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This post is all about the ways to embrace the dark academia aesthetic lifestyle.
Are you looking for ways to embrace the dark academia aesthetic in your everyday life? This post is all about the top 10 most common ways to embrace the dark academia aesthetic lifestyle.
Now that it’s autumn and back-to-school season, you may be feeling the need to cozy up to a fire with a nice, hot cup of tea and book to read, or you may feel like driving through the countryside to view the fall foliage, taking note of which trees are turning what colors like a dendrologist would. Without even realizing it, you would be living the dream of a dark academian.
If this interests you on a visceral level, the following ten ways to embrace a dark academia aesthetic lifestyle can help you really get into it.
Top 10 Ways To Embrace The Dark Academia Aesthetic Lifestyle
1) Make Studying and Reading a Central Part of Your Life
Romanticizing the pursuit of knowledge is central to dark academia. Attending class, taking notes, and studying in a library or cozy cafe all give off a dark academia aesthetic vibe.
What Do Dark Academia People Study?
Even if you’re not a student, you can incorporate a dark academia aesthetic into your life by reading books as a way to pursue knowledge and enlightenment. Collecting beautiful old, vintage books with fine bindings that are rich in pattern and texture sets the mood for dark academia. Sheltering indoors by candlelight with the window open reading a murder mystery while listening to the wind and rain outside creates an atmosphere of dark academia.
There’s a whole genre of books with a dark academia theme, like The Secret History by Donna Tartt or If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio. In this world of books, you’ll find secret societies, dangerous ventures, and murder tales.
You May Also Like: 67 Delightful Dark Academia Books To Read And Treasure
2) Listen to Classical Music
Those who tend to identify with the dark academia aesthetic prefer listening to classical music that is typically played in the minor key with piano and strings. The tempo is commonly slower with a more romantic, melancholy, and contemplative tone. Composers like Bach, Vivaldi, Liszt, and Tchaikovsky are often included in playlists.
You can also listen to contemporary alternative music. For example, Bon Iver is extremely popular in this aesthetic, if not more popular. A wide variety of instrumentation, accompanied by slow and deep bass and backing or echoing vocals are common. Lyrically, these songs have motifs of drama, intellectualism, and wildness, often referencing mythology, literature, and yearning.
3) Host Dinner Parties, Coffee Dates, and Picnics in the Forest
Hosting dinner parties, going on coffee dates, and enjoying picnics in the forest are frequent outlets for dark academians. Wine, coffee, tea, bread, cheese, and upscale, traditional dishes are mentioned frequently in novels, so it naturally becomes part of the lifestyle.
4) Visit Historical Buildings
You can visit old libraries, art museums, historic houses, and Anglican churches with classic Greek and gothic architecture as another way of experiencing the dark academia aesthetic lifestyle. Trinity College Library with its busts of Homer and Isaac Newton is a good example of this aesthetic. The National Gallery of Art Museum is another.
5) Play Obscure Sports
Because dark academians relish solitary activities, sports such as squash, archery, rugby, horseback riding, croquet, and lacrosse can be claimed as dark academia.
6) Play Games That Challenge Your Intellect
Chess, Scrabble, Sudoku, Rubik’s Cube, and Jigsaw Puzzles are games that are considered favorite pastimes in the dark academia aesthetic lifestyle. The appeal of these games is that it challenges the intellect.
7) Select a Hobby That Focuses on Self-Improvement
Hobbies that emphasize improving yourself, dedication to a subject, active thinking, and focus can be considered a part of the dark academia aesthetic. This includes calligraphy, book-binding, and embroidery, to name a few.
8) Pursue Creative Endeavors
Pursuing creative endeavors is encouraged by dark academians. Journaling, acting in theater, writing poetry, and creating art are examples of this.
9) Watch Dark Academia Aesthetic Movies
Another way to embrace the dark academia lifestyle is to watch movies. The following list will get you into a dark academia mood.
You can download and print the dark academia movie list here: Dark Academia Movies.
10) Wear Dark Academia Aesthetic Outfits
Dark academia fashion emphasizes a high-class, vintage form of dress that is an amalgamation of different historical periods.
What Do Dark Academia People Wear?
Dark academia enthusiasts get their inspiration from the American preppy movement that emulates the uniforms of preparatory schools with sweaters tied around the shoulders and sweater vests. Turtlenecks, formal dress pants, and pleated or pencil skirts with a checked pattern are common. Doc Martins and Mary Jane footwear are preferred. Accessories include ties, leather belts, suspenders, pendants, brooches, and multiple rings on one finger.
The colors of these outfits are typically found in nature – olive green, navy blue, beige, tan, brown, orange, and dark red.
Ways To Embrace The Dark Academia Aesthetic Lifestyle FAQ
1) How Would You Describe Dark Academia Aesthetic?
Dark academia is the subculture that favors classic literature, poetry, art, coffee shops on rainy days, the Oxford and Cambridge preppy style, classic piano and violin music, mysterious yet inviting moods, and dark romanticism.
2) How Do You Live A Dark Academia Lifestyle?
Living the dark academia aesthetic lifestyle means that you embrace all the things that dark academians embrace. You read books and listen to classical music while you study or read poetry.
3) How Do You Live Like A Dark Academic?
To live like a dark academic you must value learning for learning’s sake. You can do this by reading books, writing poetry, listening to classical music, and pursuing creative endeavors that focus on improving oneself. You can travel, visiting historic places like museums, libraries, and homes with victorian gothic architecture; play games that challenge your intellect; and dress in the American preppy style. It means you focus on self-improvement as you study the culture of the western world.
4) What Type Of Aesthetic Is Dark Academia?
Dark academia is a literary aesthetic that started on social media around 2010 that romanticizes a liberal education. Subjects like classic Greek literature, poetry, theater, art, and architecture are emphasized.
5) Why Do People Love Dark Academia?
People love dark academia because it romanticizes education, removing the modern-day emphasis on learning for the sake of gaining meaningful employment. For dark academia enthusiasts, learning is done for learning’s sake not as a means to necessarily get anything.
6) What Is The Difference Between Dark Academia and Darkest Academia?
The difference between dark academia and darkest academia is that where dark academia has browns and greys, darkest academia has blacks and dark greys. Darkest academia has darker literature, darker everything.
This post was all about the ways to embrace the dark academia aesthetic lifestyle.
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Juli Becker
Author
Juli is a passionate researcher with a penchant for finding useful and interesting products. With a background in customer service, she crafts articles with you in mind. When she’s not looking for the next inspirational idea or essential product, you can find her sipping tea, lost in a book, or playing with her grandkids.
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