On Dark Academic forums I see a dozen posts a day asking “is this Dark Academic enough?” No matter my personal opinion, I almost never comment. Let other people decide whether that linen shirt is Dark Academic, Light Academic, or a wee bit too cottagecore to count; I’m still trying to finish Great Expectations, I don’t have time for arguments.

I do have time for a little litarary fun, though. It occurred to me–Dark Academics love fashion, Dark Academics love art and literature, maybe we should see what some famous authors dressed like. What better inspiration could there be for such a bookish subculture?

What better place to start than the goddess of DA herself, Donna Tartt? You could go with the oh so ’80s pink and green stripes or the more modern black-and-white look.

Or maybe you want a more vintage inspiration, like Alice Munro or Sylvia Plath or Zora Neale Hurston? I could only hope to age as well as Munro.

You could rock a more tropical literary look with shorts like Ernest Hemingway’s or a thin sleeveless top like Flannery O’Conner. I’m not gonna lie, though, famous authors from hot parts of the world usually don’t pose in tube tops and short shorts for their photos. I mean, yeah, Hemingway posed in his swim shorts all the time but he’s kind of the exception here. Him and Yukio Mishima.

Of course, all these authors are from the twentieth century. You’re welcome to dress like Charlotte Brontë or Oscar Wilde, but once you reach that far back in history you look like a historical cosplayer. Which is cool, but maybe not what DA usually goes for.

Maybe I’m the only one, but I’m having so much fun with this. Alice Munro might be my new style icon. What about you? Do you have a literary style icon? Do you cosplay as Jane Austen or Edgar Allan Poe on the weekends? If you do, please show me pictures. I must see the pictures.