CFNN Reporter, Faith Harden – Drake

With schools still shuttered due to the pandemic, there’s a new academic community coming into the light. Students have taken hold of the internet to fantasize about the academic world we once knew. 

Academia is a new aesthetic that focuses on learning, studying, and research. There are two main Academics that come to mind, light academia and dark academia. Each has its own special traits that make them unique. Here’s an interesting Buzzfeed test to find out which Academic you’d fall under. 

Light Academia focuses on more positive thoughts and visually lighter colors. It still focuses on music, art, and learning in general. The themes of light academia focus on the resistance of euro-centrism or a world view in which implicitly or explicitly focus on European history and values that are considered “normal.” It focuses on non-European and non-English speaking authors. 

Although that’s true, western architecture (I.E church buildings, libraries, and museums.) and visuals still have huge influence on light academia. 

The fashion itself focuses on colors such as brown, cream, rose, burgundy, green, yellow, navy blue, beige, offwhite, grey, black, and white. The tops include blazers, turtlenecks, cardigans, sweaters, jumpers, button-up shirts, and sweater vests. The bottoms focus on linen shorts, dress pants, leather belts, and skirts. Outwear and jackets include trench coats, pea coats, duffle coats, overcoats, waistcoats, and uniforms. Accessories include headbands, glasses, hair ribbons, hair clips, knee-high or ruffle socks, watches, and cuff links. 

Good stores to shop for light academia would be: Boutique 1861, Miss Patina, and Roam vintage.   

DARK ACADEMIA

Dark academia is an academic that focuses on classic literature. Focusing on self-discovery and general passion. This stems primarily from European culture. Although this style isn’t inherently negative. Its come under a lot of bad press over the years due to its encouragement of a “classist encouragement.” 

There are multiple variations of Dark academia including chaotic, classic, darkest, and Fairy Academia. All having their own similarities with their own personalities causing a difference between them. 

Dark Academia has about 18 million views on TikTok, and about 100,000 posts on Instagram, although this aesthetic has been around the ’90s, it has taken on a new importance during this pandemic. 

The style itself focuses primarily on colors such as blacks, burgundies, off-whites, whites, and olive greens. People rocking this style would be caught wearing turtlenecks, oxford shirts, fisherman sweaters, sweater vests, light blouses, and drop waist dresses for tops and dress pants, skirts, linen shorts, and plaid skirts for bottoms. 

Since this aesthetic focuses a heavily on academics, it’s important to think of all the pieces of work that hold great significance in the academic aesthetics including, but not limited to: The Women in the Dunes by Kōbō Abe, The Lessons by Naomi Alderman, The Rachel Papers by Martin Amis, Emma and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Bunny by Mona Awad, The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. 

Some great authors to keep in mind when looking for an Academia book would include Maya Angelou, Aristotle, James Baldwin, Plato, Edgar Allan Poe, Sappho, Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, and Homer. 

Some musicians to listen to for this academic aesthetic include, Hozier, Lorde, Aurora, The Gothic Archies, Half·Alive, Jaymes Young, and Enigma. Some Academic albums include A Night at the Opera by Queen, The Honeysticks by The Honeysticks, The Tragic Treasury by The Gothic Archies, and Violent Things by The Brobecks. 

Some academic musicals include Hamilton, Hadestown, Beetlejuice, Heathers, Dracula, Spring Awakening, Twisted, Phantom of the Opera, Light in the Plaza, and Les Miserables.

Movies to watch include The Invisible Man (1933), Rope (1948), Dial M for Murder (1954), If… (1968), Dead Poets Society (1989), School Ties (1992), and Peter’s Friends (1992)

Remember you don’t have to watch or read, or listen to each of these forms of art. These art forms should be a way to sway your own style. This should help come to your own style as well as, when your bored, to look over and watch or listen to.