Dark Academia Lookbook From A Conservation Biology Major // ♡

Tips to improve your concentration

Choose your study space, find a calm and silent place where it’s easy for you to focus, whether that’s in the library, your room or in a cafe, you have to find a place that works best for you. Sometimes it’s nice to switch up the environment as well.

Get rid of distractions, make sure you have a tidy and clean workspace where you are able to work. Put your phone on silent and out of sight. If you are studying in a public place you can consider using earplugs to keep out the noise.

Make a study plan, so you know exactly what you need to do and it’s easier sticking to it without getting distracting doing other things. Make sure you plan in your breaks as well! 

Take breaks, it’s important to take breaks in order to stay focused. Even when you have an important exam coming up, you have to take breaks. At some point your brain it’s just full and you have to give it some rest. 

Sleep, make sure you get a good amount of sleep every night and have a regular sleeping schedule. So don’t stay up all night studying for the next day that only leads to stress. Also when you are well rested you are able to concentrate better. 

Eat healthy, this is just from personal experience, but for me, it’s so much harder for me to focus when I eat food that contains a lot of sugar, so maybe it’s better to cut out the candy. Eating, in general, is important because I can’t concentrate well when I haven’t eaten anything.

Practice, for those who are not used to focus for long periods of time, the more you practice staying focused, the easier it will become. You can try out the forest app and track your progress or you could use the Pomodoro method.

Good luck everyone! and have a productive day! Xx

dark academia capsule wardrobe

tops (14):

- tshirts (black, white)

- short-sleeve button-downs (jewel tones: green, blue, maroon)

- long-sleeve button-downs (black, white)

- turtlenecks (black, white, cream/camel)

- sweater (black)

- sweaters (jewel tones: green, blue, maroon)

bottoms (7) :

- trousers (black, plaid, camel)

- jeans (black, blue)

- skirts (jewel tone plaids, black)

outerwear (4):

- slouch/trench coat (black or cream/camel)

- denim jacket (black)

- blazers (black, plaid)

jewelry (gold or silver):

- choker + longer necklace(s)

- earrings

- rings

accessories (2):

- black purse

- backpack/messenger bag

total items: 27

disclaimer: being part of the academia community does not take away any freedoms of yours to dress how you want. academia is a mindset, but if you enjoy the fashion aspect i hope this helps!

modern academia.

reading ebooks on your smartphone as you hide under your sheets

trying to read the latest book trends while reading the classics

having. literally. no. time. to. read.

yeah, that's pretty much the essence ^

buying lots of stationery.

"hey, how much does a typewriting machine cost?"

the constant need of being near books

daydreaming; a lot

people being shocked that you read old books

kill your darlings...

or other gay™, DA movies

being excited for literature classes

trying your best NOT to throw random DA facts at people

throwing random DA facts at people

fan-excitement-attack over van gogh washi tape

writing your poems in google docs

or in the notes app

mixing renaissance community with teenage mutant ninja turtles fandom

yes that is a serious problem I experience.

tumblr DA community

r/darkacademia (it's really goddamn lit)

having hundreds of free ebooks you'll never read...

because you either have no time or no idea what they're about

give. me. caffeine.

spending money on tea

thrifting clothes

dead poets society. it's a brilliant movie.

Acadamia Romance Aesthetics:

Classic: reading your favorite books out loud to each other, blooming red roses, neat notebook full of thoughts and ideas, small unexpected gifts, midday cafe dates, walking under a shared umbrella in the rain, delicate milk chocolate, earl grey and green tea, reading quietly on park benches, plaid patterns

Light: peppermints during study sessions, early morning cuddles, soft sunlight coming through the windows, inspirational messages on sticky notes, string tied on your finger so you don't forget something important, 'i love you' texts during the day, nature soundtracks playing in the background, fruit teas and water, thin framed glasses

Dark: rainy days spent inside snuggling, handwritten love letters on your doorstep, vinyl records playing classical music, borrowing each other's cozy sweaters on chilly days, warming up under knitted blankets, cups of black tea/coffee, late night phone calls, philosophical debates, museum dates, binging crime shows on Netflix

Art: stolen kisses in public, a rainbow after a storm, love poems on beautiful stationary, art museum dates, dried paint on your hands, sketch books filled with drawings, lost in your thoughts, late night talks, coffee with cream, pressed flowers, light refracting through a prism, sun showers, motivational quotes on sticky notes, sunflowers and daisies

Romantic: daydreaming of each other, reading romance novels and poetry, passionate kisses in the dark, breakfast in bed, slow dancing to no music, picnic dates in soft meadows, forehead kisses, lace trim and delicate fabric, reading each others writing, swooning

“it is only a bruise”

— Leo Tolstoy

Masterpost of Free Gothic Literature & Theory

Classics Vathek by William Beckford Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë The Woman in White  & The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu The Turn of the Screw by Henry James The Monk by Matthew Lewis The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin The Vampyre; a Tale by John Polidori Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas De Quincey The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson Dracula by Bram Stoker The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Short Stories and Poems An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce Songs of Innocence & Songs of Experience by William Blake The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Pre-Gothic Beowulf The Divine Comedy  by Dante Alighieri A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe Paradise Lost by John Milton Macbeth by William Shakespeare Oedipus, King of Thebes by Sophocles The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster

Gothic-Adjacent Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen The Wendigo by Algernon Blackwood Jane Eyre & Villette by Charlotte Brontë Lyrical Ballads, With a Few Other Poems by Coleridge and Wordsworth The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens The Idiot & Demons (The Possessed) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas Moby-Dick by Herman Melville The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells

Historical Theory and Background The French Revolution of 1789 by John S. C. Abbott Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth by A. C. Bradley The Tale of Terror: A Study of the Gothic Romance by Edith Birkhead On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle Demonology and Devil-Lore by Moncure Daniel Conway Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism by Inman and Newton On Liberty by John Stuart Mill The Social Contract & Discourses by Jean-Jacques Rousseau Feminism in Greek Literature from Homer to Aristotle by Frederick Wright

Academic Theory Introduction: Replicating Bodies in Nineteenth-Century Science and Culture by Will Abberley Viewpoint: Transatlantic Scholarship on Victorian Literature and Culture by Isobel Armstrong Theories of Space and the Nineteenth-Century Novel by Isobel Armstrong The Higher Spaces of the Late Nineteenth-Century Novel by Mark Blacklock The Shipwrecked salvation, metaphor of penance in the Catalan gothic by Marta Nuet Blanch Marching towards Destruction: the Crowd in Urban Gothic by Christophe Chambost Women, Power and Conflict: The Gothic heroine and “Chocolate-box Gothic” by Avril Horner Psychos’ Haunting Memories: A(n) (Un)common Literary Heritage by Maria Antónia Lima ‘Thrilled with Chilly Horror’: A Formulaic Pattern in Gothic Fiction by Aguirre Manuel The terms “Gothic” and “Neogothic” in the context of Literary History by O. V. Razumovskaja  The Female Vampires and the Uncanny Childhood by Gabriele Scalessa Curating Gothic Nightmares by Heather Tilley Elizabeth Bowen, Modernism, and the Spectre of Anglo-Ireland by James F. Wurtz Hesitation, Projection and Desire: The Fictionalizing ‘as if…’ in Dostoevskii’s Early Works by Sarah J. Young Intermediality and polymorphism of narratives in the Gothic tradition by Ihina Zoia

dark academia ask game

richard papen: what does 'home' mean to you?

camilla macaulay: who is your favorite female in your life? why?

charles macaulay: emerald green or crimson red?

bunny corcoran: what trait in others bothers you the most?

henry winter: straight, black coffee or sugared to high heaven?

francis abernathy: is your energy more feminine or masculine?

iwwv: theatre, art, or literature?

ninth house: what is your greatest fear?

picture of dorian gray: what are you most proud of?

dead poets society: who is the favorite teacher you've had? why?

the goldfinch: if you could commit one crime without repercussions, what would it be?

truly devious: what is your favorite childhood memory?

homer: are you a political person?

edgar allen poe: have you ever lost a loved one?

kill your darlings: what is your personal platitude?

dark/light academia style board

|| photo creds to @etherealacademia

let me know if the other photos are yours or if you know who’s they are, i never want to seem like i’m stealing credit :)

dark academia tips:

listen to Mozart while drinking black coffee

wear big cashmere sweaters

being secretly in love with your best friend

look at the moon, sitting on the balcony

smoking while watching black and white old films

spend the evening in the library

read Odyssey and discuss it with your friends

have a large black coat

recite poems, sitting in a room lit by candles

always have a book with yourself

wear a lot of silver jewelry

know someone's secret

listen to classical music while you do your chores. scribble quotes and thought fragments on your arms. fill your margins with sketches. brew coffee and drink it warm at 3am. recite poetry in the shower. scratch your favorite line into the desk. sit in a cold room with your fluffiest blanket. read in public. carve out a space for yourself in this world and thrive in it.