Caitlin Covington

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Caitlin Covington (born 1990 or 1991) is an American lifestyle blogger and influencer. The New York Times described her as the face of the internet meme "Christian Girl Autumn", which satirizes a "certain type of, usually white, woman who is obsessed with all things fall". [1]

Contents

Biography

Covington started her blog Southern Curls & Pearls originally for personal purposes in 2011, when she was a junior studying broadcasting at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After graduation, she worked at a public relations and marketing firm in Greenville, South Carolina while continuing her personal blog and Instagram profile. A local shop owner offered to send her a dress if she would wear it for a photo on her Instagram profile. [2]

In the mid-2010s, Instagram became dominant over other forms of social media content, including blogs, and Covington became mainly known for her lifestyle content on Instagram. [3] By 2016, she had 370,000 followers on Instagram, and had been spending more than on her social media posts. Using techniques such as affiliate marketing and sponsored content, she said her posts gave her a six-figure income. [2] Design changes by Instagram in 2016 led to user engagement of her content to drop, and she later determined that would need to diversify her sources of income to not depend on Instagram. [3]

"Christian Girl Autumn" internet meme

A 2016 photo of Covington and her friend and fellow influencer, Emily Gemma, went viral on the internet in 2019 after it was reposted to Twitter by New York–based college student and online influencer Isabella Markel [a] with the description "Hot Girl Summer is coming to an end, get ready for Christian Girl Autumn". [1] [7] Covington and Gemma were described by Buzzfeed News as wearing "swooping scarves, matching leather bags, brown ankle boots, and terrifyingly well-coiffed curls". [5] Inspired by internet memes based on Megan Thee Stallion's song "Hot Girl Summer", which was released earlier that year, Markel found and republished the photo without knowing the identities of the photo subjects. [5]

In response to the memes, some social media users made jokes which made judgements on the assumed "cultural ignorance" and anti-gay attitudes of the women in the photo. [5] Covington and Gemma addressed judgements of their character in an interview with Buzzfeed News, in which Covington said "I'm a nice person and I love everyone and I'm accepting of everyone". [1]

Covington has continued to publish similar themed social media posts in the autumn. [1] [8] In 2020, she donated $500 to a GoFundMe fundraising campaign started by Markel for her medical costs. [1]

Personal life

Covington was born in 1990 or 1991. [9] She is a Methodist Christian. [1]

Notes

  1. ↑ Markel posted the "Christian Girl Autumn" meme under the name Blizzy McGuire. [6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kircher, Madison Malone (October 18, 2022). "'Christian Girl Autumn' Goes Back to Basic". The New York Times . Bennington, Vt. Retrieved November 15, 2025.
  2. 1 2 Bolling, Cristina (March 21, 2016). "How one woman's fashion tips got her an Instagram following of 370,000". The News & Observer . Retrieved December 28, 2024.
  3. 1 2 McNeal, Stephanie (June 8, 2023). "The End of Influencers on Instagram". Wired . Retrieved November 16, 2025.
  4. ↑ gio [@lasagnabby] (August 9, 2019). "Hot Girl Summer is coming to an end, get ready for Christian Girl Autumn 🍂😍" (Tweet). Archived from the original on August 15, 2019. Retrieved November 19, 2025– via Twitter.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Mack, David (August 13, 2019). "The Women In The "Christian Girl Autumn" Meme Want You To Know Something". BuzzFeed News . Retrieved November 15, 2025.
  6. ↑ Murray, Conor (October 12, 2023). "It's 'Christian Girl Autumn' Again—How Caitlin Covington Became A Yearly Viral Sensation And Scored Big Brand Partnerships". Forbes . Retrieved December 13, 2025.
  7. ↑ Rosenblatt, Kalhan (August 14, 2019). "Christian Girl Autumn meme featuring popular influencers takes off on Twitter". NBC News . Retrieved November 15, 2025.
  8. ↑ Kircher, Madison Malone (September 29, 2023). "Leaf-Peeping Town to Influencers: Get Lost". The New York Times . Retrieved November 17, 2025.
  9. ↑ Bolling, Cristina (March 22, 2016). "How a 25-year-old grew an Instagram following of 370,000". The Charlotte Observer . Retrieved November 22, 2025.
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