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

This craft fair at Victoria Baths is amazing! Really high quality handmade jewellery, ceramics, scarves, felted wool and tweed hats, wood and metal objects, furniture.. if anyone is near Manchester I would really recommend it. It’s on until tomorrow. And Victoria Baths is the most incredible building.

I arrived at 10 and saw my first beret five minutes later

@highlandcoo I LOVE Persephone novels. I have a shelf devoted to them in my library! A Persephone festival sounds wonderful.

Enjoy the craft fair and if you make any purchases don’t forget to update us. I love all the photos on this thread😍

Delighted to PM. I’m not particularly precious about this find, and will enjoy sharing with folks on this thread, but don’t feel quite ready to throw it to Google yet!

Slightly nervous I have raised expectations now!

I should say I’m not a literature person, but a family-history researcher who strayed onto literary folk. My big interest is in social networks – the pre-Social Media type. I love tracing out the background influences in people’s lives, and spotting how these emerge in their work.

As usual, I came across this stuff on the Bloomsberries while researching someone else entirely!

Also, it’s a while since I was submerged in these families, so please forgive that it will be a bit off the cuff.

I’ve read so much of her life, diaries, biogs, novels, letters as well as the novels, I’d be really interested. To the Lighthouse is still my favourite, Mrs D a close second. I don’t think the Waves is as successful as it is generally held but I still enjoyed it.

For my money there’s not enough acknowledgement of the impact of mental illness on her later novels - The Years, Between the Acts. Academics tend to put it down to experimentalism, which it is partly, but I also thinks she loses control of her material.

Have PM'd you, Mirabai. HBGKC too.

I love that term 'The Blooms Berries'. That was Katherine Mansfield's and John Middleton Murry's sarcastic name for them! Persephone is a great press; likewise Virago and the small but informative Women Writers Series by the British Library. Their titles are ones they deem to be of particular cultural influence in the 20th century, and their introductory materials are informative and pretty good.

I've always fancied the Hay Festival but never so far managed to make it. Agree that Monks House and Charleston Farmhouse are great places to visit. I was also surprised to find a sizable collection of work by Bloomsbury artists - Duncan Grant in particular - hanging in a private gallery in Burton Agnes Hall near Bridlington in Yorkshire.

The Waves is a stunning novel, but I think her swan song, Between the Acts, is my favourite. What an incredible piece of writing. I have also throughly fallen in love with her short fiction: a genre that has received increased critical attention in recent years but is still, to my mind, undersung.

That's not to mention Woolf's women contemporaries. I agree on Mansfield: the subtlety of her writing and the clear inclusion of discourses that were pretty much unarticulated in her day, make her a really remarkable writer (a thing Woolf recognised, and as she wrote in her personal papers after Mansfield's early death, of which she was jealous). But some of the others of her day were real trailblazers. Mina Loy, Dorothy Richardson, Djuna Barnes, May Sinclair, Amy Lowell, Edith Sitwell, Evelyn Underhill, Gertrude Stein: all of them women well ahead of their time.

I've had an unfortunate wardrobe incident. Damp has come in via the back of my walk-in wardrobe: some clothing is damp, some was wearing a fur coat of it's own: it's a dreadful mess. I've washed most, taken some to the dry cleaners, some I've had no choice but to bin.

So - some replacements necessary. Today I've ordered a velvet tunic in a dark, 'botannical blooms' design, a deep purple coat and a black, miliary style jacket. Also some velvet leggings: a staple of mine. Strictly speaking none of it bona fide DA, but we all have our failings ...😪

@SerafinasGoose what a shame about the clothes you've lost however your new purchases sound really lovely. Where are they from?

No! Oh SerafinasGoose, that must have been very sad to see.

New items sound perfectly delicious, though...

Seriously tempted by the persephone books festival. I also have a shelf of them. I wore a knee length tea dress with a dark floral print today, leg of mutton sleeves. Dh got a bit appreciative, which was a surprise. Perhaps I need to play with my clothes more. I decided I needed some Mary Janes, but then bought them in leopard print, which doesnt seem very DA to me, but they were cheap. I quite like them.

@SerafinasGoose what a shame about your clothes , love to see pictures of what you've purchased though.

@Zebracat your Mary Janes sound fab!

I'm home alone, candles lit and I'm currently watching The Deceived as recommended. The Vinted Liberty print top arrived its very big, I'm not sure how to style it , will post pics tomorrow .

@triggers34 .They are fabulous, but sadly I have to admit, they are too small. I really don’t know why I bother online, except of course, that I am an 8 and shoe shopping is equally impossible but even more humiliating in actual shops.

Had my optician's appointment today and very excitedly chose some impressive, tortoise shell glasses. They're almost perfectly circular but not quite and the optician assured me they were very flattering (but they would, wouldn't they). Now just need to choose my glasses chains x

Don't you just love a leg o mutton sleeve? The Zara dress I wore up thread has them and I felt a little conspicuous at first, but obviously I'm invisible because I'm 50+. I'm also very tempted by some leopard print Mary Jane's I've spotted on Vinted. I think they do work with the DA aesthetic x

Zebracat I don't know exactly what sort of Mary Jane's you want, so perhaps these won't be suitable, but I get mine from Koi and they do size 8. Also some at Joe Browns usually, who also go upto size 8 in some styles and although I've never bought Mary Jane's there I have bought other boots/shoes and find them true to size.

Sorry about your clothes Seraphina'sGoose. Good job you decided on a clear out today else it would have gone unnoticed for even longer.

I have ancient tortoiseshell glasses somewhere, have to dig them out.

@SerafinasGoose what a nasty surprise! Still this naturally means you simply have to buy more clothes. So every cloud etc. Will you have to the wall in your wardrobe treated with a damp course now? That's a messy job, speaking from experience.

Yes, but there's thousands to choose from on Etsy <sighs happily>

It's really odd. That wall has always felt cold - the wardrobe backs onto the northern wall of the property so is the colder area of the house - and I've always been bothered by it, but we've been in this house for 7 years and no damp has ever affected it until now. It needs investigating as that's clearly wrong. In the meantime we've filled some bricks outside we noticed had holes in them, treated the interior wall with spray, and will have it properly examined ASAP (finding people to do building work is proving really difficult at present, we've been trying to find someone to do the porch for weeks!) I'm not storing any more clothes in there until it's fixed, but things are going to be quite upside-down for a while with clothes hanging in all sorts of inventive places ...

In answer to OP's question upthread, my little clothes haul came from a combination of Fat Face, Free People, and one or two others. I'll post pics as requested once they arrive, as long as this isn't a derail of your lovely thread.

I really liked the Zara dress: lovely colours and geometric patterns. Nice!

@IndianSummer78 . I like the Kai shoes, altho they are clumpier than my usual choices, I’m working on my bigotry towards vegan leather. I can’t wear heels.

Checking back in after a hectic and perimenopausal week. Have had the Rule of Three (delighted with this idea) or just wearing something I love as a conscious look every day and have really had fun with some outfits.

My two favourites:
Tuesday's chocolate cord pinafore (self-made) with berry coloured tights, brown Grenson hiking boots, vintage Aquascutum lawn check blouse with neck tie (picked it and matching skirt up in a vintage shop for a tenner years ago). Brown tweedish jacket from h&m (charity shop, 15 years ago at least).

Today: grey and white micro dogtooth wide legged cropped trousers (self made); grey l/s tee; battered military boots; stripy linen blazer and long Avoca cashmere scarf (latter three also charity shops). Felt a bit Dead Poets Society, hoping not too try-hard.

And today in charity shop in town I picked up a dark green silk Jigsaw dress for £8. Just idly searched it and IT'S STILL IN STOCK FOR £18O!!! Jigsaw dress

Thinking might work with thin wool jumper underneath and dark tights and brogues?

Today I bought a new dark red trilby to go with the Liberty wool scarf I got on ebay.

Good evening you gorgeous people! I need to catch up on the thread but omg @Mirabai that trilby 😍😍 I adore it! I wish you all joy of it and will be looking out for similar.

I have been very DA this week but have been lazy with the photos. Will do a few flat lays (woman on the go!) pics tomorrow when I've got a minute.

Also, reaching the denouement of the The Secret History, but still can't see how it will end. Wonderful book!

Ohhh that trilby is divine!

Oh those outfits sound gorgeous @teawamutu . It's basically just like dressing up, isn't it? Popping on a costume and just going with it. I did a huge wardrobe declutter today, and it felt positively cathartic. I was so bored of my jeans + slogan sweatshirts + stripey tops + Veja trainers. I was copying far too many of those Instagram Mums but it really wasn't me. I'm really enjoying looking like I've actually made an effort and that little bit smarter x