Dark Academia 3 - de vestibus agamus - 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!

Now that the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is upon us, it might be time to start considering our autumn and winter wardrobes.

Last year as well as discussing leather lace-up boots, vintage handbags, antique brooches and many other desirable items, we pondered how to successfully pursue a DA aesthetic at work, at the theatre and generally out and about (without straying into Carry On Librarian territory, as one PP memorably commented)
I learned about the Wrong Shoe Concept, and the Third Thing Rule .. every day is a school day!

However DA is much more than clothes, and we also shared our favourite childhood books .. memories of robins leading us through gates into secret gardens, the fiery red-haired independence of Anne of Green Gables, and our longing to go to boarding school, get into scrapes and partake in midnight feasts.

Thanks to our erudite posters, we learned about romantic Scottish history exploits recorded in 18th century documents, and considered the injustice of male family members being able to lock up women whose emotions became inconvenient, as well as discussing many inspiring women both in RL and in film.

And we debated the most DA place we've ever visited .. Oxford and Edinburgh featured strongly; in fact there was a suggestion that a perfect place for our DA AGM would be The Witchery in Edinburgh ..

If curling up in a wing-backed chair in front of a log fire, with candles flickering, sipping tea from a china mug while reading Pride and Prejudice or A Room of One's Own sounds appealing, this thread might be for you. Or if you just like the clothes, that works too.

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

And our second:

www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/4915762-dark-academia-2-the-conversation-continues?page=1

I doff my beret to you @highlandcoo, what a great intro!

Bugger. I lost track of you all and missed the Wrong Shoe Concept and Third Thing Rule. I hope you haven’t spotted me out and about and sadly and quietly shook your head when we passed. Next time please stop and whisper the knowledge to me.

I'm an academic and mainly wear black clothes, I didn't know 'dark academia' was a thing til recently, I thought it was more gothic, but I can see a lot of country house style colours and textures at the moment.

My favourite thing at the moment is tweedy or textured wool jackets. I have two on the go in different blue or check patterns, one charity shop, one Vinted. I think an oversized jacket with a short skirt looks great. I'm in my 50's and have decided it's now or never on the shorter skirt front. Nothing outrageous though.

I'm also happy to see long boots back in this year.

@Notsosecrethistory thank you kindly and you get a prize for the first mention of berets on this thread

@MurdoMunro you can discover these mysteries for yourself if you have a few hours to spare to scroll back through the last two conversations

@Faldodiddledee I like the sound of your jackets, and photos are always welcome .. I like a shortish skirt too (or very long indeed) - what footwear do you favour with a shortish skirt?

@highlandcoo at the moment, long fairly flat knee-high or calf length boots. I've got a black suede pair and a lighter tan pair. I'd like a brown leather pair, but it's hard to find the right low but not flat heel, I want more riding boot than moulded if you know what I mean.

I also prefer short or very long. Midi has never done anything for me, I do have a few black midi dresses and patterned skirts but the librarian danger is never very far away I feel in those. Librarian chic is amazing for young beautiful people but less so on people who could be middle-aged librarians, like myself.

What shoes would you wear with a shorter skirt?

Never shoes; always boots. I love boots. With a shorter skirt or dress, either flat knee-high suede, or I do have some very chunky navy ankle boots I found in France which with thick tights seem to work OK. Thinking about it, most of my skirts are long though.

I also have two pairs of calf-length Ten Point boots which are my absolute favourites. Perfect for long skirts or under trousers.

for example

tenpointsfootwear.com/products/pandora-laced-boots-nutbrown-1

mine are a bit longer actually

@highlandcoo I've never heard of ten points boots... just clicked the link, and fallen in love with a pair! Are they comfortable?

Hello! I have been following for a while, may I de-lurk?

I love this style, although I sometimes feel a little on the chunky side to pull it off. But boots, tweed, velvet, cord - love them all.

I saw a very stylish woman in town the other day, with a silver plait and fringe poking out of her beret, tweed jacket and turn ups with lace up boots. She absolutely rocked it.

Inspired, I’ve just scored a brown tweed jacket on Vinted for £7! Whether I can get it across my matronly boobs is another matter…sigh.

Teen DD loves dark academia look and asked for these pinstripe trousers with braces / suspenders for her birthday. Disturbia shirts were a bit too £££ so I bought her this collar brooch to jazz up any shirt

Love this! I'd love to be DA as that's my inner persona and was my vibe when I was younger but not ready to show that externally again yet. I have a goal in mind to get to 10 stone and then get back to the clothes I love xx

@Notsosecrethistory they are incredibly comfortable! Quite generous across the rounded toe which suits my not-very-pretty feet. Some of their styles are just a little bit different which I really like.
I bought my navy pair in Manchester years ago, however to buy them online means ordering from Sweden and the charge for importing them is ridiculous. From memory, somewhere around £50+ for a £200 pair of boots. I think (possibly, not certain) if you were able to order them to be delivered to a (maybe holiday?) address in mainline Europe, that charge might not apply. I haven't tested that out though.

@FeralNun I hope your jacket fits .. or alternatively looks good worn open. I tend to wear most of my jackets and coats unfastened unless it's really freezing. £7 is an absolute bargain.

@Singleandproud the trousers will look great and I love the bug brooch.

@HiveMindEchoChamber I think we chatted on the thread - a long time ago - about how the style we favoured when we were younger is often the look we revert to later on. I definitely dressed like this as a student. I no longer wear the inherited fur coat, but back in the day I was wearing tweed skirts with boots, knitwear, sweeping long coats, even shawls at times.
When I was working, I wore more tailored clothes, but as you say, it wasn't really me. I hope you enjoy the thread and find some clothes you love before long.

Thanks, @highlandcoo

On the Ten Points subject, have you tried buying from Lotta from Stockholm? I’ve bought lovely clogs from there, and am eyeing up some boots!Ten Points

Hello all! I flitted in and out of thread one under another username and was mainly an observer for thread two. I’d like to settle in again for thread three if I may- wingback chair and candlesticks at the ready.

Love the wonderful scene-setting in the intro @highlandcoo🙏🏻 📕 🕯️ 🦇

I have once again broken out my beret, stout leather boots, extra long scarf, and an Oxford comma apparently. (I do feel points of grammar also fit the aesthetic.)

I am on self-imposed shopping diet at present so I will be attempting to “shop my wardrobe” as much as possible this autumn/winter. I’m actually quite looking forward to it and to lots of lovely DA inspiration on here❤️

@FeralNun I agree with @highlandcoo that you don't need to do tweedy jackets up (unless you are after the Miss Trunchbull vibe, which you might be, I don't know!) I've been wearing my jackets open for decades. I do wear thermal vests all winter for this reason though.

@HiveMindEchoChamber I do get that you want to reach your weight goal before investing in new clothes, I felt the same when I lost weight recently, and I have sold on or given to charity a lot of my old larger clothes. That said, perhaps you could work in a DA touch or two into your current look, especially if it were things that you could keep whatever your body is doing, so long scarves are very in if the students are anything to go by that I see every day (this may be more of a frazzled English woman vibe, but it's pretty DA as well, especially stripey ones). Boots are another good thing to buy that will last for years.

Ignore me if not relevant, I know what it's like though to wear clothes that are not quite you, and it's horrible. I know I've got my outfit right when I feel like me and just go out and don't think about it for the rest of the day.

Thanks for the new thread! ☺️

@Faldodiddledee Thank you, that's true, there are things I could incorporate now and keep as investment pieces.

I wish there was a DA version of joggers and a sweatshirt as well! Comfort mode is coming up for winter and I've only ever seen DA done in a more formal way. I may have a google!

I absolutely love the idea of ‘shopping your wardrobe’, @VictorianScreenTime. I’m going to adopt that mindset. It should work well with my usual practice of listing what I’d like to wear for autumn (only do it in autumn for some reason!), and then identifying combos or gaps, to try and cut down spend..

@FeralNun Yes, LottaFromStockholm is UK-based aren't they - and they even have the pair(s) I like... I just need to decide whether I want lace-up or Chelsea boot. I prefer the lace-ups, but then my existing boots are lace-up...

I fear I may have completely the wrong idea here, as I haven’t been involved in these threads at all (and probably should have been…love this style), but I have the most amazingly comfortable cords that I love for wearing round the house. They are from White Stuff, which I think probably isn’t typical a DA retailer, but I think they could be styled to fit the aesthetic.

https://www.whitestuff.com/p/4361/twister-cord-trouser/MID_TAN