a romantic autumn

How I'll make the season mine

This summer was uncharacteristically grey and rainy even for England. Perhaps it’s the disappointment that the season brought, or maybe just the excitement of a new term and a new life. Either way, when I woke up this morning to a faint chill gnawing at my skin where I had slept under the window, my heart leapt a little.

Autumn has long been my favourite season, for reasons unknown to me, because I’m definitely no stranger to SAD. There’s a warmth that belies the cold weather, though. Every time the summer air cracks apart and a breeze flows through, I can’t help but get excited for the upcoming season; the warm layers, the coffee, the beautiful colours of autumn. I love it ALL <33

Maybe it’s because I’ve been told I’m like Rory Gilmore for as long as I can remember, or maybe it’s my propensity to re-watch Bridget Jones and fantasize about Mark Darcy.

Either way, Rory Gilmore (pre-yacht-stealing) and Bridget Jones are two of my favourite comfort characters, and in order to romanticise the colder months at university, I’m planning to channel them both, and here’s how:

Firstly, I’ll be blasting ‘There She Goes’ every day on my way to uni. My coffee will be sprinkled with cinnamon to add a little bit of warmth to the chill in the air, and I’ll be bundled in my dad’s old jumpers because I can’t bring him with me but I can wear his old clothes.

My wardrobe will consist of skirts and tights, chunky jumpers and my Converse, littered with silver jewellery because I like the way it shines when I type my essays.

Red additions to my basic outfits; red socks, hair clips, the red bracelet gifted by my friend. Notes of warmth that I can pretend exude physical heat when the winter wind bites my cheeks.

I’m embracing the ‘frazzled english woman’ aesthetic this autumn. I often chase a misguided need for perfection, for being put together, and it’s actually quite tiring. This autumn, my bedroom will be insulated with the clutter that forms me, claw clips and trinkets littering the drawers that burst at the seams with jumpers and socks. Photos and postcards of friends and places, because the leaves are dead but I’m more alive than ever.

Natural hair, because blue-black hair actually doesn’t suit me as well as my natural brown, and I’m tired of scrubbing bathroom tiles to remove the shameful stains of trying to change me.

Notebooks and pens, much like Bridget’s diary. The mechanical sound of typing rattles in my hollow skull, emptied after a long day of class. The only way to translate the strings of my mind is to lay them out on paper, drawing them out through my fingertips until they make sense on the page. They can live there instead of in my head.

Using the ‘autumn bucket list’ I have with my best friend, determined to make the best of the dreary university days of studying and rain. Autumn walks, movie days, and cake decorating await us as the weather turns colder and our home gets warmer.

Fresh flowers and house plants, because the leaves are dying but I need life to go on.

Reading

I’m studying two literature modules this term, so I won’t be pressuring myself to meet a reading goal. I’ll re-read the classics that warm me from the inside out and birth seeds of inspiration behind my eyes:

• Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë

• Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

• The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

• The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt

If I do muster enough energy to read something new, the books I have my sights on are:

• A Certain Hunger - Chelsea G. Summers

• The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson

• I Who Have Never Known Men - Jacqueline Harpman

(if you’ve read any of these, please let me know what you thought of them!)

Watching

Like everyone else, I’ll be re-watching ‘Gilmore Girls’ and discussing with my friends which of the boyfriends was best (It was Jess). I’m already fighting the urge to put it on, waiting for the perfect moment to hear the theme song for the first time since the last time the leaves turned brown.

‘Only Murders in the Building’ started its fourth season at the end of August, and for me, that’s the signal of the approaching autumn and winter seasons. The show is warm, funny, and familiar (aside from the murder) and it’s my favourite thing to watch when the skies turn grey and the leaves fall around me.

‘Hocus Pocus’!!! I find it so hard to find good autumnal films that aren’t horrors, and aside from the Tim Burton repertoire, this is my favourite. This movie, along with ‘Sabrina the Teenage Witch’, was the reason I wanted a black cat <3

‘The X-Files’ just has to be rewatched every autumn. I remember the first time I watched an episode. I was a little girl and my dad put on the episode about the Chupacabra and I remember being terrified, yet when I came to rewatch it years later, there was something comforting in the familiarity. I LOVE the dynamic between Mulder and Scully, and the vibe is just so autumnal and cosy, especially the pilot scene when Scully gets worried about the marks on her back and runs to Mulder to check them. They invented pining.

Romcoms are by far my favourite genre of film. I love the predictability and the idea of falling in love is just so warm. I’ll be re-watching all of my favourites this season, including ‘Notting Hill’, ‘The Proposal’, ‘Four Weddings' and a Funeral’, and a new addition to my arsenal: ‘Hope Springs’. I don’t know why it took me so long to watch this movie because I quite literally adore Colin Firth and the movie is filled with his sweet charm and autumnal colours. It’s quite perfect, actually.

Autumn is the perfect season for comfort watches, so for me it’ll be almost anything with Hugh Grant or Colin Firth in it <3

Channeling

There’s a specific vibe that comes with autumn. It resides in the mundane, the small moments that breathe magic into the day. For me, it looks like:

💌 Bringing your friend a mug of tea. Because you know their order and you know they’ll love it. Bonus points if you have separate mugs for beverage type; coffee mugs and tea mugs are different (as established by my best friend Minna <3)

💌 Making yourself queasy from smelling candles when you decide to go shopping on a rainy Sunday

💌 Embracing your natural hair, whatever it looks like. Not only does it save time, but the rain will ruin it anyway

💌 Handpainting your nails from home, hunched at your desk with a backache and a glass of wine. Youtube optional. Ideally, it’s a burgundy or dark purple (Florals for Spring? Groundbreaking)

💌 This quote from Never Let Me Go, because what better time than autumn to bare your soul: “Pictures, poetry, all that kind of stuff, she said they revealed what you were like inside. She said they revealed your soul.”

Listening

Dance Fever by Florence + The Machine. It’s warm and dark and pairs beautifully with the rain that autumn brings. The same goes for Rumors by Fleetwood Mac. I have both of these albums on vinyl and I adore the warmth of the crackles on my turntable.

‘I Wish I Was the Moon’ by Neko Case

My Romanticising Autumn playlist, particularly when I’m walking to campus with a coffee in hand:

Beyond music, I’m currently (slowly) making my way through Ottessa Moshfegh’s ‘Lapvona’. I listen to the audiobook on Spotify whenever music just isn’t cutting it for me. I love ‘weird’ literature (think Bunny and Our Wives Under the Sea). This book is definitely weird, but there’s something about it I just adore.

Consuming

Stewed apples and cinnamon will be topping the porridge that I stir bleary-eyed on the hob, shuffling my sock-covered feet and trying to shed the weight of sleep, glancing outside at the grey sky.

Soup Sundays will be back and better than ever - my flatmates and I gather our leftover vegetables for the week, roasting them and blending them together into a soup. Sometimes we treat ourselves with fresh bread, breaking and sharing around the kitchen table as we comfort each other to ward away the dread of a new week.

Fig jam and cheese toasties, the ultimate comfort food. Warm and sweet like the autumn air and seasoned with tears of laughter and stress.

Hot Vimto!! (don’t hate me) In the colder weather, I’m glued to my mug and fuelled only by hot drinks, and sometimes tea and coffee is just too much. Hot Vimto reminds me of when I was little and it’s especially comforting when I’m back at uni away from home.

Herbal tea is absolutely essential and luckily, I have lots of it. My favourites are Enchanted Narnia and Bedknobs and Broomsticks by Bird & Blend.

Wearing

Inspired by my Outfits, board on Pinterest, my autumn wardrobe consists of skirts and jumpers, paired with leather jackets or scarves. Specifically, I live in my dark pink or grey turtlenecks. When it rains, I switch to jeans and dad jumpers because there is nothing worse than wet tights.

My favourite cardigan is the ASOS DESIGN crew neck cardigan. Mine is navy but there are different colours (and I want them all).

My go-to skirt is from Uniqlo. I got it almost two years ago and I wear it with everything (along with the iconic crossbody bag).

This autumn, I’m really liking cropped trench coats like this one! I think they’re so cute for dressing up or dressing down, and I love layering with coats like these.

My shoe rotation is quite strong this year I think! My go-tos will be my black/red converse, my Adidas spezials (mine are navy and cream), my mary janes (paired with heart socks of course), or my Doc Martens, an essential to survive in the autumn rain.

Coveting

• Jo Malone Orange Marmalade perfume

• Garnet Jewellery

• Oyster shell trinket dishes

• dragonfly hairclips/hair pins

• Tiffany Lamps

• Gucci Flora Gorgeous Orchid

• The entire Halloween jellycat range, but particularly the Spookipaws cat

• The Lucinda watch and bracelet set by Cordelia Rose