Turkey chili, frizz, and turtlenecks—in. Raves, book clubs, and little gem salads—out.
With the arrival of fall comes a host of new trends and the return of jam-packed schedules. To help you prepare for the onslaught, the CULTURED team polled some of our chicest and sharpest friends in the fields of art, entertainment, fashion, and media to ask what is in—and out—this fall. Their responses are chaotic, subjective, and exactly the inspiration you need to start fresh in this new season.
Jordan Firstman
This Los Angeles-based writer, producer, actor, and comedian came to fame during the long home-bound stretch of Covid doing incisive bits on Instagram. A behind-the-scenes writer on some of television's funniest series—including Search Party and The Other Two—Firstman became a staple in front of the camera, showing up in last year's film Rotting in the Sun and joining Rachel Sennott in a champagne-soaked ice bath on TikTok this summer.
WHAT'S IN:
- Fender benders
- Turkey chili
- Long phone calls
- Amazing and expensive basics
- Pickled garlic
- Park benches
- Bottom of the bowl dressing
- Henleys and necklaces
- Guys with snakes/exotic animals
- Katsudon
- Mercedes Benz
- Accepting your fate
- Reading plays
- Jam
- Sleep-number beds (or at least knowing your sleep number)
- Weird 40-year-old guys who hang out at hotel bars
- Step and repeats at a restaurant
- Dinner parties
- Grape soda
- Addison Rae
WHAT'S OUT:
- Pictures of self
- TikTok
- Restaurants that only do hand rolls
- Keeping up with fashion
- Netflix
- Raves
- Crowd work comics
- Gas station core
- Butterflies (the animal and the aesthetic)
- Indie sleaze round two
- Everything but the bagel seasoning (I love it but it’s enough)
- Step and repeats at an event
- Being rude as hell
- Waiting till it’s streaming
- Lines
Nolita Dirtbag
The Nolita Dirtbag meme page has its finger on the pulse of a much-derided and yet prolific New York scene. You've seen this crowd hanging outside Aimé Leon Dore and wearing Southern outdoorswear so ironic it circles back around to intense earnestness. Alex Hartman, the man behind the memes, describes the aesthetic as "niché and nouveau riche" and has recently expanded his social commentary into both a newsletter, Medium Rare, and a newly launched creative agency, Dirtbag Industries.
WHAT'S IN:
- Creed at MSG on Nov. 29
- The word "moron"
- Turtlenecks and fingerless gloves
- Channeling your inner Stuart Little
- Listening to "Stick Talk" by Future three times a day and convincing yourself you are invincible
- Kangol hats (in a large black coffee from Dunkin way, not a lavender chai at the new Bushwick La Cabra way)
- Anthony Edward's basketball shoes
- Sipping butternut squash soup out of a sentimental mug
WHAT'S OUT:
- Little gem salads
- Jokes about dressing like Princess Diana in September
- Dia Beacon
- Being quirky about Trader Joe's seasonal frozen products
- Shearling coats that make you look like Bane
- Bedazzled New York hats (find a new ironic cosplay!)
Desiree Akhavan
The writer and director who graced us with Appropriate Behavior (2014), The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018) , and The Bisexual (2018) serves as a bold voice onscreen—and now on the page with her new memoir You're Embarassing Yourself. This season, Akhavan is pivoting her practice from blind ambition to the art of trying and failing.
WHAT'S IN:
- Adult acne
- Topping
- 15 minute voice notes
- Frizz
- Trying and failing
WHAT'S OUT:
- Blind ambition
- Booze
- Self deprecation
- Using the audio on your navigator
- Television
Camille Becerra
Born in Puerto Rico and raised in New Jersey, this chef, food stylist, and recipe developer has spent nearly two decades shaping New York's dining scene with her healthful, seasonal approach to New American cuisine. Bridging decadence and sustainability, Becerra's philosophy this fall embraces both chiffon cakes and composting—as well as standing aimlessly outside the pantry door.
WHAT'S IN:
- Hippy sandwiches
- Smoky earl grey
- Normalizing returning your food scraps to compost
- Seasonal chiffon cakes with cream frosting
- A bespoke uniform
- Peeping in pantry shelves as the new medicine cabinet
- Trucker hat farm merch
WHAT'S OUT:
- Bike lane aggression
- Saying the reason you come off as rude is because you come from another country where it’s the culture
- Ordering food delivery during storms
- Floral prints
- Fast food—sorry!
- Tapping everything with your nails on video
Ira Madison III
Ira Madison III is a cultural critic, TV writer, and host of the Crooked Media award-winning podcast Keep It. After placing his sharp commentary in the pages of GQ, Vulture, The Cut, and MTV, Madison is looking ahead to his debut essay collection, Pure Innocent Fun, set to be released early next year.
WHAT'S IN:
- Cookbooks. Dining out is expensive, pick a recipe from one of the cookbooks on your shelf you’ve used once and cook for your friends!
- Merch. Rock those old concert tees! Some people are afraid to show their age, but I love letting people know I saw NSYNC’s Celebrity Tour in 2002.
- Pornstar Martinis. This early '00s drink is camp, it tastes great, and it’s all over drink menus in Europe (even in chic restaurants).
- Stanning Charli XCX albums pre-Brat. Number 1 Angel and Pop 2 are required texts, we’ve seen enough Apple dance TikToks.
- Pre-ordering my essay collection, Pure Innocent Fun! Out February 2025!
WHAT'S OUT:
- Espresso martinis. White women in the West Village have won this battle.
- Relatability. People don’t have to relate to you to dig you, artists shouldn’t be regular degular.
- Book clubs. Read the same book as one friend and link up with them over drinks, who cares what your best friend’s roommate thinks about The Shards?
- 5+ people on a vacation reposting the same photo on Instagram stories. I follow you because I like YOUR vibe, I don’t need to see all the Avengers assembling. Group pics are for the middle of a vacation photo dump.
Patti Harrison
It's hard to forget Patti Harrison's dry and deeply odd delivery on Tim Robinson's I Think You Should Leave—an easily standout performance. She's also been seen as of late in last year's Theater Camp and lending her prolific voice acting talents to American Dad. Although fall is often a time for reminiscing, whether over her extensive filmography or stand-up highs and lows, nostalgia is off the table for Harrison this season.
WHAT'S IN:
- Halloween falling on a Thursday this year, meaning Halloween parties happening the weekend before and the weekend after
- Stuffed animals—giving them names and including them in conversations. Yes!
- The woman in the movie I’m watching as I write this who just got shot in the mouth with a crossbow
- Being more attractive in photos than you are in person, but being more attractive in person than you are on video
- Woodwind instruments but NOT in the way that you’d think!
WHAT'S OUT:
- Getting woken up by someone banging on the door
- Someone banging on the bathroom door because I’m in there for so long every time
- Getting your fingers all smashed in the hinge of a car door when you were a kid
- Nostalgia and homage
- Femininity—it is time to get butch beyond repair
Plum Sykes
English-born journalist and novelist Plum Sykes is looking forward to horse riding and writing thank you letters this fall. As always, her hobbies are equal parts chic and indulgent. Known for her work at Vogue and her bestselling novels Bergdorf Blondes and The Debutante Divorcée, Sykes released her newest novel, Wives Like Us, set in the English countryside, this past May.
WHAT'S IN:
- Griffin Dunne's brilliant new family memoir, The Friday Afternoon Club
- Horse riding
- Teenagers doing college applications
- Bess Kalb's hilarious substack, The Grudge Report
- Thank you letters
WHAT'S OUT:
- Shopping online for clothes. Never works
- Too-extravagant tablescapes
- Skinny jeans
- Binge-watching TV shows
Raven Smith
London-based Raven Smith is a Vogue columnist, where he analyzes memes and other social phenomena, the same kind he dishes out on his well-frequented Instagram page. Elsewhere, he is the author of Raven Smith’s Trivial Pursuits and Raven Smith’s Men. Smith will be ringing in the season with Smirnoff ices and conversational French.
WHAT'S IN:
- Getting the purple connections first
- Smirnoff ices
- Analogue cigs
- Conversational French
- Princess Anne
WHAT'S OUT:
- Taylor’s versions
- Neck pillows on short-haul flights
- Hydration
- Dinners
- Poets
Eric Wareheim is described online as a comedian, actor, writer, director, musician, one half of comedy duo Tim & Eric, and a winemaker (as co-owner of Las Jaras). Though, on Instagram he describes his own digital output as a "Top Food Blog™️." Indeed, his page is filled to the brim with snapshots of greasy American fare accompanied by one-line reviews or occasionally, "No words." That's why, when he says that serrano peppers are in and dirty martinis are out this fall, it would be best to listen.
WHAT’S IN:
- Nudie suits
- Gardening topless
- Real ones
- Salsa dancing
- Fresh orange juice
- DGAF LYFE
- HiFi
- Pickling serrano peppers
- Flea markets
- Bottle trees
WHAT’S OUT:
- Emergen-C
- A fine dining dish with 35 ingredients
- People who suck your light
- Dirty martinis
- Spotify compressed audio
- Complacency
Brontez Purnell
This Oakland-based writer, musician, and dancer has a lot of opinions, and he isn't holding back on any of them. His irreverent writing can be found in 100 Boyfriends, which won the 2022 Lambda Literary Award in Gay Fiction; Since I Laid My Burden Down; and Ten Bridges I've Burnt. This season, he's living by the deeply theraputic motto "EVERYONE'S LIFE IS AS FUCKED UP AS MINE'S IS."
WHAT'S IN:
- Embracing privacy. Don't tell anyone that you're going into rehab OR going to jail for embezzling money from your start-up. Everyone is going to rehab, and everyone is getting called out for something or another. The meditative mantra for fall 2024 is "EVERYONE'S LIFE IS AS FUCKED UP AS MINE'S IS" and that alone is its own kind of Zen.
- REFUSAL OF DECLARATIONS. Don't be a "brat," don't be "demure," just don't be anything. If anything, be DEEPLY AVOIDANT. I've learned the hard way you can be a better scammer if you just shut the fuck up.
- BE FAT. Go ahead. For the first in your life, just do it. The Ozempic craze has taught us that most people don't actually look good skinny. Everyone is walking around with these tiny bodies and big ass heads and skin hanging off their bodies. The new beauty standard is as elusive as the old and beauty should be about the unattainable. When 90 percent of your social feed is comprised of the "suspiciously skinny," what's the value of being skinny? Go ahead and eat the burger girl; it's all going down in flames anyway.
- MASS EXTINCTION. I don't even say this to be a grumpy misanthrope but between genocide, war, porn, and Internet addiction humans kinda aren't that cool. Who would even miss us? Lets join hands and collectively embrace the abyss ❤️
- PUMPKIN LATTES (BASIC ASS WHITE GIRL IS MY RISING SIGN, AND I MAKE NO APOLOGIES FOR MY LOVE OF PUMPKIN SPICE FLAVORED EVERYTHING)
- CELEBRITY REHAB. Pretending that your famous in today's current media climate is as easy as it's ever been. Everyone should scam their way into one, even if you don't have a real drug problem. ESPECIALLY if you don't have a real drug problem. Drug-addicted celebrities' main problem is that they have too much fucking money. Your problem is that you don't have any. This isn't called "scamming" it's called "balance"
WHAT'S OUT:
- OVERSIZED wide-leg pants that, like, touch the ground. Ew, there's so much dog poop on the street. LIKE WHY ARE YOU WEARING THOSE?
- '90s raver nostalgia. I'll be looking at these children wearing Amazon-bought raver fits pretending that they're REALLY GROOVING to hard techno and don't have to heart to tell them that that shit was corny 30 years ago and it's even cornier now. As it was explained to me by a drum and bass DJ 20 years ago, "hard techno" was invented by white people on drugs who had no rhythm. At 185 BPM, everyone "seems" like they're dancing but really they're just high. It's always been a scam. I'm the most pro-scam girl you know but this has gone on long enough. You might as well be wearing a shirt that says, "I AM A PROUD MEMBER OF THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL PARTY." At this point your raver look makes you look like a narc. But also, think I'm coming for you, I dress like a dyke from Portland, which is the same amount of uncool.
- Memoirs. Just lie and call it "fiction."
- Dropping out of college. Girl please, you still have to wake up early either way and student debt or not, the government is gonna make sure you die owing them. Just go ahead and get the art history degree girl, you'll be happier in the long run.
- Jogging. Ew, quit pretending that you're working out "for your mental health." I know so many muscular sluts who go to the gym everyday and are LITERALLY CERTIFIABLE. A WELL KEPT SECRET: FAT PEOPLE GET LAID AS MUCH AS SKINNY PEOPLE. Don't believe? Go check the number of views on BBW Pornhub... Go ahead, I'll wait ....
- Putting out on the first date. Let's all collectively go old school and wait till the third date to catch herpes. (There's more dignity in that?)
