside. In the west this may be the infamous “pumpkin spice latte” (what is this obsession with kaddu!?) and though we don’t have anything specific on our side, from my research I have concluded that chai, pakora and weirdly enough gajar ka halwa are all-time favourites for the month of autumn. (yes gajar, i.e carrot halwa)
In the category of colours and clothes, the theme of the season is red, orange and brown. Since this is when the weather starts cooling down, more warm and mellow colours are in favour. It’s the perfect season to pair your black combat boots with plaid skirts and oversized sweaters or maybe it’s finally time for the spotlight to shine on the rugged flannel and plaid trousers you have in the back of your closet. (do you see a trend with the plaid). The style of clothing for this aesthetic is mainly cosy and homely with a touch of grunge, that is, black turtlenecks and maybe a dash of silver jewellery. Bottom line is that it is time to listen to the entire tracklist of Taylor Swift’s folklore album (as it gives me very much fall vibes) while simultaneously breaking out the cardigans you have in storage.
Now, while clothes are an important component of what makes up the fall aesthetic as we know it, another crucial factor, and personally one of my favourites is books. Fall is the perfect season to sit at home, curled up in a blanket, maybe with some snacks and just read. The best kind of book for this is an up and coming subgenre of crime fiction books called “cosy mysteries”.
These types of books do not consist of much violence, are usually set in a small town and the detective is an amateur sleuth. Books written by Agatha Christie often fall into this genre, after all the cosy mystery groundwork was laid by none other than the queen of mystery herself. Books like the Nancy Drew series and Enid Blyton’s various mystery novels can also be coined as cosy mysteries.
But books are not the only way to get into the fall spirit.
Another way you could do it is obviously by spending your time binge-watching all the Harry Potter movies. Nothing screams fall quite like a Harry Potter film does, but if the world of wizards is not your cup of pumpkin spice latte(see what I did there) then various other films personally leave me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. These range from a good whodunit like ‘Murder on the Orient Express’, to a cult classic like ‘Dead Poet’s Society,’ to romance movies with captivating backdrops like ‘Jab We Met’ and ‘When Harry Met Sally’ or to just some good old kids movies like ‘Coco’ and the Disney classic ‘Hocus Pocus.’ Or you could just watch every piece of cinema under the crime and horror genre as most do. But that’s only if you really want to get into the aesthetic.
At this point, the fall aesthetic is an art form. After everything it’s made up of and all the things you need to do to truly get into it, would you say otherwise? But worry not for this is the perfect guide, which will teach you beginner levels everything you need to know. All you gotta do is find a pumpkin(or hey maybe gajar ka halwa, new trend), a fluffy blanket and get warm.
After all, 'tis the season of cosiness!