pod1

Anish, Darshan, Meeth, and their special guest Stephen Howe discuss the evolution of dark academia fashion. Dark academia is a fashion movement that embodies traditional values and intellectual vitality. During COVID, people turned to dark academia fashion to feel more comfortable and embody their academic goals. The style has evolved from the laid-back styles of the 90s to a more refined and tailored look. Isolation during COVID allowed people to experiment with new styles and embrace a more subdued and intellectual aesthetic. The Renaissance period influenced the earthy tones associated with dark academia, as the opulent fashion of that time was impractical. Stephen Howe's clothing line, Red Cat, blends modern fashion with the intellectual aesthetic of dark academia. They discuss rumors of a lady in white ghost at Westminster College and speculate if campus myths influenced fashion trends like "whiteout" themes at sports games. They also ponder if supernatural influences have played Hey guys, my name is Anish Kharatori. I will be joined by my fellow podcast hosters Darshan Vijay and Meeth Naik to discuss the evolution of dark academia fashion. And we'll be joined by our special guest Stephen Howe. And just to introduce the topic, dark academia is like this fashion movement, more of an overall aesthetic, which embodies more traditional values like liberal arts and just intellectual vitality in general. And through fashion, we've seen that people dress in more like gray or brown and more neutral colors. And this movement was more, was less popular actually, back earlier until COVID hit. And when people are struggling a lot with their mental health and things like that, people would all they started to turn to this movement to embody like a lot of their goals, like especially when it came to academics, a lot of people struggled with their mental health. And it suffered and their grades suffered as well. So with embodying this movement, people felt like more comfortable and we're looking at the way that people feel as they express it through fashion. All right, thank you for that introduction, Anish. We're with Stephen Howe here. Stephen, how are you doing today? Hey, Darshan, I'm doing great. Thank you for having me. All right, let's get right into this. Um, let's start off with the styles that we found back in the 90s. Do you remember those baggy laid back styles of the 90s? How do you think they've morphed into the structured, tailored look we often see in dark academia fashion? Ah, that's actually funny, Darshan. There's a there's a lot that goes into that laid back look. It's making a comeback right now, actually. And they were iconic, weren't they? I think they've transformed into the structured, tailored look we often see in dark academia fashion through like just a natural evolution of taste. People nowadays like appreciate a more refined aesthetic. I think that had to do more with the isolation and time that COVID happened to occur, mainly like not only during the summer, but winter as well, where I feel like dark academia really grew. And then they just prefer that more refined aesthetic sophistication and something that exudes that intellectuality. It's really all about like embracing that timeless elegance that we have of these dark academic pieces. And I think at that time, it also was comforting to almost display these darker emotions, even. Yeah, that was well said. I really I think yeah, I think isolation did play a big role in how the style of baggy jeans and baggy clothes like that changed from what we're seeing now. You know how the 90s were all about bold colors and patterns. How do you reckon we ended up with more like understated, monotone and like an intellectual vibe of dark academia? So what I really think happened is that in isolation, too, people almost became like more able to try out new different styles. Right. So because there's not really anyone around judging you, you get to make your own Pinterest board, post it, see other people kind of post their stuff as well and almost give this feedback look of what people want to look like, not how they're looking like right now. Right, right. That kind of makes it more go from these bolder colors. I feel like we've popped to like more experimental clothes that are darker and give off like that kind of emotion or even like edgier aesthetic, too, which I feel like dark academia plays to. It's intellectual, but it's almost like an edgier version of that. It's darker. It plays to like the emotion more, much more aesthetic involved in like looking actual smart. So I think that has to do with the role. Yeah, yeah, I agree. I feel like isolation played a big part in the evolution of fashion. You the dark academia period was around the time of the Renaissance period. So do you remember the flamboyant and opulent fashion of that period? And how do you see that evolving into a more subdued or in the earthy tones that were associated with dark academia? Of course. How could how could anyone forget about the Renaissance auction? I'd say the main thing is that during that time, right, we had big clothes that would almost be like too extravagant. It's a hassle to wear like the kind of stuff that was there during the Renaissance. So I think what played more to like the earthier tones is like also movability. You have like baggy sweatpants where you can walk literally anywhere with and you look comfortable, too, while almost or not baggy sweatpants, more like baggy jeans. And then you can wear layers like in the cold. Right. But these layers aren't holding you back as in the Renaissance. They would. Right, right, right. So I want to talk about your clothing line specifically. So I know you own a brand called Red Cat. And if the viewers don't know what Red Cat is, it's a very cool and simple brand. A lot of people on my campus and a lot of people that went to my high school used to wear it. So I was wondering what sets Stephen Howe's clothing line apart from modern fashion and as well as the intellectual aesthetics of dark academia? Well, really, with Red Cat, we weren't having dark academia in mind specifically. But what I can tell you is how our clothing line almost fits into that. So let's go back. What sets my modern clothing line apart from modern fashion? Well, it sets it apart because of its ability to strike like the balance between modern fashion and the intellectual aesthetic of dark academia. Red Cat was almost like brought up in a school. I launched it inside my own school. So I feel like the story we have to tell kind of speaks more to the intellectual side of dark academia. And dark academia is rooted in like mainly like tradition, kind of these colors that play towards like earthier tones. My designs like so far have been pretty simple, but they they have a little bit of flair to them in the way that the Red Cat is designed. While at the same time being it being in clothing lines without like pop out less and having these cooler, darker colors to kind of blend in between the two. And for the modern fashion part, just blending everything together and creating it right now and associating like certain colors with certain trends while also tailoring to that home school created aesthetic. I feel like that's how it's done. Yeah, yeah, that was that was very well said. I like how you blended different ideas and came out with your product of Red Cat. And I remember you working on it throughout high school and I was like, wow, this is actually a really cool idea. I think this guy's going to get far and you actually did get very far with ideas. So congrats on that. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So now that Stephen Howe's gone, it's just me and you, Dawkshin. Let's talk about what's going on on campus, right? Yeah. Recently I've been hearing some some some myths almost. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of myths associated with all types of campuses, but something really spooky I came across the other day was I was actually reading that in the Westminster College, there were some ghost stories back in the day. Yeah. In around 1907, in one of the dorm halls, people started reporting seeing a lady in white. So who is this lady in white? I'm not really sure, but people said that they saw a mysterious lady in their dorm halls on various nights and various occasions, and they would see that this lady would be dressed in all white and they would only catch glimpses of her throughout the day. Now, how does this relate to fashion? I actually made the connection the other day where, what if this was the reason where people started doing whiteout trends? You know, like how we have football games and basketball games? Wait, do you mean like the white lie trend where you have a white T-shirt and you write what isn't true about yourself? No, I'm talking about how when people go to sports games, there's like themes. It kind of reminded me of that, like sometimes a theme is like whiteout or blackout, and everyone would come in wearing white or everyone would come in wearing black or pink, and I was like, wow, this myth, the lady in white, really reminded me of these themes. So it got me thinking, like, what if campus myths influenced fashion on these campuses in a way? Wow, I've never thought about it like that. Do you think ghosts have a role to do with why we do the whiteout? Yeah, I mean, it could be, like, you never know. I mean, obviously, if you research, you could probably find the actual reason, but it just got me thinking, like, what if there were myths that influenced the way fashion is right now, like we would never know. It just goes to show that there's so many different types of influential factors that affect fashion in other parts of this world, too. I know, I know. I think what's crazy is, like, if the supernatural did have a role, I know we always hear about these artists and, like, great designers and stuff almost, like, selling their souls and reaching peak levels of stardom, right? Yeah. I wonder, like, whoever came up with this whiteout thing, like, if they had a hand in it. Yeah, that's very spooky, and honestly, might be something to discuss for another day. Yep. We're going to end it off here, folks. So, to recap, we're Dinesh talking about dark academia more, our guest Stephen Howe, and then me and Akshin closing it out. Yep, thank you guys for listening, and we hope you guys have a great day. You too, you too. Bye!