Dark Academia, a term not many people are familiar with, but the ones who are, see nothing but it. Dark Academia according to some others suggest a book with settings of school, college, containing a dark climax. Hence the term “Dark Academia”.
Dark Academia according to some people focuses on the intimacy of knowledge, the profound love for learning and exploring darker themes like death and morbidity, specifically in literature and history. While the aesthetic is not completely negative, it had been presumed to be encouraging classist attitudes, some attributes of nihilism, love for morbidity and sleepless nights.
Now, are we nihilist? Maybe.
Am I addicted to caffeine? Perhaps…
It does not necessarily make it bad. We do like the idea of dying for someone. Or just in nature while our body rots and flowers bloom from us and thus we are born again. Let me give you some examples. So books like- Dead Poets Society by Nancy Kleinbaum, Kill Your Darlings by Terence Blacker, If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio or The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.
Or maybe take any short story by Edgar Allen Poe, or a song by Hozier.
When E. A. Poe said, “tell me every terrible thing you ever did and let me love you anyway”, and when Hozier said, “I wouldn’t fall for someone I thought couldn’t misbehave.”
We might say we are mysterious and alone and we like it that way, but deep down we just want an unrequited love like John Keats and Fanny. Or Dante and Beatrice. Deep down we just want to live in an haunted castle and have an infinite collection of daggers. Deep down we just want to mourn the lost empires and cultures and cry for all the languages that have been abandoned. Deep down we all feel melancholy while we study history. Deep down we cry every time anyone mentions the Library of Alexandria or The Lost University of Nalanda.
Deep down we love reading the enemies to lover trope because the thought that someone falling for us after knowing all our vices and flaws is preposterous but just as much wishful.
We usually love to dress a little gothic and mysterious, don’t worry its just a part of our aesthetic. A dark colour palette of black, dark brown, forest green and burgundy is contrasted with cream, gold and orange is it.
So let me show you in our not so colourful yet very much enticing wardrobe.
- Worn rumpled sweater tucked in a skirt. Combat boots. Throw on an overcoat if you have one to complete the look.Â
- A turtleneck tucked into high-waisted tweed pants. A leather belt with matching shoes with an overcoat.
- A worn our brown plaid dress with an overcoat and black boots.
One thing you have to keep in mind is to use what you have. Ask if your grandpa has an old tweed jacket, as your mom for her old dress, maybe an old watch, or grandma’s ring or a pendant necklace. Dark Academia is about connecting to our roots and history, so do it. Connect. And layer up. Wear that bold jewellery you were afraid to wear. Put on that dark mascara and that mystique vibe and let’s dress.
Thanks for reading, you are always welcome.