tea-and-books14

[tea-and-books14]

Unique Dark Academia Fashion Ideas

By now I think we all know that silk shirts, oxfords, and old blazers are staples of Dark Academia fashion. Here are some ideas for fitting your wardrobe to the aesthetic that I haven’t seen a lot of. 

Tops

Silk button downs are great, but if you want something perhaps less fancy and simple, here are some ideas:

Cardigans. Specifically, tighter button down cardigans. While they are very similar to silk shirts, they aren’t quite as eye catching, and usually not as bright. I have a cream silk blend cardigan that I’ve been wearing under blazers instead of silk; it’s warmer, for one, and doesn’t make me feel so pretentious when my classmates are all in sweatpants.

Cotton. Especially for warmer months, a good cotton shirt looks great tucked in a pair of high waisted shorts or trousers. I would suggest one with buttons as an accent, to avoid it being too plain. You can also roll up the sleeves for peak “disgruntled professor/lawyer” look. 

Sweaters. I don’t just mean a black turtleneck here. Turtlenecks are of course great for winter and fall, but other sweaters are great also. I especially would suggest sweaters with interesting weaves or embroidery, as without the turtleneck they often need a little something extra to dress it up. There’s also the classic look of putting a button down underneath and pulling the collar out. For colors, jewel tones are always best in my opinion: deep reds, emerald greens, midnight blues. But you know yourself best, and if your hair looks great with cream, or light blue makes your eyes pop, go for it. Be sure to tuck over sized sweaters into your bottoms to avoid losing your figure. 

Bottoms

Bottoms are a little easier, as they’re usually not the statement piece of an outfit, especially in dark academia. Still, high waisted, pleated, 100% linen trousers are hard to find in thrift stores, so here’s some alternatives: 

Black jeans. Personally, I avoid low waisted pants like the plague. Unfortunately, it’s hard to find high waisted suit pants in thrift stores, especially ones with the tighter fit that I prefer. Often, I go for my pair of good quality, 100% cotton, extremely high waisted black skinny jeans instead. Avoid jeans with rips or that aren’t a uniform color. I definitely would suggest black if you’re going to wear jeans, though that may be my inherent dislike of blue jeans talking. 

High waisted pants of any kind. When it comes to tucking shirts in bottoms, you want a high waist. I can tuck the bulkiest of sweaters easily into my jeans, because they are high waisted and made of a thick material. Thin, flimsy material is hard to hide the lines of your tops in, and lower waisted pants often can’t hold the hem long before the top gets untucked. 

Skirts. I prefer more masculine clothing, but I do have quite a few skirts that I wear on occasion. And good lord, if they aren’t the most comfortable pieces of clothing I own. Specifically, long flowing skirts made out of 100% silk, cotton, or wool. Wool is great for winter months, and adds an extra layer of protection from the cold. Cotton and silk is best for the hot summer time, and if you’re having trouble with staying in dark academia fashion when you’re sweating out of your fingernails, consider skirts. A long skirt can dress up something like a t-shirt if you do it right. Sandals, a long breathable skirt, and a tied up or tucked in shirt is a great go-to when the sun is sucking away your soul. 

Shoes

I still don’t own a pair of oxfords. 

Boots. I’m a boot person. For dark academia, I would avoid taller boots; ankle boots or calf-length boots are the way to go. Go for leather, and tighter fits. A great way to pull your outfit together is to match your shoes and your belt or bag, and well as the hardware. If your belt is black with a silver buckle, go with black boots with silver accents. Try to avoid mixing metals (silver with bronze, etc.) if at all possible.

Ballet shoes. I don’t own any, but personally I think they’d be a great alternative to simple flats; especially if you lace the silk ribbons up your shins a bit. These are definitely best for summer months though, I would not recommend during the winter.

Accessories

A single accessory can completely change your outfit and aesthetic. Personally, some of my most used clothing pieces are not what you’d call dark academia. My go-to jacket is a bomber jacket with patches, and my usual boots are heavy Harley Davidson biker boots with metal caps. Here are some accessories that can turn your everyday outfit to something more dark academia-esque. 

Suspenders. I would recommend suspenders for everyone honestly. I was having trouble with a pair of trousers, because I needed to keep them high on my waist and tight to tuck in my shirt, but they had no belt loops. Suddenly I realized someone had solved the issue centuries ago, and used my suspenders. It worked perfectly, and also added a whole new level of dark academia to my outfit. I like using them in a subtle way though: under a jacket or blazer usually, that I might take off if it gets hot and just so happen to show off the suspenders underneath. Or, never even take the jacket off and just let people get subtle looks at them. Drawing attention to suspenders makes me feel like a douche for some reason; maybe it’s the images of fedora tipping that flood in. 

Satchel or book bag. I know this one is a staple, but listen. Buying leather satchel changed everything for my look. I might have a bomber jacket, skinny jeans, and biker boots but a satchel thrown over one shoulder shifts everything about my appearance. If you are able to buy one new, Amazon has some great options under $100 dollars. If not, keep your eye out whenever you go to the thrift store.

Hair accessories. Try silk ribbons. Pull your hair back with them, braid them into your hair, or use them as headbands. Learn how to braid metal cuffs into your hair if you’re up for a challenge.

Scarves. Scarves are such an easy way to dress up an outfit, as well as keep you warm. I would suggest long, silk scarves that have enough width that you can style it around your head/hair, which I think is a great look that also keeps your ears warm. Jewel tones are definitely suggested here, especially if you’re wearing all black it’s a great statement. 

Jewelry. If you’re religious, I would highly suggest jewelry with some sort of religious symbolism. Religious imagery is something I defiantly associate with dark academia. If you have any jewelry pieces that were passed down to you, try them. I like rings a lot, but for my right hand I cover all my finger with heavy steel rings that cover my knuckles (for punching purposes). On my left hand, I have rings from my family. I would again suggest not mixing metals, though it can look eclectic if that’s a look you like. 

That’s all I could think of at this moment, but feel free to add your own or message me!  Go forth and dress to make yourself confident, whatever that may look like. 

[tea-and-books14]

Alright pal, fill me in. What's dark academia?

Okay so Ill try my best to give you the rundown. 

A Very Brief History:

Dark academia was originally a book/movie genre. The common tropes where murder, friendships, rebellion from social norms, and social class differences.  Some of these tropes are now apart of the dark academia aesthetic as we know it today. Now here is Where things get tricky. There has been a lot of disagreements about what the dark academia community does and does not agree with. We obviously have human decency and never shame or make less of anybody but, there has been a lot of people not liking and complaining about the pretentious and dark parts of the community, so they decided to make there own academia communities. Those communities being light and grey academia. 

Now to the fun part.

The Aesthetic:

Clothes:

Anything plaid or tweed

Warm and neutral colors

WaistcoatsBlazers 

Turtlenecks

Dress shirts

Dress Pants

Oxfords 

Doc martens

Music:

I personally enjoy classical and jazz music, but if your not into that i will list some artists that i think fit into the dark academia aesthetic below (I apologize for not knowing more):

Regina Spektor

Hoizer

The Correspondents

Vampire Weekend

Lana Del Ray

Borns

Florence + the machine

Books:

The secret history

Dead Poets Society

Maurice

The Goldfinch

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Honestly anything by Oscar Wilde

Anything considered  “Classic Literature”

Poetry

Shakespeare

Movies:

Dead Poets Society

Black Swan

Maurice

Kill Your Darlings

Dorian Gray

The Look/Feeling:

Sleepless nights from studying

Multiple cups of black coffee 

Sipping tea while listening to music and reading a book

Ink stained hands

The smell of cigarette smoke on your clothes

The sound of frantic clicking of a typewriter

Dramatically draping your body over a chair

Messy hair

Crying in your bathtub thinking of your ex lover

Kisses among strangers

Wine stained lips

Staring at an art piece for much to long

Having heated discussions with friends

Rushing to class with stacks of books in your hands

I hope this is slightly helpful, feel free to ask more questions if you wish. I also apologize if this was too long of an explanation.

                                                                     Kindest regards,

                                                                                         - A.B.

[tea-and-books14]

I am South East Asian and I’m getting tired of people writing away my culture.

I am not sure how many of you know but Disney just released a trailer for the movie “Raya and The Last Dragon” and many people have been taking the moment away from the South-East Asian people (like me) by comparing it to The Last Airbender. Now I’m going to tell you why you should NOT be comparing them.

First, we need to debunk the idea that we can cumulatively call someone “Asian”. That is very much an American concept, a label slapped on our continent to make it easier for them to identify us. However, we have 48/49 countries, with over 1 000 000 languages and cultures. It’s very problematic to pin us down as Asian when we all have distinguishing ethnicities that sets us apart. If anything, certain provinces have similar mythologies, or came from the same previous kingdom, and for that reason it would make more sense if we were identified as North Asia (Siberia), Central Asia (The ‘stans), Western Asia (The Middle East or Near East), South Asia (Indian subcontinent), East Asia (Far East), Southeast Asia (East Indies and Indochina). I kind of wish a large number of Americans can see this so they will start calling us by these human geographical groups rather than a continent, and this may dispel the need to compare “Asian” movies.

Now to the comparison of the two movies. The Last Airbender follows East Asian (and some South Asian, New World, Inuit, and Sireniki influences). That is very very different from Raya and The Last Dragon, which completely South-East Asian. Here are some cultural aspects from the trailer:

She uses arnis as a weapon, Arnis is commonly National Martial Arts of the Philippines.

The intro of Disney shows a place in a rock; it represents Sigiriya Rock in Sri Lanka.

When she jumped out of a house, the houses were designed in Thailand’s traditional houses.

The Villain’s mask is called Barong Mask from Bali, Indonesia.

The Sword of the villain and the sword that Raya pulled are designed from Indonesia’s sword.

The wavy sword she’s using is a Kris which is a traditional sword in the southern part of the Philippines. So basically her fighting style is Eskrima which is Visayan (central Philippines) but use weapons from Mindanao (southern Philippines)

The whole thing might be inspired by Princess Urduja, the Filipino warrior princess.

The Sea Dragon is from Phillipines and it’s called Bakunawa.

Raya’s clothes are Vietnamese traditional clothing.

Her animal that she rides is Khmer name, Thuk Thuk. When u have came to cambodia for 5 years ago and you want to go somewhere, you have to call “Thuk Thuk” and they will ride you anywhere you wanna go.

Theory about the tribes;

the yellow tribe is Indonesian or Malaysian

the purple tribe is Philippine or Malaysian

the green tribe is maybe Thai because of the Elephants or Cambodian because of the advance weaponry

the white tribe is Thai because of the Dholes, clothes, and the sword

Please do not take this moment away from us- South-East Asian culture and mythology has always been written away in South Asian and East Asian dominant movies. Our culture was put into the Legend of Korra and was written off as East Asian and due to this misinformation of cultures, we are now compared to some show that has never represented us. Please stop it. Let us have our moment- though our cultures are mashed together for this South-East Asian adaptation, it retains alot of our key aspects. 

South-East Asians are not South Asians or East Asians or Central Asians. We are our own. Let us have that. For once in Hollywood, “Asian rep” is not a Chinese, Japanese, Korean or Indian.

[tea-and-books14]

ha?

every single person who reblogs this

every

single

person

will get “doot doot” in their ask box

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Scythian iron daggers and knives with gold plating. 6th-5th c. BC, from Arzhan - 2, Scythian royal necropolis in Tuva, Southern Siberia.

[tea-and-books14]

*Trying to find out if I'm a P or a J*

*scrolling through posts*

If you’re a P, you do this, but if you’re a J, you do that.

“But I do both the things?!”

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Hmmmm

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INTP: sips tea “ah, my daily dose of thinking I’m an INTJ”

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Don’t ever call anyone “weird” or “anti-social” just because they would rather stay in than go out.

Some Introvert.

[tea-and-books14]

Achilles: if anything happens to patroclus ,I will kill everyone in this room then myself

#bookmemes #mythology #greek myth edit #greek myth retellings #greek myth memes #trojan war #achilles

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5 year old me is screaming right now!!!

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Jesper: You know, if we broke up I’d go back to my ex.

Wylan: Seriously?!

Jesper: Wylan, if we broke up you’d be my ex.

Wylan: Oh.

[tea-and-books14]

nikolai should ask kaz for help on how to deal with the darkling because we all know that kaz will outsmart aleks

[tea-and-books14]

If only.......

#intp #intp thoughts #intp personality #intp female #intp quotes

[tea-and-books14]

A book character: is dark, only cares about money, won't think twice about taking someone's eye ball and dumping that said someone in the sea, uses people, steals, is a evil mastermind.

Me: Wow, he's a terrible person.....

Still me: I love it!

Kaz is evil. He does bad stuff for money. But that is what makes him a good character

That’s why he’s appealing. He’s unapologetically evil. It’s great.