Since the end of 2021 coming to this year, the Academia trend has been seen everywhere from TikTok, Insta Story to the street. This latest Internet-aesthetic is believed to have replaced earlier aesthetics like balletcore and cottagecore. The academia itself is divided into the Light Academia and Dark Academia. In fact, the trend was created largely by GenZ aged 14 to 25 years old with over 18 million views on TikTok and over 100,000 posts tagged on Instagram with Dark Academia tags. 

Academia fashion is born from the famous preppy fashion with a combination of khakis, sweaters, and shirts like the brand Ralph Lauren. With Dark Academia, we can say that it is born from a combination of preppy and gothcore with pieces that suit the school dress codes. It embraces schoolcore with tailored pants, button downs, pleated skirts, some texture play, and pairs of loafers or boots. Unlike its sister, Light Academia tends to be more romantic than the Dark Academia with preppy vibes in a lighter colour palette. Dark Academia favours dark colours like gray and black, while Light Academia loves everything about white, beige, and pastels. The super sweet and optimistic character is portrayed here. 

Layering is key in this styling. Pairing collared shirts with cozy cardigan and topping with blazers over pleated skirts, surely become wardrobe staples this season. Overall, this trend is closely associated to English male elites giving the impression of university students at the beginning of the 20th century. With that influence, Dark Academia promotes androgynous styling by incorporating oversized blazers or men’s outerwears. 


BACKGROUND
Although this aesthetic boomed recently throughout the current most loved social media TikTok, Dark Academia appeared back around 2014 and 2015 in the blogging platform Tumblr. Initially, the term came resembled more of a book club than an internet aesthetic. It spurred on an intellectual community with a great emphasis on European literature, art and poetry. Over the years, Dark Academia has developed along with the emergence of social media platforms with more and more young-people communities relating themselves to Renaissance, Baroque, and Romanticism cultures. This eventually gives way to the trend as a way of self-discovery and visual expression which can be widely seen in TikTok or other social media platforms. The trend is largely based on the aesthetics of arts and literature both the history and the pop culture, creating a nostalgic and romantic vision. Dark academia for instance can be seen in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter novel or a 1989 film Dead Poets Society and 2019 film Knives Out. Afterall, in the halls of dark academia, communities tend to focus on the life in the 19th and early 20th centuries at boarding schools, private schools in England or Ivy League colleges. 

One fashion brand particularly associated with this movement is Ralph Lauren. The designer always manages to portray the preppy still combining the glamour and chic of the American’ upper class. From their Fall 2016 RTW collection, dark academia was clearly echoed. A knitted dress over a white shirt and tie and all were in shades of brown. Also, on the coat they used checked pattern and high Mary Janes in smooth leather over monochrome tights.