This year, the autumnal equinox, or the first day of fall, was Thursday, September 22. Fall brings about many traditions, holidays, and activities for people of all ages and the appreciation for the fall season is abundant at Apex High School.

According to a poll taken of over one hundred students, 111 to be exact, 41.4% of students’ favorite season is fall. When asked their favorite parts of fall, some of the most popular answers were Halloween and dressing in costume, getting seasonal items like a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks, hiking, jumping in leaves, pumpkin carving, and eating anything apple flavored. All of these things fall into the classic fall aesthetic.

The fall aesthetic has seemed to gain popularity over the past few years, partially due to social media. Posting a cute photoshoot in a pumpkin patch on Instagram or countdown to Halloween TikToks have become much more common in recent years. The fall aesthetic is simple but appealing to many people, especially teenagers with an Instagram account.

 So what is the fall aesthetic? The fall aesthetic basically consists of sweaters, scented candles, leaves, pumpkin spice flavored everything, and a color palette of earth tones, reds, yellows, and oranges. That is the general fall aesthetic, but it can mean different things to different people. Some people may lean more towards the indoor aesthetic of tea, candles, books, and fuzzy blankets while other people may lean towards hiking through the woods, bonfires, pumpkin patches and jumping into piles of leaves. Someone’s first thoughts of fall could be haunted houses, dressing up for Halloween, and carving pumpkins while someone else may think of football, Thanksgiving dinner, and hiking.

“The fall aesthetic is kind of just made up of warm things. Warm tones, warm clothes, it’s all centered around comfort.”- Rose Andrews

“Red, orange, and yellow are the main colors; leaves everywhere and candles are a lot of what I think of. And ghosts, and old libraries too, almost like dark academia in a way.”- Emily Hoder

Buying into the fall aesthetic is a large part of getting in the mood for fall, whether it be commercialized, like buying a Starbucks drink; stylistically, such as wearing sweaters, flannels, and jeans again; or an activity, like decorating for Halloween or going to a pumpkin patch. No matter what people do this fall, chances are that it will be a part of the fall aesthetic.