Some REAL Dark Academia things:
Working real hard to actually excel at academics, because you realize that reading The Secret History or The Picture Of Dorian Gray once doesn't make you an academic.
Treating everyone, specially unfortunate people with kindness, because acting like an aloof douche doesn't give you Cool Points.
Holding yourself with dignity, instead of begging other people for scraps of attention and validation. No, really. Stop trying to act like a misunderstood serial killer, Susan, it's embarrassing.
Not falling into the traps of elitist racism, casual misogyny or anti-semitism, because you try to be intelligent and introspective, instead of following in the gross footsteps of some shitty, white eighteenth century writer.
Not having a superiority complex over the fact that you don't listen to pop music, because you are smart enough to respect art of all kinds, or at the very least, respect the fact that people are inherently different.
Reading to expand your mind
Flowy dresses or leather jackets or pajamas, because Dark Academia can be DIVERSE, babeyyyyy
Fluffy fat cats named Oscar
Toasting to Aphrodite and Persephone
Healthy friendships and relationships, because we need to STOP romanticising toxicity.
Handwritten birthday cards with pressed flowers
Lana Del Rey and One Direction. Hozier and Dua Lipa. The Shins and Nirvana. Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson. Sam Fender and Coldplay. Taylor Swift and The Velvet Underground. Lorde and Florence. 5SOS and The Beatles. Zayn and Rihanna. Seriously, listen to whoever the fuck you want to listen to. Dark Academia is NOT a music genre. Listen to everything. To define is to limit.
Fairy tales and horror stories
Only red lipstick on an otherwise bare face
Celebrating the birthdays and deathdays of your favourite authors and poets
Quoting Oscar Wilde to your houseplant
Watching Kill Your Darlings and Yearning
Watching Gone Girl and Yearning
Constellations tattooed over your body, because you contain the entire universe in you babey
Doctoral programs and scholarships
Talking to stray animals like they're your old friends
Lying in the grass on a sunny day
Learning languages at your own pace, because you got nothing to prove to nobody
Trying your hardest to live your life for YOU
Pushing yourself through dark times, because you try so hard to believe in yourself
Healthy sleep schedules, except the occasional all nighter to indulge your inner vampire
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