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

Several times, worth going, and Monks House too if you’re a VW fan. While you’re there, Firle Place is also worth a visit.

@Divebar2021 the Kilty one is by New holmwood not a brand I know but made in England so I assume vintage. Did you get the tweed jacket?

@Bookist ooh I feel an urge to visit Paris.

I'm way behind but wanted to jump in to say agree with The Witchery as location for AGM! DH and I had our engagement dinner there and when I was a bookseller publishers used to take me there often... They would call and ask my assistant or me where was good and it was always top of our list!

Also, although I'm a writer and more art teacher than pure DA, I Capture the Castle is my favourite book to the extent that I collect various editions of it. Also, The Diary of a Provincial Lady is quite DA I think? And if children's books, the genteel not-even-slightly-poverty-stricken books of Josephine Pullein Thompson are suitably eccentric, especially the Pony Club series where Noel Fielding - classic DA with academics for parents - despite horsiness is given to mooching with a slim volime of poetry. I think Jill in the books by Ruby Ferguson has some DA tendencies but that's mostly because she can do Fair Isle knitting when is a very DA activity.

Right, back to catching up....

Thank you so much for this thread. I've really enjoyed reading through all the suggestions. I have a couple of other book recommendations that might be of interest:

"Death and the Conjuror" by Tom Mead, a classic locked-room murder mystery set in the 1930s: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Conjuror-Tom-Mead/dp/1804540919/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

"Mrs Mohr Goes Missing" by Maryla Szymiczkowa, a murder mystery set in 1890s Krakow, the narrator is Zofia, who is married to a university professor: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mrs-Mohr-Goes-Missing-International/dp/1786077078/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1697731372&sr=1-1

Evening, lovely people! I am making notes on all the books discussed but I have the pile already bought so am not making any more purchases this month. [Looks sternly at self in the mirror with tortoise shell glasses perched at end of nose for added emphasis.]

I have read Mrs Dalloway but nothing else by Virginia Woolf so may need to revisit her.

I would so love to go to Oxford. It sounds dreamy. Belfast has too many buses, buskers and bargain basement tat shops for my liking 😁

And all you academics, begone with your (utterly understandable) tales of woe! Let us non-academics dream of dark, dimly lit libraries, the quiet rustling of books, the turning of dusty pages, and the scratching of a good quality fountain pen on lovely thick creamy paper making notes on obscure subjects. And nary a one hour Teams Meeting which could have been sorted with a three line email. (Breathe, Helena, breathe.)

I picked up my altered linen wide leg trousers today and they now fit wonderfully. It cost £30 so not cheap but worth it when otherwise I wouldn't wear them at all. Too wet to wear them at the minute though. I am back to skinnies (for dog walking), or else checked kilts and chunky boots for anywhere else. Still delighted to wear my expanded collection of woollen jumpers and scarves in Autumnal colours though!

The beret is glaring at me. Is it odd to be intimidated by a hat?

Oh, and in other news, I have successfully not bitten my nails for about 4 weeks and they are now long enough to file so have been able to paint them in two coats of Wine Stock by Sally Hansen. I think I've broken the habit again - thank goodness!

Sorry - boring post, but I do rate the Sally Hansen nail polishes. I'm left handed and really clumsy with fine motor skills, but their wide brushes make it easier for me.

Congratulations @helenahandcart78. I do love a deep wine colour for the Autumn. I've just had mine re-done in 'Wine' yet again for what must be the fourth time? I think my nail technician is bored of me.

I got a skirt on vinted today and the colours are very DA but it is tiny, maximum 30inch waist. Will pop a link to my vinted site once I have it listed on case anyone wants it. Such a shame I really liked it. Pleated, knee length on me (I am tall so more midi) with browns and teals. It's not tweed but fabric won't crush or wrinkle. Booo

I was just about to say this; actually, I think I prefer Mansfield.

My wonderful daughter bought me the most wonderful tweed jacket from Vinted for my birthday! It's similar in style to Joules' "Mr Toad" field coat, which I'd coveted for months until I realised it made me look even chubbier. Thankfully this one slims me out nicely, and it's so warm!

Can't wait for the weather to get a bit chillier so I can wear it out! I'm still coveting some brown super-wide-fit boots to wear with it, but 'twill have to wait a little longer until I've recovered from the cost of the family car!

All your lovely talk about Oxford reminded me of my bucket-list ambition to take a short summer-school course there. Has anyone ever been to these?

https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/about/oxford-experience

It most definitely is.
I'm still haunted by the photographs of Vivienne Eliot.........she had a rather raw deal, I feel.

Yes, it is. Give it a name; that's what I do with my extreme hats.
I have Alastair, after Sim.....gives me same warm, fuzzy feeling.
Priscilla, after Queen of the Desert, because fake leopardskin....not DA, but lifts things, something that doesn't 'go'. Both so loved by admirers they could have their own facebook page. We don't do that though; horrid.
Many, many more; love hats.

@Bookist, I even get my toes done in a dark shellac for summer! Can't be doing with the jazzy pinks!
I like to do my own finger nails though - it used to be a nice Friday night ritual to remove old polish, soak in oil and water, manicure and then repaint in a slightly different (still dark colour) for the week. I will enjoy getting back to that.

Oh @venus7 that is a wonderful idea - I love it! It needs to be something slightly aloof but attractive. I'm thinking Rupert (as in Jilly Cooper's greatest creation) or maybe Horace? Or maybe I should go female? Helen (Mirren) or...? Let's name my beret and take away its power over me!

I'm pleased you like it......
Barolo? The king of Italian wines.
I like Mirren too.
Horace is lovely....I want a hat named Horace now! (tantrum)
Hubert...a la Givenchy.....
If it was Rupert, it would have to be to honour the lovely Everett............

Call it Harriet. I feel sure Ms Harriet Vane would have absolutely rocked a beret.

I'm sure she wore one in Have His Carcase!

Harriet Walter, that is, and it was more like a knitted tam o'shanter. But same family as a beret.

There we go. Elegant it was not. But looks OK on her.

Not that she couldn't carry off a sharp little beret should she choose.

Which search has led me to:
https://dearharrietwalter.blogspot.com/2011/11/slingshotvane.html

I love the look in that pic!

My vote is to call the hat Vivienne. In fact I’m going to find a hat and call it that.

My Panama hat I shall call Maurice. ( pronounced Mau-reece 😏)

So I wrote a whole blurb last night and then lost it and couldn’t be bothered to re-write it. I did a bit of reading about Vivienne Eliot which you’re right is a tragic tale. I live in an area which had several asylums that served London during that period. They’ve all been converted into housing now but it’s only in the last couple of years that the chapel for one hospital has been converted into an arts centre. The first thing I saw there was a performance of “ A room of One’s Own”. Anyway poor old Vivienne did not end up in a hospital around here but in North London. I do have a postcard from the 1930’s sent to a woman at one of the asylums. I guess she was a patient. I would be curious to find out her story but I don’t even know if patient records would be publicly available. But hey I’m a trained Detective ( Mets finest Lol…. #ClearlynottheMetsfinest)

Look at Vivienne in her knock out coat.!

Oh in my experience, asylum records are amongst the most available. Strange but true.

I think it's because asylum were large, publicly-funded institutions at a time when most medical care was taking place in the home by doctors paid privately. Workhouse records are similarly available. Workhouses had a hospital section, complete with house surgeon, to cope with inmates who were there because of inability to work through illness and debility. Then the workhouse might grow a naicer private hospital wing, to accommodate paying patients and keep the medical staff more fully employed.

When the NHS was founded, the asylums and workhouses formed the nucleus – often the actual buildings were re-used.

Anyway, long story short, Google or The National Archives' Discovery catalogue will tell you where to look next for records.

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/mental-health/

My dissertation was on T.S. Eliot so read quite a bit about Vivienne too. Reading between the lines, I think she suffered terribly with PMDD which just wasn't recognised or understood at the time. Such a tragedy. For what it's worth, I also suspect Vivien Leigh suffered with it too.