Not in the mood for the slutty summer? The dark academia trend is a nice alternative

Admittedly, something is very quickly declared a trend these days. Take a phenomenon, put ‘-core’ behind it and immediately the image is created that there are also masses of followers. The British newspaper published The Guardian recently a list of “aesthetics” that are said to be hugely trending among Gen Z kids (born that way between 1996–2012) right now, leaving you questioning how popular they really are. Many people may have heard of cottagecore (a penchant for idyllic country life with the accompanying prairie dresses), gorpcore (dressing for extreme weather/extreme sports without the corresponding weather or sports per se) or even grandmacore (knitted cardigans, tweed skirts, silk headscarves, the Queen so to speak) and have also spotted these looks in the wild. But how widespread goblincore (inspired by the ‘folkloric’ look of goblins – goblins indeed – including stick-on ears), mermaidcore (pink or turquoise hair paired with a plethora of ocean-related accessories), or clowncore (self-explanatory) are in the real world, is still the question.

In fact, with these and other very specific, so-called trends we have more or less described the world of ‘online aesthetics’, which mainly takes place on the internet (TikTok, Instagram, Tumblr). The word ‘aesthetics’ is used in these circles for a collection of inspiration consisting of everything from clothing and accessories to music, visual resources and certain hobbies that together evoke a certain feeling and in other words form a ‘core’. This may look like the old concept of subculture, but it is fundamentally different. People who are part of subcultures such as the punks, goths or skaters always are and you can usually recognize them immediately by their style. However, an angelcore fan is unlikely to actually go to work swathed in pastel tulle and outfitted with wings on the back. The love and obsession for the different aesthetics is mainly experienced on social media, where endless mood boards or selfies are posted in the style of the aesthetic.

The fact that it mainly happens online doesn’t make the following of some of those aesthetics any smaller or less fanatical about it, and it would also be too easy to dismiss the whole phenomenon as the fringe hobby of crazies on the internet. It is already too big for that and there is even an entire online ‘fandom’ encyclopedia that maps and describes the different aesthetics in a Wiki way. Certainly, some of them have a rather private character and are probably mainly intended to be funny or ironic; for example, there’s a “mommy’s-on-the-phonecore” (an aesthetic inspired by waiting for your mom to get off the phone), which may not have that many fans after all. But other aesthetics are adhered to by millions of people worldwide and at some point they also make the transition to the ‘real’ world and the mainstream. The latter has happened with the dark academia trend.

academia

On the aforementioned fandom wiki, ‘academia’ has its own chapter with no fewer than 37 subcategories (from art academia to witchy academia) of which ‘dark academia’ is the largest and best-known. Central is the romanticization of an elite classical academic lifestyle, inspired by, for example, Oxford and Cambridge, classical antiquity and Ivy League universities such as Harvard and Yale. The field of interest actually includes academic pastimes, such as reading Homer, studying classical architecture and visiting museums. The dark aspect lies in the fact that, in addition to acquiring knowledge, there is also quite a bit of dabbling with more ‘dark’ matter, such as depression and death, addiction and obsessions. But ironically, most of the attention may have been reserved for the superficial side of dark academia: how it looks.

And that’s understandable, because to be honest, it’s a wonderful, imaginative aesthetic. Just think of the clothes: the tweed jackets, the lambswool jumpers, the pleated plaid skirts, the preppy college jackets, the cream cricket jerseys, the baggy wool trousers, the bulky camel coats. And the treasure trove of accessories to draw from, such as old-fashioned brown leather satchels, type classical language teacher, footwear such as brogues and mary-janes and gold-rimmed or tortoiseshell-colored spectacle frames. Then there are the evocative settings where you can hang out in that dark academia attire: libraries, cathedrals, cemeteries, universities. And then we have the paraphernalia with which all kinds of dark academia-fähige activities can be carried out, such as the scooped paper and the fountain pen for writing love letters, or the well-thumbed first edition from Wuthering Heights to hang out with at a coffee house. And to take pictures of course, a lot of pictures have to be taken.

The Secret History

High Priestess of the dark academia universe is without a doubt Donna Tartt and accompanying bible is her novel The Secret History from 1992, in which a group of students at an elite university in Vermont murder a fellow student. All dark academia obsessions come together against a background of an archaic, academic environment and inclement weather. Although it is always difficult to pinpoint the origin of an online trend exactly, it is The Secret History probably the origin of the whole movement. The tag ‘dark academia’ has been used for discussions on Tumblr about the content of the book from about 2014 onwards. The accompanying mood boards were soon created, first with a focus on atmospheric images in moody black-and-white or brown tones, but the clothing tips were soon added. Inspired in no small part by Tartt’s own style, with her impeccable trouser suits, white shirts, ties and flat lace-up shoes.

Other films and books also proved to be ideal inspiration material for creating the dark academia (clothing) style, from Brideshead Revisited until Harry Potter, and an aesthetic was born. Although its popularity gradually increased in the years that followed, it remained a bit of a niche phenomenon for the time being. That changed when The New York Times paid attention to it in June 2020 and explained the emergence of dark academia by the lack of a ‘real’ academic life due to the lockdown. This will no doubt have contributed to the genre’s spectacular growth in popularity in the two corona years that followed, reflected in the proliferation of hashtag use and searches: Google reported an increase of more than 4,000 percent in the first. year of the pandemic. The explosive growth of the BookTok phenomenon (an immensely popular genre on TikTok in which young people post videos about books and where aesthetics are often at least as important as the content of the books) is also part of this trend, and three guesses which book is most popular there. is?

light academia

If the dark academia style sounds a bit autumnal, that’s right. Because autumn with its falling leaves, gray weather and shorter days is obviously the favorite season of dark academia fans. Summer, especially if it also threatens to become a slutty summer, is not really their natural habitat, everything is just, both literally and figuratively, much too light. But there is a solution in the form of the light academia variant. The interests and style are not that different from those of dark academia, but everything feels and looks lighter. In clothing, we see this in the color spectrum, where the focus is more on all shades from white to dark beige and in the choice of materials: crispy cotton and linen rather than wool and tweed.

But also in terms of mood it is all a bit less heavy. Meditating on the graves of deceased writers is replaced, so to speak, for more cheerful activities such as rowing on the Thames or a croquet game on the lawn. Visiting an archaeological site dressed in a wide, linen dress combined with a parasol against the bright sunlight, for example, is also a wonderful light academic activity. The ultimate source of inspiration may well be the film The Talented Mr. Ripley from 1999 (after the book by Patricia Highsmith) with its preppy dressed, beautiful and spoiled rich protagonists in the picturesque and sunny Italy of the fifties, and with some appropriate darkness a gruesome murder. With this mood board in mind, those who feel less comfortable in the summer should make it through those months, supported by the knowledge that it will always be autumn again and the sweaters and jackets can go back on.