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

I've just rewatched Brideshead...........!
Try ebay for cricket sweaters; there's a gorgeous Margaret Howell one on there............

Correction; NEAT vodka, not nest vodka, great though that sounds.
Pleased this topic is back...

Onto eBay to search for cricket jumpers....

"Cable", "arran" and "aran" are also good search terms to find cricket jumpers on eBay.

I may know slightly too much about this subject...

What about short length kimonos - silk/satin with rich paisley/gorgeous Indian patterns - DA or not? I'm thinking the Bloomsbury Group would approve?

Not DA, I think....but gorgeous. Haori jackets. Better worn at home, rather than out and about? Love Japanese kimonos and fabric.

I have a funeral to attend soon (relative I wasn't that close to but am close to my parent that was their relative and to their adult children who are my age).

I don't wear black, it makes me look dead, but I can get something. I have a navy sleeveless shirt dress but that might be too light (for the weather and the occasion, even with a navy cardigan over it).

Would charcoal be ok do you think?

I would have thought charcoal would be fine. I wore dark brown for my grandparents funerals and dark french navy for my father's.

Thanks - I was tempted to buy a stylish new dress but I think I will go with the ancient black trousers and a dark grey top.

It’s always worth having funeral dress ime, I have 2. I have 2 funeral hats as well (at least that’s how I justified buying them).

Katherine Mansfield was often pictured wearing clothes like that. Not strictly speaking DA, but more DA meets intellectual bohemian (which does kind of encompass DA, in its own sense). The beauty, I think, is putting in your own twists and not being a die-hard follower of one particular aesthetic.

I've just had a huge, long-overdue spring wardrobe clearout and realised I do have classic items which could be called 'DA' in amongst my flowing, ageing-hippy look. Blazers in check, also velvet and cordoroy in burgundy, forest green, rich blue and black. Lots of ruffled shirts in black and cream, and I have a love of hats, capes and ponchos, of which I found several I'd forgotten I had. 😀Two pairs of DM Mary Janes and some chunky Dune loafers. Recently got a lovely black maxi dress in the sale from Brora.

I've just made the mistake of reading 'Dark Academia: How Universities Die' and thoroughly depressed myself. So to cheer up I am re-reading P D James' An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, which is a great variation on the DA theme and set at the University of Cambridge. This is a good read: I like Cordelia a lot more than the insufferable Adam Dalgliesh. Wish she'd written more books about the former and fewer about the latter!

On a Katherine Mansfield theme I found myself hanging my nose over these:

20s-30s dress + jacket

30s white lace dress

Absolutely love that burgundy velvet jacket @Mirabai. Said it once and I'll say it again - tailoring and nipped in at the waists just aren't high street anymore ☹️.

Still feeling kimono love, even though the weather is not getting its act together yet. How much rain and wind do we need to endure?? Love the Katherine Mansfield look though.

You sound like you've a good grounding wardrobe there @SerafinasGoose - a tiny bit envious of your lovely fabrics!

Burgundy is my favourite colour and that jacket and dress are wonderful. That jacket is very Mansfield!

I love her story 'je ne parle pas francais', in which Raoul Duquette poses in front of the mirror in a kimono pretending to be Madame Butterfly.

Burgundy is my favourite colour and that jacket and dress are wonderful. That jacket is very Mansfield!

Isn’t it!

I remember Miss Brill in which she goes out in her fur and the young couple laugh it: ”It’s exactly like fried whiting!” Then she goes home & puts it back in its box and thinks she hears it crying.

@SerafinasGoose thanks for the book recommendation, I'll give that one a go!

Does anyone buy anything from Disturbia? Some of their stuff is very goth/punk but a lot of their midi dresses are on that dark academia/witch borderline and I want many of them!

(I think I posted at the beginning of the first thread, didn't realise this was still going!)

Can anyone help me find a link/post (which I was sure was in this thread or the first one)?

It was a post regarding a reading list from the first year humanities undergraduate degree at a UK university. I'm pretty sure it began with The Epic of Gilgamesh and finished with Frankenstein?

I'd found it really helpful, but for some reason forgot to bookmark or save it, now can't find it in my browser history and Google is not my friend 😂Eternal gratitude awaits anyone who could point me in the right direction 😍

I've got my eye on a couple of Disturbia shirt dresses... did you buy anything?

Autumn is coming so I think it’s time to revive this thread. Anyone seen anything good in the shops? And any tips for jumpers that look DA and are relatively warm but don’t actually contain wool? I am unbearably allergic to wool and start itching at even the tiniest hint of it so can’t wear it at all.

Emerging from hibernation (ie behind sunglasses, stacks of books and assorted paraphernalia)...

Present.
Bought a very billowy-yet-crisp white shirt with a built in short neck tie thing (?) instead of collar. Will post a photo soon, I love it but worry it’s a bit ‘Sailor Moon’ or an air stewardess…

Reporting in!

I was driving the DCs to the cinema yesterday and commented to DS1 (he of the DA leanings) that it was Dark Academia season again!

@evtheria I loved Sailor Moon. DH has never heard of it and I'm not from the UK originally so wondered if it had featured here.

Plonks arse down in wingback chair in the library.

<happy sigh>

So good to see you all! I'm on holiday right now so still clinging to summer but very happy to start discussing all things DA. By the time I get home sutumn will be well and truly here.

Hi all!

Have just stuck on a pair of walking boots and a cardy and there’s a blackberry and apple pie in the oven so it’s definitely that time of year!

@Ohwtfnow I have found Mango good for knitwear of the non-wool persuasion. Some nice black and browny bits there to get the DA vibe going.

Happy to see this thread back!
Got my eye on claret wide-legged cords from M&S. Bought the green ones last year so I know they fit nicely.
Been buying odds and sods from Vinted.
Was thrilled a few months ago when one of my pupils said, "Miss, I love your aesthetic." 😁☺️