sweater weather

Sweater weather is cool, crisp weather: chilly enough for a sweater but not cold enough for a heavy coat. For a lot of people it’s the unofficial best part of autumn.

What sweater weather means

Wiktionary defines it as a crisp, cool outdoor temperature that’s warm enough to skip a winter coat and cool enough to wear a sweater comfortably. In practice it means a whole mood: falling leaves, warm drinks, oversized knits and boots. It turns up as a caption every autumn without fail.

Examples

• “Finally, sweater weather. Time for pumpkin everything.”
• “It’s sweater weather in the morning and T-shirt weather by lunch.”
• “I live for sweater weather.”

Where it came from

It’s a simple rhyming compound, which is half the reason it sticks. It’s also the title of The Neighbourhood’s 2013 song “Sweater Weather,” which spent 11 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart.

Related terms

• Cottagecore: cozy, rural, slow living.
• Dark academia: tweed, books and autumn moods.
• Cozy game: a relaxing, low-stakes video game.
• Vibe: the mood of something.

More looks and moods are in our aesthetics guide.