Leaves crunch beneath you with each step as you trudge home. It’s a good thing the chill in the air keeps you on your path because if you weren’t just slightly too cold you’d stay out forever.
The sun is beaming on your face, peeking through trees and casting a golden glow on the path ahead. You aren’t in a rush, though. You know when you get back, there will be a blanket with your name on it and some flannel pajama pants waiting at your closet door.
You’re biding time, like we all do during this time of year. As you wait out the clock and watch the sunset, you wonder how it’s always felt like this. Year after year, you drag your feet as winter draws upon you like an awful shadow. This feeling doesn’t ever change.
The energy behind fall as a season is fascinating on all fronts — from aesthetic to cultural. It is an extremely reflective and nostalgic season. Fall represents a transition between the two most opposite seasons in not only landscape but also in sentiment.
Maybe that’s why it feels so ancient.
Fall represents the juxtaposition between the warm, lively summer and the cold, barren winter. It’s a season in limbo, defined by both reflection of the months previous, and anticipation of what’s to come.
Autumnal aesthetics are of particular interest and importance. We live in a highly visual culture, and seasons are often defined by evocative imagery and defining colors, often seen through fashion as it adapts to our environment.
It feels as though fall traditions can be more archaic than other seasons. Fall seems to have an eerie energy surrounding it, with fall being a backdrop for many age-old urban legends and tall tales. This may be due to the confluence of weather changes, time-honored traditions and the existential threat of the passing of time as represented by both of these factors. This is greatly reflected in the visuals that have come to define autumn in the cultural imagination, such as gothic architecture, campfires, and imagery relating to the changing of fall colors.
Marilyn DeLong, professor emeritus in the College of Design at the University of Minnesota, said fall in the aesthetic realm is defined by protection and camouflage with our physical environment. It is also a continuation of basic winter preparation taught to us in our youths by those who knew better, as this wisdom is passed down through generations.
“The fall aesthetic is defined by autumn hues of gold, orange, deep red, and brown,” DeLong said. “Layering becomes a way to add warmth and a feeling of coziness. A T-shirt and denim blue jeans can be layered with a cardigan or sweatshirt. Our feet transform from wearing sandals to being covered with stockings for warmth. Even our brightly colored toenails can take a rest as they hide in the loafer or bootie. Covering the head and feet is something we heard from our mothers about the necessity of keeping warm.”
Ada Gabert Nicholson, a third-year College of Design student and member of Golden Magazine, said fall is defined, in part, by a homespun feeling.
“Fall specifically feels like a close-to-home connotation,” Nicholson said. “At least for me, I always think of my family, my home and kind of where I came from, but also just changes, like resetting and preparing for winter.”
The emphasis placed on fall’s antiquity cannot be overstated. It has an inherent nostalgic quality, reflected in sweaters, classic earth tones and comfortable clothing that never really looks out of place, nor does it go out of style.
Modern fashion hasn’t changed the fall uniform, despite trends.
People have worn sweaters and boots for generations now. Fall is a season defined aesthetically by staples that, for more or less, remain constant. As our physical surroundings become more volatile and unpredictable, we stick to what we know.
To Emily Pham, a second-year student, sweaters and cardigans are defining staples of fall fashion, as are minimal accessories as the feeling of cold metal on the skin is especially unpleasant as the temperature lowers.
Khalid Mohamed, a third-year student, said his personal philosophy for fall fashion is that it’s meant to be classic and functional, with a defining motif being earth tones that mimic scenery and outfits that allow for an easy transition between warmer days and colder nights.
The purpose of fall fashion is not to be overly aestheticized or impractical. There is an emphasis on classic and basic outfits, with minimalism being a defining element for many people because of its functionality.
People tend to go back to what they know rather than experimenting with something completely new because it’s more manageable on a sensory level, and less risky with unpredictable weather. This leads to a timeless fall look that builds upon tried and true outfits mimicked from older generations.
What is “classic” can look and feel vintage. This is a large contributor to the sense of nostalgia that fall brings. Similar staples can be defined as anything from country chic to bohemian, to dark academia.
A lot of what defines fall aesthetically, at least in fashion, is timeless. It’s in direct contrast with the consumer-manufactured need for new and more. What we already have will work. It has for as long as we can remember.
Another reason why fall feels so old is its preoccupation with death and decay.
The seasonal changes that come with fall have existed long before us and will continue to repeat long after we’re gone.
Fall reminds us of the passing of years and that, like the leaves, plants, and insects, we too are mortal.
Perhaps we tell each other ghost stories, folk tales and urban legends to commiserate over this. Some celebrate Halloween every year and invite young ones into this tradition. They come for the candy and stay for the community, as the rot continues through Thanksgiving.
It seems to me that it’s not a coincidence how Halloween, the holiday with a tradition around fear and legend, happens earlier in the season and further from winter than Thanksgiving. It’s a holiday built around the anxieties that characterize fear of loss, and an uneasiness toward what lurks in the shadows that grow with each day.
Thanksgiving, however, happens well into the decaying process. It is centered around not only acceptance of the changing landscape and life cycle, but also gratitude and appreciation for loved ones.
Fall is a season that reflects our anxieties and hopes back onto us, and its aesthetic constancy across generations serves as an indication of time’s passage and the life cycles it coincides with.
Its timeless nature only furthers its mysticism and continues to make it a subject of intrigue for not only myself, but much of the cultural imagination at large.
The feelings that fall has evoked for centuries continue to be celebrated, honored and passed down. It not only represents fear, grief and acceptance, but embodies it in a way that makes it reflective of, and as old as, life itself.
