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.

I am a cold, dark and rainy person to my core - very sensitive to bright sunlight and heat (neurodivergent, pasty redhead), so I don’t leave the house much during the summer. I do like looking at all the green and the flowers blooming and I love how my front garden looks in the summer - I have a crazy rose that grows all around (and over) my door and windows and then lots of wildflowers and daisies on my ‘lawn’ at the back, which we just leave to be mad and wild. It is not an especially well tended garden, but I love that it does it’s own thing and it looks its best in the spring and summer months. I also quite enjoy light and peaceful mornings and evenings, when you might need to put a jumper on.

Sorry, small digression, I just wanted to say that I do like a couple of small things about summer, but mostly spend it wishing for autumn (which I adore). I tend to wear light and floaty dresses, always long and mostly with sleeves - Florence Welch, witchy boho, pre-raphaelite, still rather florid. For shoes I have flat velvet mary janes in various colours and live in those - I never wear trainers, sandals occasionally. I also have simple cotton dresses from Toast, that dh says make me look like a maester from Game of Thrones, or like I am going to be burned at the stake. I don’t do hot holidays, so never have to think about that.

Sounds lovely. Where do you get the Mary Janes? When I was a teenager I loved them and you could buy them quite cheaply (in black, burgundy or bottle green) in some of the hippier shops.

The Mary Janes are from Moi London:

https://www.moilondon.com/

They are a huge spring and summer staple for me - once the tights are off these are on my feet until they go back on again!

They look dainty, but do actually wear quite well - I’ve stomped round London in them. I’ve also got them soaking wet and they survived!