The Dark Academia Edit: Five Lessons for Dressing Like You Own Too Many Books

Within approximately four seconds of walking into any secondhand bookshop, I have checked three things: whether there is a cat, whether there is a rolling ladder, and whether someone has left a very good cardigan on a chair. I have no shame about this.

 

But somewhere between the tweed, the turtlenecks and the thirty-second videos, dark academia has gotten a little loud. We are told to dress like we have read everything and also like we have never tried. We are told to wear heavy wool and also to look unbothered by the weight of it. Mostly, a brown sweater is being asked to carry a lot.

 

Which brings me to a Tumblr book club. Around 2015, according to The McGill Daily, the thing that became this whole look began as a place where people swapped classic books and gothic novels, paying homage to Donna Tartt's 1992 novel The Secret History, about a small circle of classics students. Britannica now describes the dark academia aesthetic as a romanticization of traditional elite academia, classic literature and a mysterious atmosphere. In other words, the mood arrived first and the clothes came second, which is useful, because a mood is much easier to shop for than a costume.

 

Some of this edit made me want to buy a blazer. Some of it made me want to finally reread a book I have owned for years. And some of it made me realize that a good dark academia outfit is mostly texture, restraint and one object that looks like it has a story. So, here are five lessons. I went deeper on a related idea in The Cottagecore Outfits Edit: Five Lessons for Dressing Like You Bake Your Own Bread.

Jackets come first, because every conversation about dark academia fashion starts at the shoulders. Before you worry about anything else, find the cloth you believe in. Tweed is the easy example. Harris Tweed is the only fabric in the world protected by an Act of Parliament, the Harris Tweed Act 1993, and by law it has to be made in the Outer Hebrides, with the Orb mark stamped on only after inspection. I mention it because it shows how seriously a cloth can be taken, and the jackets here are in the same spirit of heavy, patterned and serious. For the quietest version, I would reach for the Blazé Milano Everyday double-breasted herringbone blazer, or the brand's Altai checked wool and cashmere-blend jacket. the Gucci Prince Of Wales blazer in navy and the Giuliva Heritage Aurelia herringbone jacket with its rib trim both sit nicely over a collared shirt. For rain, Barbour Felton and Cottingham waxed jackets add a corduroy collar, which is the most believable way to wear a field jacket to a library. the Wales Bonner belted checked coat is the one for a long walk across a quad. Here is the test: hold your arms out as if you are carrying a stack of books. If the sleeves ride up past your wrist bone, keep looking.

 

What I would skip: the Vivienne Westwood Stormy asymmetric blazer, if the goal is to look like you have always owned it. It is wonderful, just louder than the rest of the room.

 

Although, a loud blazer is also how people end up remembering you.

Brown, oxblood and forest green are the whole palette, and I will not be taking questions. Britannica calls the whole thing a pre-Internet retrograde look, which I read as permission to dress like a faded photograph.

 

That is also why dark academia outfits are so easy to repeat. A chocolate cardigan, a burgundy sweater and a green one can be swapped in any order and still look intentional. the Almada Aria belted brushed cashmere cardigan in dark brown is the one I would wear open over a shirt, and the ARCH4 Arlo argyle cardigan in chocolate brings the pattern without any fuss. the Brunello Cucinelli houndstooth cardigan in brown has a rib trim that keeps its shape. The Row Parth sweater in burgundy is the oxblood note, plain and quiet. I also put together The Christmas Outfits Edit: Five Lessons for Looking Festive Without Dressing as the Tree.

 

For green, the Khaite Nora cardigan and Gemma sweater are both army green, close enough to a mossy library wall that you could lean against one and vanish. the Allude cardigan and the SSSTEIN brushed sweater are the brighter, more forest greens.

 

Lay three of them on the bed in daylight, not lamplight. If two cannot share a scarf, one has to go back. What I would skip: owning all of the green. Two is a palette. Four is a hedge.

 

Although, a green cardigan over a burgundy sweater is exactly the combination a stranger will ask about.

Now for the shoe, which has an origin story involving fishermen. In the mid-1930s the Maine maker G.H. Bass shortened the word Norwegian to Weejun for its own take on a Norwegian slip-on, and by 1936 Bass was selling Weejuns in campus stores up and down the East Coast. That is how a fisherman's shoe became the thing students wore to class, and it is why the loafer sits so naturally in this look.

 

the Aeyde Aldous suede penny loafers in chocolate are the closest to that campus idea. the Aeyde Jasper loafers add a bow and a shearling lining for the cold months. the Gucci Sylke horsebit loafers in brown suede are the grown-up cousin, and the Bottega Veneta Intrecciato suede loafers in tan are the one for someone who prefers texture to a logo. the Church's Prudence 45 loafers with their velvet trim read most like a professor's shoe, and the Jamie Haller Penny in croc-effect leather is the funny, slightly decadent one.

 

If you want something with laces, the Christen Defender brogues and the Church's Seraphine 45 patent brogues keep the outline sharp. The test is a good sock. Try the loafer with a thick ribbed sock and a hem cropped just above the ankle, then with bare ankles, and see which one you would walk across a campus in.

 

What I would skip: the patent brogues if your whole outfit is matte wool. They are lovely, they just shine in a room full of tweed. Although a pair of loafers with a worn heel is the best-looking thing in the building.

Wide trousers and pleated skirts are what stop a dark academia outfit from turning into a costume. They move, they have weight, and they look good when you are carrying books up a stair.

 

Corduroy deserves a little respect here. It descends from fustian, a cloth first woven at Fustat on the Nile, and fustian was the working man's cloth, set against the broadcloth worn by gentlemen. One source puts the creation of corduroy itself between 1776 and 1787. It took a long road from the workshop to the lecture hall, which is rather the point of the whole look. The corduroy trousers in this edit are a calm set. The Row Adler wide-leg pants in taupe and the Brunello Cucinelli beige pair are the sandy, well-behaved ones. the Frame Le Slim Palazzo in army green is high-rise and sharp, and the Róhe Ted pair in beige is the relaxed one.

 

On the skirt side, the Róhe pleated grain de poudre midi in army green is the easy choice, and the Sacai pleated twill and shell midi in brown adds a little engineering. the Bottega Veneta pleated suede midi in green is the one I would save for a night out, and the MFPEN Committee pinstriped skirt is the schoolroom one in dark gray. Test: sit down in them, then stand up and see whether the line comes back on its own.

 

What I would skip: the suede skirt in the rain. Some things are better kept indoors, much like a first edition. Although a pleat that swings while you walk is its own kind of argument for staying out late.

The last piece should look like it was handed down, even if you found it last week. Julie Deane started the Cambridge Satchel Company in 2008 from her kitchen table, and she did it making an old-fashioned thing, a leather school bag, for a modern crowd. The old-fashioned thing is the idea.

 

the Toteme T-Lock shoulder bag in black is the sharpest of the bags. the Jil Sander Tangle Tent leather shoulder bag is a little more architectural, and the Bottega Veneta Andiamo top-handle bag in brown carries the woven texture that makes a brown bag read like a family heirloom. the Savette Symmetry Trapeze in army green is the bag I would pair with a brown coat, and the Balenciaga Rodeo top-handle is the one that will look better after a few scuffs.

 

Then there is the ring. Signet rings were used as signatures, as the expert in National Jeweler puts it, a way of leaving an impression in wax or clay. By the late 19th century they had become a status symbol more than a legal mark. the Yvonne Léon Baby Chevalière Marquise Berlingot signet ring is the real thing in spirit, and the brand's Berlingot diamond ring sits next to it nicely. the L'Atelier Nawbar Sun Down pinky ring is the smallest and most secret of the three. Test: wear the ring on the little finger of your writing hand, and see whether you reach for a pen more often.

 

What I would skip: a bag and a ring that are both shiny. One of them should look like it has been in a drawer. Although that is exactly what makes a drawer worth opening.

When I add it all up, the five lessons come down to a few things: good wool, three colors, a loafer, a pleat and one object with a past. None of it needs a reading list, although the reading list does help. If you want to keep going, The Old Hollywood Outfits Edit: Five Lessons in Dressing Like the Studio Is Paying is the one I would read next.

 

I will still be tempted by another brown cardigan. I will still tell myself that this one is different, and the amount of brown in my life will remain a matter of public record.

 

But the best part of this look is that it asks you to slow down a little. Dress as if you are about to spend three hours somewhere quiet, with a pen that works and a coat with a good pocket. Then go and spend the three hours.