The Christian Girl Fall Meme is the successor to the “Hot Girl Summer” trend, trading unbridled sexy fun for sweaters and lattes. The meme began as a one-off joke in a tweet that included a photo of two influencers snuggling up to each other wrapped in large scarves, and sparked a political and social controversy that eventually prompted women to react.

Five years later, people are still talking about Christian Girl Autumn and what it means in terms of fashion, aesthetics and attitude.

In stark contrast to the Hot Girl Summer meme, started by rapper Megan Thee Stallion, Christian Girl Autumn is the somewhat mocking idea of ​​a white woman sipping pumpkin spice lattes in simple but fashionable outfits and posing for staged Instagram photos with her best friends.

Twitter users poked fun at the original photo, calling the vibe “basic,” but some embraced the idea of ​​a healthy and cozy season filled with simple pleasures like overpriced coffee drinks, wool blankets, and Ugg shoes.

Who started the Christian Girl Autumn meme?

Christian Girl Autumn was originally a joke by social media user Natasha, who performed on TikTok under the name Blizzy McGuire. According to a BuzzFeed interview, McGuire came up with the idea on August 9, 2019, and wanted to embody it with a look that matched the title, so she searched for a few specific terms.

“I literally googled ‘cute church outfits’ and ‘any outfits with scarves’ and started using those images as reaction photos for my jokes,” Natasha said.

The result was a photo of Southern influencers Emily Gemma and Caitlin Covington wearing cardigans, loop scarves and skinny jeans while sporting almost identical long curly hairstyles. She posted this on her account with a simple message:

“Hot Girl Summer is coming to an end, get ready for Christian Girl Autumn.”

Gemma and Covington both run fashion and lifestyle blogs and have 1.1 million and 1.3 million followers on Instagram respectively. The photo is from a shoot three years before the Christian Girl Autumn tweet, and Covington admitted the outfits were dated in 2019.

“We look so simple in our scarves and with our pumpkin spice lattes in our hands,” she said.

Christian girl in fall vs. hot girl in summer

Megan Thee Stallion released the song “Hot Girl Summer” on the same day as Natasha’s tweet. Speaking to The Root, the rapper described the idea as authentic and unashamedly fun.

“Basically, it’s just about women – and men – being themselves without apologizing for it… You definitely have to be a person who can be the life of the party.”

The idea of ​​a Christian Girl Autumn can therefore be defined as something much more understated and relaxed and perhaps a little posed or contrived, similar to the highly polished Instagram photos posted by many aspiring lifestyle influencers.

What is the personality of an “autumn girl”?

The concept of girls loving fall predates the Christian Girl Autumn meme by many years. Every year, introverts eagerly welcome the colder days, tired of the heat, sweat, and pressure to go outside, and craving a cozy sweater and a hot coffee.

Fall girls enjoy the fresh air that makes them want to go back inside, snuggle under a blanket and watch TV alone. They look forward to the artistic atmosphere of changing leaves, orange and red outfits and of course, Halloween.

But as Gemma noted, once you start getting to know the Fall Girls rather than pigeonholing them, you’ll realize they’re not all the same.

“I think people have realized that not all white girls who love fall fashion and pumpkin spice fit our typical look,” she told BuzzFeed.

Covington pushed back against the notion that her Christianity makes her anti-LGBTQ. She said she has both gay and transgender friends and accepts them for who they are.

She showed her support by donating to the original creator of the “Christian Girl Autumn” meme, whose real name is Natasha, as she began her gender transition in 2020. After the funnywoman posted her GoFundMe page for gender transition costs in September, Covington donated some of the money she earned thanks to the meme’s sudden influx of followers. She donated $500 to the campaign and promoted it with a message on Twitter.

“FYI, this is the creator of the Christian Girl Autumn meme,” she wrote. “Please help and donate to Go Fund Me if you can!”

The fundraiser was successful and raised $8,235 for Natasha.

Meme examples

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