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

Hi @Bigmousestrikesagain and @HelloandGoodMorningPlease so nice to have some new members join us 🤗and hello to anyone else I've missed by mistake!

@Bigmousestrikesagain I love the sound of your outfit. With the wool vest, where did you buy it please? Is that what we used to call a tank top in the old days? I've noticed a few of them around and I think one or two would be really useful additions to my wardrobe. I have some nice blouses but don't really like the tucked-in look because although I'm fairly slim overall, my waist is not the best .. and a blouse hanging over a skirt can look messy. So maybe a wool vest is the answer? I was thinking of knitting a fair isle one; just need to take time and research a pattern. But plain would also be good .. maybe with a cable pattern?

@HelloandGoodMorningPlease I am a big Anne of Green Gables fan too! I inherited my mum's copy (a Sunday school prize in 1935) with a green leather cover. I had bright red hair and freckles as a child so totally identified with Anne even down to the getting cross at being teased😁. I also wore tweed skirts even as a student and have always loved them.
I'm more of a knitter than a sewer but would like to get better at sewing. Skirts really aren't that hard are they .. it's just the zips that are a bit daunting .. but could be a project for the dark winter nights ..

@highlandcoo - yes what used to be a tank top (although I tend to need a v neck). I’m actually coveting a fair isle one ( I love some of the Brora cashmere ones and am stalking eBay!) so I imagine a hand knitted one would be lovely. Sadly my knitting skills are zero! I actually got the Green/teal from seasalt and have another sort of deep purple that I got in the Brora sale. There seem to be loads about this year though.

I do find they make everything look neater and work with skirt/trousers to give a bit more shape and definition if that makes sense ( must confess I’ve always had a thing for them, particularly over a delicate shirt). Only thing is you do need to make sure the layer underneath isn’t too baggy obvs and that the vest itself isn’t too long. Also very useful over a dress.

@helenahandcart78 and @Bookist sounds as if you both had lovely relaxing holidays. Welcome back 😊

@Bigmousestrikesagain thanks so much for the knitted vest info. I may have purchased it myself ... looks incredibly useful!

I finally did it and got myself a long trench coat to go with my fairly masculine or at least androgynous approach to DA of cords, shirt and loafers. While I fancy myself to be 30s spy, I fear in reality it looks more Columbo. But I do not care!

Now psyching myself up to do the application for membership of the Bodleian (and possibly more so for the task of convincing my darling mama to mind the offspring while I nip into Oxford to do the begging admissions interview) when we go down to visit them this week.

@Wanttobekind Get yourself a beret to keep yourself in 30s spy territory!
What is involved in the membership of the Bodleian interviews? I thought the application would just be paper based.

I'm loving this thread. I'm a physicist rather than a literary type, so my DA contribution is an Oppenheimer style English woman abroad outfit. I think I got the tip for H&M William Morris from here and Vinted did the rest. Many thanks to whoever suggested that!

I'm off to Paris next week for a conference, but I will sadly have to dress as a normal corporate type during work hours. I will certainly be going along though!

You look lovely! That fitted jacket is gorgeous x

Thanks! It's not a fitted jacket, it's a massive 2nd hand wool blazer that wraps right round against our glacial meeting rooms :D it's got turtle doves cashmere fingerless gloves in the pockets (again thanks S&B)

@Notsosecrethistory The last time I got a readers ticket it was paper application with letter of support from my phd supervisor, with an interview that I think would have been more of a grilling about why I needed membership, what particularly about my research needs that meant it needed to be the Bodleian etc, had I not been to school with the interviewer’s daughter and deflected the conversation! So this time I am preparing for the worst 😂 It may have changed in 20 years though…

Well this has prompted me to get on with my request from the Bod Imaging Service.

The item I'm after is an original C18th doc in one of the Special Collections, should you need to bolster your application... <cheeky>

May I join?
I'm an actual academic who loves the history of academia (especially women academics). But I reckon if the male academics in their 50s can pretend they are in the City, I can pretend I'm in the 1920s.
Today I'm wearing a pink faux fair isle cardigan and a wool coat (I've decided I'm going to get wet whatever I wear so it might as well be slightly fitted and stylish) but the rest is very boring. Must dig out my beret.

I have got into wearing waistcoats but searched Vinted for a fair isle one and no luck, they are either £60 or tiny/huge.

I did find this though. Wavering.
I generally need plain stuff as I'm drawn to prints but they then clash. I can't wear black without looking dead but love navy/grey/forest green.

PS I have all my late MIL's brooches. DH had no sisters so I got lucky.

@StamppotAndGravy you look brilliant in that photo! I wanted to send one of what I’m wearing tonight but needed to run to the train and ran out of time ..

welcome also @worstofbothworlds very nice waistcoat and not too complicated- did you decide to go for it?

and brooches - I keep meaning to have a rummage in the local charity shops. Not many people dress in a DA/vintage style - it’s quite conventional round here really - so I’m hopeful they haven’t all been snaffled already!

I have a fair bit of vintage stuff - vintage jewellery is a long held passion - so often mix them into my outfit. I need to clean a lot of it, and that's what stopping me, just the effort 😂
Still freezing in my trench coat. I am not going for a theme, but I am going to have to get something a bit more rain resistant that doesn't look totally incongruous with my other clothing. Round here it's puffa jackets and big duvet coats as the standard, but I'd look ridiculous in my brogues and beret and a north face colour-block number! 😂

I'm thinking long-ish, plain-ish, Borg or quilted lining...

Mine is a dark plaid wool blend, from Bravissimo. It's this one (I am not size 8):

I'm attempting at the moment to channel Harriet Vane. WWHVD?
She is my inter-war fictional idol, though I have an obsession with many of the books others have mentioned.

https://www.vinted.co.uk/items/3745352508-pepperberry-8sc-coat?referrer=catalog

Oh that is lovely!

@Notsosecrethistory it doesn't help the cold, but wash your trenchcoat (if it's washable or not too expensive) with waterproofing. It works a treat! I've only risked it on cheap ones though. I wouldn't do it to a Burberry

I seriously misjudged my conference. I've got my academic tweed jacket and clumpy doc marten lace-up shoes. The man are in ties and the women are in heels! It's like being back in 1995

Museum selection has a replica suffragette brooch if anyone is interested.

@StamppotAndGravy I will happily wager that you look 200% more stylish and "bien dans ta peau" comfortable than the other women there. Revel in your difference!

Oh no! AS Byatt has died.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67448696

I suppose I knew she wasn't young, but I'm still somehow taken aback.

I was thinking just a few minutes ago about the time the world didn't (thank goodness) lose her decades ago, as I cleaned under my fridge and my duster twanged something metallic... but I didn't get a near-fatal electric shock.

I’ve literally just read that in the paper.

I used to go to her house when I was kid as I was friends with her DD. This was before Possession so she wasn’t famous. Loved Possession.

Oh goodness. Sorry for your loss - and for your friend who is bereaved.

This was primary school I haven’t seen her since I was 10!

Films
This afternoon on BBC2
Bette Davis. Dark Victory followed by Now Voyager….perfect.