A Love Letter to Autumn
The collective obsession with all things fall-related and how to embrace the most comforting season of the year, even as a summer lover …
Words: Emma Stevens
“I’ve always known that summer was my season. My birthday is in the middle of July; I have amassed a collection of summer dresses to last a lifetime, and I live in a seaside town in a flat that allows me to see the ocean from my living room window. When my mum took me to get my colours done at the age of four, a practice that involves holding swatches of different coloured fabric against the skin to determine the best-suited tones, she was immediately informed that I suited only the ‘summer colours’. My most vivid childhood memories are those from the summer, most notably of my brother and I taking turns to run through a water sprinkler in our garden, an activity that signalled that the season had well and truly arrived.
As a kid, the concept of autumn seemed kind of boring in comparison. It indicated that the holidays were over and that school was returning. It meant that the weather was starting to turn and that playing outside would no longer be possible. The only good thing I remember about autumn was the conkers. Once, on a school trip, someone found a huge conker tree and the whole day turned into a frenzy of kids climbing onto each other’s shoulders to see who could collect the most conkers. The teachers were overjoyed about that one. Halloween was pretty good, too, although attending a Christian primary school meant pretending that you didn’t celebrate it until you got home, when you would quickly transform into a witch and go trick-or-treating with your atheist neighbours. We were the fun kind of Christians.
“Comfort food in comfy clothes whilst you get comfy under your comfiest duvet. ”
I don’t remember the exact time that autumn started to become something to look forward to, but I believe it to be around the same time that Starbucks started to introduce their autumnal range of beverages. Suddenly, autumn didn’t signal school or colder temperatures anymore, it meant that you could enjoy pumpkin spice lattes and caramel apple macchiatos – drinks that made you feel like you were in a New York-based sitcom. And then there were the leaves. Everyone became obsessed with leaves. Now, this seasonal phenomenon has always been pretty impressive, but I put the obsession down to the introduction of Instagram. As soon as October hits, you cannot move for amber-hued squares on your home feed. And every year you find yourself scrolling through them, leaf after leaf, but you just can’t help but tap that little like button…because LEAVES.
And then there’s the food. Cold salads and juices are out, soups and hot chocolates are in. It’s all about comfort food. Comfort food in comfy clothes whilst you get comfy under your comfiest duvet. In the summer, you had to care about beach bodies and looking tanned, but now you can allow yourself to become pale and layer knitwear until you can’t tell whether you’ve put on some weight or it’s just that you’re wearing five jumpers. And who really cares, once it hits 5pm it’s too dark to see you, anyway. Halloween is a bigger deal now, too. It progressed from an innocent little endeavour into atheism and blackmail, into a fully-fledged holiday that took over half the supermarket. Pumpkins used to be normal sized and collected from a small corner of the Co-Op - now, people go and pick beach ball-sized pumpkins from vegetable patches that exist specifically for that purpose. There was one year when everyone seemed to be painted with ‘Day of the Dead’-themed makeup, presumable because we’d all seen the same YouTube tutorial.
When I asked friends what they loved most about autumn, the answers were rooted in comfort: pumpkin soup, warm coats, crunchy orange leaves, beanies, the hat hair that comes from wearing beanies, chai lattes, knitted dog jumpers, Sunday roasts, the mutual dislike of Sunday roasts (not on board with this one), cosy pubs, Halloween games, seasonal films. I think I’ve noticed that this year, more than any other year, people are really leaning into this feeling of cosiness and comfort and familiarity. It’s not a total surprise, considering the past year and a half. Autumn is a pretty reliable season; you know exactly what you’re getting…and what you’re getting is a shit-tonne of photos of orange leaves.”
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Click here to read Emma’s previous submission, Things I Never Thought I’d Miss: A Commuter’s Tale, or find her on Instagram at @emmalouise_stevens.