Don’t worry, it’s not a newly-found cult or something. Dark academia is a trend that lets Internet users post photos and videos that romanticise passion for art and knowledge. It’s an aesthetic, so to speak. Some who love the dark academia aesthetic posts photos of themselves in corduroy, plaids, tweeds (the peak academic fashion, alright), as Refinery 29 details:
Although the origins of dark academia remain unclear, its genesis appears to be a heady mixture of a few key cultural works. Donna Tartt’s 1992 novel The Secret History is the trend’s foundational text but films like Dead Poets Society (1989) and Kill Your Darlings (2013) also serve as essential influences. Like the books and films that inspired it, dark academia draws an idealised version of campus life, typically at a hallowed and historic university.
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