Dark Academia - anyone who loves this style?

[highlandcoo]

And where to find it?

This is how I want to dress this winter. More skirts and dresses rather than trousers as my waist is not the best and the trousers can look bulky unless you have a good waistline I think.

I love tweed and wool and flannel and autumn colours. Not black! Although brown is sometimes hard to find. Love brown leather for boots and bags. I really want to get away from jeans and chunky boots for a change.

I think I can knit some jumpers and cardigans. But I would love a big tweedy coat. I have a couple of really nice brown tweed hats from a shop in Edinburgh who made the hats for Peaky Blinders. But I need the right sort of coat to go with them. My long cosy puffy coat is cosy but totally wrong.

Any aficionados out there?

A blue velvet jacket you say? And home-made wide leg trousers? Photos s'il vous plait!

Right, fellow Questers, put down your well-thumbed copies of The Bell Jar and take up your monocles...

First up, my-cheap-as-chips reading glasses with also-cheap-as-chips glasses chain. Both from Amazon! Feel very 1950s librarian in them.

Secondly, three brooches picked up at the local NI Hospice shop this morning. Love them, but am considering having a bit of a rub with some boot polish to darken them down and make them look more antique. Would that work, do we think? Or will the boot polish just come off in the rain?? Leaving me staring owlishly through my lorgnettes at my ruined coat?

Thirdly, have pulled 2 leather jackets out of the wardrobe to ponder. Both second hand. Are these just a DA no-no or could I work them in? Possibly wide trousers, stompy boots (not DMs though) and a big chunky knit scarf? I await your thoughts with anticipation, lovely people.

Xx

Forgot the photos...

Those brooches are exquisite @helena. I think any shade between pale gold and dark bronze is absolutely fine x

I've always wondered about the development of lopsided wrinkles as a side-effect of monocle usage -- if we collectively adopt monocle usage, perhaps we don't even need to actually wear them out and about after a certain point as we will recognise one another by the one-eyed owlish wrinkle...?

I quite fancy lorgnettes. Or a nice pair of pince-nez.

Alas it is very wet in Fife. Autumn in Scotland does not lend itself to nice woolen outdoor coats. My light waterproof is a golden yellow colour and my winter coast is bright yellow like a lighthouse keeper waterproof duffle coat from Landsend. Not DA but a bit of sunshine in winter and Landsend coats are very good with our weather. I do have on a navy jumper with a mid length pleated navy and teal skirt with navy tights and navy shiny brogues. My glasses are blue so feel that all goes quite well. I also have chronic back pain that is bad this week so no heels at all. It is cold in my library today so I am hovering over a radiator whilst trying to write a report.

God, I love this thread - cackling away here at the one-eyed owlish look. How fab would it be if we were responsible for a sudden upswing in monocle sales? Like the Delia Effect but more highbrow obvs 😁

I feel your pain @Merryhobnobs. Weather in NI very similar to Scotland through the year.

Your rainwear sounds lovely, as do your navy brogues! Not jealous at all of you sitting in a library writing a report...

Make sure you have a good supply a thermals to see you through the winter in a cold, dark, dusty library, full of secrets and mysteries...[goes off into DA library-based reverie...]

Here you go. The trousers tend to grow a bit over the day, they looked much sharper this morning 😳

@teawamutu I'm impressed - they are lovely! Love the boots with them. The shirt and jacket are also a really good combo. That jacket is absolutely spot on. I'm picturing it with a long pleated skirt in a satiny material. Or a straight tweed skirt. Very versatile!

Your outfit sounds perfect to me. And you cannot beat Seasalt coats in bad weather. I have one of their Tin Cloth coats in a dark olive and it's the only, genuinely 100% waterproof coat I have ever owned x

I love your trousers, @teawamutu!

All I can say is, I'll be in Belfast mid-month and will 100% have to leave some time for charity shop poking about. Why are the NI ones so much better?? I already noticed your TK Maxx always has way better stuff...

@RockyMountainSky just stick to posho areas and you can't go wrong 😁

I have family in NI, might announce I'm coming over for a visit massive charity shop crawl...

Also, I have looked up lorgnettes on eBay and there are some lovely ones! MUST RESIST. But I feel like they're perfect for when I get asked a Stupid Question, or where something is, because I could pick them up and stare very pointedly and hard at DP/DS through them, thereby (hopefully) rendering them silent.

Music: 'Layla' by Morphine.
Today it did not rain much - oddly - so I wore some black leather loafers, navy wool trousers, a fine knit black turtleneck and an enormous dark navy parka.
Beginning The Secret History tonight!

@evtheria nooo - I'm going to have get round all the second hand shops and clear out all the good stuff before you get here! And I shall keep a keen eye out for any monocle wearers and bar them from entering 🧐🧐

Love your proposed passive aggressive use of lorgnettes. I get asked a lot about where things are too. As if I keep some sort of spreadsheet I can just pull out of my pocket 🙄

Starting The Secret History here tonight as well! No spoilers - I am inclined to fall asleep after about 4 pages...

I had a delightful charity shop find of some lined(!) wool brown and black culottes from Aquascutum for £3 yesterday.
I resisted a felt hat and a tweed jacket with fake fur collar but I’m now regretting my restraint.

Hahaha honestly I love my job but there ja a lot of stuff going on at my place of work that is really not fun. My building dates to early 60s. So old but not as visually appealing as some.

It was my NI mother in law who got us all Landsend coats. 🙂

Oooo a tweed skirt - I have some pale blue and black tweedy material that's been sitting in the loft for years waiting for inspiration to strike. Mid-calf, slightly tapered skirt with a back slit and pockets, perhaps...

Also, I have looked up lorgnettes on eBay and there are some lovely ones! MUST RESIST. But I feel like they're perfect for when I get asked a Stupid Question, or where something is, because I could pick them up and stare very pointedly and hard at DP/DS through them, thereby (hopefully) rendering them silent.

My husband recently phoned me to ask where his new cufflinks were. I was in a different country, 2000 miles away FFS!

Both my Rob MacFarlane's books are ready and waiting at home for me. But now I feel I have to buy a copy of The Secret History too because, you know, FOMO. This thread is proving expensive and joyous

It is a joyous thread, isn't it?

@Bookist Did you put on a Mystic Meg sort of voice, and start intoning about how you're getting a faint.... image... of... some sort of surface? And whether the letters 'F' and 'O' meant anything...?

@teawamutu My envy of your seamstress skills is fathomless. If I won a massive lottery I would have so many tailored clothes.

Yes, I too am very envious of @teawamutu and her seamstress skills. Imagine the thrill of finding gorgeous vintage fabric and knowing you could do something amazing with it!

When I retire (likely to be in the year...never) I would love to do a dress-making course. Along with an art history course, a refresher course in German, and a tour of all the castles and cathedrals in Italy with a historian guide. One can but dream...