Different Dark Aesthetics

In a recent YouTube interview about my book The Philosophy of Dark Paganism, I mentioned that many Dark Pagans prefer dark or gothy aesthetics. Of course, as luck would have it, I was dressed in a Hawaiian shirt (hey, it was 100 degrees Fahrenheit where I live), which the interviewer pointed out. Still, it did give me a chance to talk about how a person should dress as they want and not follow the herd (a good save, if I do say so myself). But that didn’t change the fact that dark aesthetics are preferred by many Dark Pagans.

In this post, I’ll explore three dark aesthetic styles that interest me.

Dark Academia
Dark Academia is a subculture that began as a literary movement on Tumblr in 2015 but gained popularity during the Covid pandemic of 2020. The clothing style of Dark Academia builds on a romantic vision of ivy league academic fashion of the 1930s and 1940s. Fashion elements include tweed and wool fabrics, cardigans, blazers, Oxford shoes, and a color palette emphasizing black, brown, white, beige, and dark green.

Dark Academia interior design also looks back to the past. It’s a romantic vision of the Collegiate Gothic style with dark wooden furniture, books cases, classical era busts, and various nostalgia from the late 19th and early twentieth century. There’s a maximalist tendency to Dark Academia interior design. Dark Academia imagery emphasizes scenes of autumn and winter with a melancholic feel.

Gothic Academia is perfect for Dark Pagans who like Dark Academia but prefer a more Gothic or spooky style. Gothic Academia, also known as Darkest Academia, adds occult and gothic literature elements. The fashion style is essentially the same as Dark Academia; however, the color palette is generally darker, emphasizing black, dark red, dark brown, and gray with goth accessories. 

Dark Deco
Dark Deco is an animated style that Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski created for the Batman: The Animated Series production. It combined elements of film noir and art deco. Whereas art deco is bright and shiny, Dark Deco is dark, melancholy, and moody. Dark Deco draws upon German Expressionism and has been described as a sub-genre of dieselpunk for it blends Jazz Age with modern sensibilities.

A few years ago, a major craft supply chain rolled out a theme for Halloween that they called Dark and Deco that, put a spooky spin to Dark Deco. Rather than film noir, it combined Gothic with art deco. According to the musician Voltaire (and I’m paraphrasing based on memory), “It’s as though Jay Gatsby was raised by the Addams Family.”

Like Dark Academia, adding the spooky element to Dark Deco creates another variety. For the purpose of this post, I’m going to call it Gothic Deco. Gothic Deco combines the macabre and classic gothic literature elements from the late 19th and early 20th century to the Dark Deco style. In addition to the Gothic Academia imagery, Gothic Deco includes photography and art from German Expressionist films, the Universal Pictures monster movies, and the Gothic Academia art style.   

Dark Cottagecore
Cottagecore is a romanticized vision of 19th-century European farm life. Imagine the British cottage in the Welsh countryside. Dark Cottagecore reimagines this rural cottage motif into a dark world that Brother Grimm would recognize. There’s still respect for nature, but it’s less fresh flowers with bowls of fruit and more dried flowers and mushrooms. The colors are muted and dark. It’s black iron skillets rather than shiny copper pans. Less warm sunshine and more cold rain.

While the Cottagecore literary themes tend to be beings of light, Dark Cottagecore entities tend towards dark and sometimes ominous. In Dark Cottagecore, a character is less likely to meet a Mother goddess while taking a walk and more likely to meet a witch or a troll.  

Conclusion
I hope you’ve enjoyed this little stroll through some of the dark aesthetics available. I like to think that it might have sparked someone to create their own dark look.