Page 3 | Dark Academia 2 - the conversation continues..

highlandcoo · 2023-10-08T23:08:10+00:00

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

teawamutu · 10/10/2023 14:24

evtheria · 10/10/2023 13:03

I def consider navy an essential shade, sometimes the blacks just don't match and ruins the look of my outfit! Plus it pairs beautifully with other colours - the acid yellows or the charcoal greys...

Enjoying the thought that we seen to have a DA Essentials checklist going:
• Is your style icon dead? Of old age (they lived a century+ ago) or of mysterious/tragic circumstances, either is fine.
• Is your hair is naturally greying? Bonus points. Otherwise, crop it all off in the meantime.
• Do you own a beret?
• Have you read/do you own a copy of: I Capture the Castle, The Secret History, P&P, etc?
• Did your childhood consist of pretending to be Harriet the Spy, or waiting for a robin to show you a hidden garden door?
• Does your delight in the autumn months make those around you grumpy, despite all the offers of hot drinks and books you offer them? Carry on.

And so on...

THIS IS ME! You really are all my people.

Notsosecrethistory · 10/10/2023 14:59

evtheria · 10/10/2023 13:03

I def consider navy an essential shade, sometimes the blacks just don't match and ruins the look of my outfit! Plus it pairs beautifully with other colours - the acid yellows or the charcoal greys...

Enjoying the thought that we seen to have a DA Essentials checklist going:
• Is your style icon dead? Of old age (they lived a century+ ago) or of mysterious/tragic circumstances, either is fine.
• Is your hair is naturally greying? Bonus points. Otherwise, crop it all off in the meantime.
• Do you own a beret?
• Have you read/do you own a copy of: I Capture the Castle, The Secret History, P&P, etc?
• Did your childhood consist of pretending to be Harriet the Spy, or waiting for a robin to show you a hidden garden door?
• Does your delight in the autumn months make those around you grumpy, despite all the offers of hot drinks and books you offer them? Carry on.

And so on...

I want this framed 😂

Notsosecrethistory · 10/10/2023 15:01

Or cross-stitched into a sampler...

helenahandcart78 · 10/10/2023 15:04

Love that list @evtheria! I tick all the boxes (beret is on the way) - and I'm feeling thrilled to be part of a tribe 🥰

On childhood books, I devoured anything by Enid Blyton and particularly the Mallory Towers books. I so wanted to be Daryl Rivers (I think that was her name?). Also loved CS Lewis - whose childhood home isn't too far away from me by the way! And Virginia Andrews - they were quite dark and creepy. As I got older, went through a massive Stephen King phase, but interspersed with the Brontes and Austen.

I now tend to buy books on really niche (read: odd) subjects. The history of the popes, for example, Egyptian religious rites, or biographies of historical figures like Eleanor of Aquitaine or Isabella of France. DH just hands me the Amazon packages while rolling his eyes 😁

I was a weird mix of preppy and goth as a teenager. And hung about with mods. It seemed to work at the time 😂

LuciaPillson · 10/10/2023 15:19

I used to feel the urge to read the first two Gormenghast books every autumn. It's especially satisfying if you do so amidst the turrets of Edinburgh.

Just stumbled across this on the Next site and liking not just the cardigan but also the dark green skirt or dress and the boots: https://www.next.com.mt/en/style/su157061/q77375#q77375

Buy White Stuff Green Belle Fairisle Pattern Cardigan from Next Malta

Shop for White Stuff Green Belle Fairisle Pattern Cardigan at Next Malta. International shipping and returns available. Buy now!

https://www.next.com.mt/en/style/su157061/q77375#q77375

helenahandcart78 · 10/10/2023 15:30

LuciaPillson · 10/10/2023 15:19

I used to feel the urge to read the first two Gormenghast books every autumn. It's especially satisfying if you do so amidst the turrets of Edinburgh.

Just stumbled across this on the Next site and liking not just the cardigan but also the dark green skirt or dress and the boots: https://www.next.com.mt/en/style/su157061/q77375#q77375

Oh no, another series I haven't read and now need to! I'm going to need more book shelves at this rate. Or a small annexe.

That jumper is lovely. I've had a browse on the website and there are quite a few midi and maxi skirts that would fit the bill. Especially like the pleated midi skirt in green, berry or navy, and the column midi skirt in neutral check. There's a purply-plum cord midi skirt from Seasalt on there too.

Not only more bookshelves - more wardrobes needed too!

Bookist · 10/10/2023 15:33

Oh don't get me started on childhood books. I had real life friends, but felt just as close to the characters in my favourite books, too! My tastes were eclectic (not many 10 year olds are interested in pre-Christian Ireland as per 'The Sisters' Tale' on previous thread). I loved The Mists of Avalon, anything by Robin McKinley, Ballet Shoes, The Dark Is Rising sequence, The Silver Sword, The Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, The Wizard of Earthsea sequence. Basically anything that wasn't set in the here and now, and had a touch of the fantastical.

I couldn't bear anything cheerful, or contemporary, or 'cool'. Ick, no thanks.

I'm slowly but surely re-buying all my childhood favourites (which tragically got lost in a house move) and they have their very own bookcase.

helenahandcart78 · 10/10/2023 15:36

Divebar2021 · 09/10/2023 09:16

The photographer of these images was a young woman called Marianne Breslauer from Berlin. She studied with Man Ray for a time but got caught up with events in Europe during the war ( she was gay and bohemian but her family were sympathetic to the Nazis). She died tragically young at 34 and her mother destroyed lots of her work and only a few images survive.

Now I’d that isn’t the most DA thing you read today I don’t know what is.

Just picked up in this @Divebar2021 - what a story! Must see if there are any biographies on her...

venus7 · 10/10/2023 15:37

helenahandcart78 · 10/10/2023 15:04

Love that list @evtheria! I tick all the boxes (beret is on the way) - and I'm feeling thrilled to be part of a tribe 🥰

On childhood books, I devoured anything by Enid Blyton and particularly the Mallory Towers books. I so wanted to be Daryl Rivers (I think that was her name?). Also loved CS Lewis - whose childhood home isn't too far away from me by the way! And Virginia Andrews - they were quite dark and creepy. As I got older, went through a massive Stephen King phase, but interspersed with the Brontes and Austen.

I now tend to buy books on really niche (read: odd) subjects. The history of the popes, for example, Egyptian religious rites, or biographies of historical figures like Eleanor of Aquitaine or Isabella of France. DH just hands me the Amazon packages while rolling his eyes 😁

I was a weird mix of preppy and goth as a teenager. And hung about with mods. It seemed to work at the time 😂

I wanted to be Daryl too....not least for the name.

triggers34 · 10/10/2023 16:22

I'm on holiday in Cornwall , by chance I'm reading Hamnet except it's lost somewhere in the camper . I visited st Ives today - there is a brilliant charity shop called retro stuffed with tweed jackets and kilts . I've taken a pic of their window display - the model is wearing a beret !

Dark Academia 2 - the conversation continues..

evtheria · 10/10/2023 16:29

triggers34 · 10/10/2023 16:22

I'm on holiday in Cornwall , by chance I'm reading Hamnet except it's lost somewhere in the camper . I visited st Ives today - there is a brilliant charity shop called retro stuffed with tweed jackets and kilts . I've taken a pic of their window display - the model is wearing a beret !

I want those boots in front of the mannequin - they look like the right balance of rustic and everyday.

Bookist · 10/10/2023 16:40

That outfit is perfection. Anyone else feel that Cornwall is the spiritual home of Dark Academia?

Divebar2021 · 10/10/2023 16:50

Im curious about that charity shop in St Ives because I know the town pretty well and I don’t know it. I got married in the church by the lifeboat station. I wore a long pale grey dress, a black silk jacket based on a Vivienne Westwood / Alexander McQueen jacket and a small bespoke black hat covered in black feathers and a black veil. ( always the drama queen)

Favourite childhood reads -, Little Women, Twins of St Claire’s and Mallory Towers, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe - I remember being so gutted that Narnia wasn’t real.
I didnt really have a strong style as a teenager other than standard 80’s fashions… pixie boots and dentist style shirts. I don’t really remember the neon that’s always referenced now. It was a time of electric blue eye liner on the water line and flavoured lip gloss.

Divebar2021 · 10/10/2023 16:51

Anyone else feel that Cornwall is the spiritual home of Dark Academia?

In a kind of Poldark way but more so Yorkshire and Oxford and Cambridge for me.

ElectiveAffinities · 10/10/2023 17:08

May I rejoin this thread, please? I was on the previous one, but possibly under another name. I feel must be a Dark Academic as I love books (own thousands 😳), have silver hair, and got married in black (a Ghost dress). I also love long-line fitted cardigans with a passion and spend far too much time bewailing a dearth of them in the shops. Nobody really makes the sort of clothes I want to wear and once upon a time I used to make my own. Haven’t done much of that for a while but I keep promising I will again, and I have the fabric (and patterns) to prove it.

BonjourCrisette · 10/10/2023 17:41

@evtheria Oh my goodness, Harriet the Spy was my absolute favourite book. I have passed on the love to DD (17) who has also spent her childhood wanting to be her and starting notebooks (she doesn't like tomatoes though so massive fail).

evtheria · 10/10/2023 18:21

BonjourCrisette · 10/10/2023 17:41

@evtheria Oh my goodness, Harriet the Spy was my absolute favourite book. I have passed on the love to DD (17) who has also spent her childhood wanting to be her and starting notebooks (she doesn't like tomatoes though so massive fail).

I was pleasantly surprised by the Apple TV animated series for it, DS has seen that and the film but I promised him a copy of the book as well. It's such a good story dealing with some uncomfortable issues for kids!

evtheria · 10/10/2023 18:22

@BonjourCrisette
ps Both of us also dislike tomatoes! And mayo! But we happily partake in "milk and cake" time.

Iamanunsafebuilding · 10/10/2023 18:27

I'm re-reading Harry Potter (again!) and the reference to DA for Dumbledore's Army now makes me think of this thread!! I think Prof McGonagall embraces the dark academia vibe

evtheria · 10/10/2023 18:31

Childhood books:
• The Secret Garden (also her other works, though that I recall secretly thinking that Fauntleroy was a bit of a sap...)
• Little Women
• What Katy Did and all the other ones
• Anne of Green Gables
• The Adventure Series by Willard Price
• Discworld OBV!
• Redwall series
• The Hobbit
• Robin Jarvis's work: the Whitby series scared the absolute bejeezus out of me but I looooved the Wyrd Museum books.
• an absolutely massive tome of world myths and fairytales that my aunt sent me. She is my biggest enabler of DA!

I recall 'playing' at being at boarding school with my little sister. We would put on navy jumpers, plaid skirts, solemnly pack an old shoebox with beloved items, and I would then make her eat multiple bowls of porridge between writing lines because this was what all schoolgirls ate. We lived in the tropics, mind.

VelvetAutumn · 10/10/2023 18:32

First post.Hello.St Ives is definitely my spiritual home.I recognise the charity shop (I think)

evtheria · 10/10/2023 18:37

Bookist · 10/10/2023 16:40

That outfit is perfection. Anyone else feel that Cornwall is the spiritual home of Dark Academia?

I think more of northern cities, or Oxford, but then I recall Over Sea, Under Stone. I imagine everyone in that dressed like in characters in a sort of vintage DA-vibe film!

teawamutu · 10/10/2023 18:45

helenahandcart78 · 10/10/2023 15:04

Love that list @evtheria! I tick all the boxes (beret is on the way) - and I'm feeling thrilled to be part of a tribe 🥰

On childhood books, I devoured anything by Enid Blyton and particularly the Mallory Towers books. I so wanted to be Daryl Rivers (I think that was her name?). Also loved CS Lewis - whose childhood home isn't too far away from me by the way! And Virginia Andrews - they were quite dark and creepy. As I got older, went through a massive Stephen King phase, but interspersed with the Brontes and Austen.

I now tend to buy books on really niche (read: odd) subjects. The history of the popes, for example, Egyptian religious rites, or biographies of historical figures like Eleanor of Aquitaine or Isabella of France. DH just hands me the Amazon packages while rolling his eyes 😁

I was a weird mix of preppy and goth as a teenager. And hung about with mods. It seemed to work at the time 😂

Helena, I had to double check to make sure I hadn't written this! No wonder I love your outfits so much.

For the seamstresses among us, I'm lusting after this. What do you think? Might be a good option for warmer days: https://sewdifferent.co.uk/arya-pleat-dress-sewing-pattern-pdf-paper/

Arya Pleat Dress – sewing pattern • PDF & paper – sew different

https://sewdifferent.co.uk/arya-pleat-dress-sewing-pattern-pdf-paper

helenahandcart78 · 10/10/2023 18:58

@teawamutu - we are DA twins 😁😁

@evtheria I am ecstatic you brought up Discworld! I wasn't sure about mentioning it as there is a lot of debate about whether it is "literature" but I have loved Terry Pratchett since my uni days and have every one of the Discworld books. I revisit them all the time. His themes got darker and more political as he went on but he always retained the humour and humanity of the characters.

helenahandcart78 · 10/10/2023 19:00

@Iamanunsafebuilding, if Harry Potter had been around when I was a tween/teen I would have been all over it. I would have been obsessed and absolutely dying to be Hermione. Professor McGonagall is def DA - the darkest variety!