Dark Academia 2 - the conversation continues..

[highlandcoo]

Hello again to everyone from the last thread and welcome to anyone who enjoys talking about this aesthetic .. and if you have photos to share even better!

We've been discussing woollen jumpers, tweed skirts and jackets (with and without elbow patches), flannel trousers, fair isle tank tops, leather boots, culottes, berets and many other appealing garments, and more recently novels, poetry, libraries in general and even home decor with a DA vibe. Plus tortoiseshell spectacles and lorgnettes. I don't think we've touched on DA hairstyles yet although I've been giving that some thought ..

A DA quote I came across the other day: "I declare after all, there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library." (P&P of course)

If curling up in a wing-backed armchair in front of a log fire, with candles flickering, sipping tea from a china mug while reading your Jane Austen or Bronte novel sounds appealing, this thread might be for you. Or if you just like the clothes - that works too.

Our first thread below:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/4861009-dark-academia-anyone-who-loves-this-style?page=39&reply=129785046

Anyone else think that Liberty is essential Dark Academia shopping

Yes I love Liberty although I don’t have the budget for many of the clothes. I have bought interior bits and pieces as presents and every year we go to the Christmas shop and buy an expensive bauble for the tree. We have quite a collection now.

Re scarves it’s worth asking in charity shops. I’ve picked up some silk ones which they had in the back ( not that small tbh) but probably wouldn’t have been put on the shop floor.

Definitely! Maybe just essential shopping full stop.

So many interesting discussions! I need to sit down with a cup of tea and catch up properly later.

However, just quickly@Notsosecrethistory, re places to stay, The Old Parsonage is not the cheapest but lovely, walkable to the centre, and best of all .. it has a library! And they will bring you afternoon tea there.

We used to go to Oxford every February for my husband to take part in a chess tournament. I would wander round the Bodlean and the Ashmolean, and sit in the tearoom in Blackwell's reading. Plus there's a lovely wool shop called the Oxford Yarn Store and some nice clothes shops too. And the Oxfam bookshop is worth a visit.

My younger son has a lovely friend who works at the Ashmolean and he very kindly took me behind the scenes and let me look at precious Japanese scrolls and hold incredibly ancient pieces of priceless china (wearing gloves with my hand on a velvet cushion and under strict instructions not to move!)

You will have a great time.

I'd actually quite like to just move into Liberty. I'd happily bed down on a huge pile of Oriental rugs next to the atrium.

Oh wow @highlandcoo that sounds amazing! (and a bit scary!)

That sounds like my idea of Heaven! I'm eagerly waiting for the Bodleian to release their December tour dates so I can book for DD and me to go. I'll have to bribe her with a fancy afternoon tea somewhere though. She's a literature student but has zero passion for her subject, sadly x

How did I not know liberty did clothes?! previously too poor to contemplate stepping foot inside I'm in love with their pyjamas and as my current lot wear out they will be the replacement 😍

I found a vintage Liberty skirt on Vinted last month , it's wool and was £3 , couldn't believe my luck. I've also bought a wool Liberty top, I'm hoping I can wear it as a dress it sort of looks like a tunic, it hasn't arrived yet🤞I sometimes get it very wrong on Vinted

The majority of my clothes are preloved to help the planet but also my budget. Yesterday I found a vintage tartan wool midi skirt, it's so lovely reduced to a £1 . I also bought a ditsy print prairie dress not very DA but does look good with a sleeveless sweater. I think

@Bookist my dd is also studying literature plus french, she's in France at the moment for her year out. I remember op mentioned carboot sales and bought amazing velvet jackets, I must mention that to her.

Morning. I’m in a “naice” Surrey town and have just tried on a men’s tweed jacket in a charity shop…. Priced £38 so not cheap. My DD11 said it’s “ giving All Creatures Great and Small” - I’ll probably kick myself if I ever move to Yorkshire.

With regards Liberty clothes ….. I’ve only ever seen other brands in there. Do they still do their own range or has that long gone?

Liberty skirt on the right .

My other DD spent a year in France, mainly Paris, and tells me that the Paris thrift shops are second to none. Very much depends on which arrondissement they're in though.

I was musing on models of DA style and wondered if anyone has mentioned the film The Dig? Lots of both Carey Mulligan and Lily James' wardrobe is extremely covetable in a DA way...

So I answered my own question when an ad for Liberty popped up unsurprisingly. They still have their own range. What’s the kilty one @triggers34

I just bought a Liberty paisley wool scarf on eBay as it goes. Lovely print, bit of an odd shape - large.

De-lurking and joining you all, having read both threads in one sitting and loving it.
@SerafinasGoose totally in agreement with your sad analysis of the academic world these days.
I indulge myself everyday in my DA vibes as I work in a university copyright library, surrounded by leather-bound books, worn carpets, atmospheric lighting and wooden panelling. Alas, I think the DA vibe is only tolerated (by the powers that be) for the tourist dollar!
General day-to-day is plagued with electronic gadgetry, digital catalogues and zoom meetings....grr!

Have tea at the Randolph Hotel across from the Ashmolean.

If that's for me @BlueKaftan then thank you for the recommendation x

I don't go to ones exclusively related to her these days. Woolf was part of my PhD research and I've written and published on her before, but there are so many Woolf studies these days it's hard to find an untrodden area. I've mostly left Woolf to one side as I concentrate on other areas of my research (unless there's an overlap with my stuff), but I'll never not love her writing.

Still do have involvement with the Katherine Mansfield Society - the President is a lovely woman and a good friend - but am focusing most of my work on other lesser-known writers. I still write on her from time to time.

The Virginia Woolf Society is a bigger concern than some of the ones I'm involved with, but if your daughter is interested she may like a browse through this. Cambridge UP are also bringing out a wonderful new set of scholarly editions of her work.

Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain – Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain

Hope it's the beginning of a lifelong love for her. It was for me, when I encountered her for the first time as an undergraduate.

I know. I love this thread because it's as though I can pretend academia is just the way I envisioned it would be when I first embarked on doctoral research. A wonderful career dedicated to writing about books and inspiring generations of students on to a great education that would change their lives for the better.

Boy was I in for a rude awakening!

Thank you so much for this. I will definitely show her when she gets home from her current school trip to Bronte territory. She has a few other book-related obsessions but she is most definitely totally in love with Virginia Woolf.

If she hasn’t already, it’s worth reading the Quentin Bell biogs as well as the later Spalding. Plus Vanessa Bell’s biography (also Spalding) and a book called “Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell: A Very Close Conspiracy” by Jane Dunn.

Thank you very much! I will take a look at those and probably get her one of them for Christmas.

While I love both, I always feel Mansfield is undervalued compared to Woolf. I think it’s partly because she wasn’t English, partly because she died younger and wrote less, and partly because her form - the short story - is less popular in the U.K. than in France and the US.

Speaking of Vanessa Bell has anyone else been to Charleston House? Great house to visit if you’re into the Bloomsbury set and very DA. I’ve not done Monks House nearby so don’t know if that’s worth a look.

https://www.charleston.org.uk/