i get so peeved when i see internet talk about 'dark academia' in terms of just an aesthetic of dressing like a rich but depressed male white botanist who smokes with a half-open book nearby. if i wear that grey tweed jacket where i live i'll boil in it

dark academia is called /dark/ because it's supposed to be shrouded in an aura of mystery and involve 'forbidden knowledge'. where are the ciphers!! learning dead languages!! reading banned books! inventing codes urself!! leaving cool bookmarks in borrowed library books! be cool!

i promise u can wear more colours than 50 shades of dark brown and grey and still be an academic. u won't suddenly become jared, 19, if you wear yellow or smt. for something called /dark/ academia, there sure is a very obvious lack of non-white representation in the 'aesthetic'

dark academia is about saying "fuck you!!" to the institutions that dictate who shall receive which kind of knowledge. making knowledge accessible and affordable for all and doing ur best to revive forgotten/suppressed voices will make u more of a dark academic than a trenchcoat

- sincerely, a brown female academic in a fluffy floral print top sipping milk tea and watering her crysanthemums