Weird Girl Autumn

You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again: brat summer is over.

Summer was heavily characterized by Charli XCX’s Brat; full of lime green tones and leopard print, staying up until the sun rises, and blasting hyperpop music from every speaker imaginable. Now this isn’t to say that Brat is dead because the Sweat Tour is on in full force and with a new remixed album coming out in October… The year of brat is hardly halfway through.

That being said, with the autumn equinox happening only a couple of days ago, we can’t pretend that the changing of the seasons doesn’t bring about the changing of aesthetics and auras. Autumn is a time of slowing down, embracing softness, and leaning into the melancholic days that slowly get shorter.

In a time where every period is categorized by a specific niche, the niche of this autumn is that of the weird girl. They’re off putting, strange, unapologetically themselves, in an essence, weird. If we could give it a look it would be grandpa sweaters and mismatched mugs, dirty Converse, a constant stream of Kate Bush through headphones, and thrifted outfits and books on the bus.

But beyond just the aesthetic, being a weird girl is more about being unapologetically yourself. Take the trope of “manic pixie dream girl” but remove the extreme male gaze. Think along the lines of the movies: Dinner in America, Poor Things, Ghost World, or Amelie with casts of eccentric characters. Also recommended for the weird-girl genre: Lisa Frankenstein, The Love Witch, Black Swan, and most horror movies that leave you asking “what just happened?” Because after all, fall isn’t complete without watching anything supernatural.

As for the weird-girl book genre, my personal recommendations are: Bunny by Mona Awad, Little Weirds by Jenny Slate, I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Ian Reid, Writers & Lovers by Lily King, the Twilight saga (always a fall must read), and anything by Otessa Moshfegh.

Eccentricity is the true definition of weird girl autumn. It’s about fully being quirky and off-putting, even though that can be considered just living your life to the fullest; whether that’s going back to enjoying your middle school interests, or seeing the art of life in every little thing. Brat summer, you were loved, but your time has ended. It’s time for the fall of the freak.