Light academia men’s fashion is the most confusing of all dress codes. Many people confuse the outfit style with preppy, collegiate (think tweed jackets), Cottagecore or minimalist aesthetic. It can be interpreted in many ways, it is best to go with a more formal interpretation than a casual one if you are ever unsure.
Light academia style is an aesthetic that is deeply rooted in literary culture. It is a social media aesthetic and subculture that is dedicated to the appreciation of higher education, writing/poetry, classic Greek and Gothic architecture. The aesthetic focuses on a romanticized lifestyle inspired by the fictional lives of people who live and breathe classic literature, art, history, and the sciences.
If you are wearing light academia in the fall or winter, a pair of caramel pants and a button-up shirt might suffice. For summer, add some neutral color with a cotton polo, or wear some chinos instead of jeans. Guys who identify with this subculture are often fans of classic art, poetry and books. So make sure to show up with a handful of classic books and decorate your light academia room accordingly.
The light academia style is easy to achieve for guys and is perfect for anyone who wants to keep it simple but still look stylish! Here is a masculine light academia capsule wardrobe checklist:
Polo Cable Knit Pullover Jumper
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✅ Best Polo RL Men’s Cable Knit Pullover Sweater
Typical Ralph Design – Comfortable to wear Not too heavy, rather for cold summer nights Very noble, ordered a second one right away. Size fits.
Statement Silk Scarf
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✅ Best Luxurious Men’s Silk Scarves
This scarf is a fashion statement to get you ready for a close-up – It feels really soft, thin and light. Long enough to go around a neck or fall straight to your mid thorax. It is gorgeous, elegant, and of the highest quality. A wonderful addition to your light academia fine wardrobe!
Dress Button-Down Shirts
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✅ Best Men’s Classic-Fit Oxford Long Sleeve Shirt
Excelent product, excelent store. – This color is particularly great. Polo is Polo, nothing more to say. Good Product! Good Service!
Cashmere Sweater
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✅ Best Men’s Button Up Mock Neck Sweater
Great Product – Loved the sweaters, very comfortable, excellent quality, very soft cashmere, will purchase them again and highly recommend the product.
Cashmere Turtleneck Pullover
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✅ Best Men’s Classic Turtleneck Sweater
Superior Cashmere sweater looks good, feels good!!! – Thanks to State Cashmere for coming out with a flawless cashmere sweater!! Was looking for a comfortable turtleneck sweater since it is in style, happened to come across the State Cashmere product and ordered the first cashmere.
Light Academia Tote Bags
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✅ Best Shoulder Tote Bag For Books
Love it! – It’s a tote bag. Nothing unusual. Zipper on top is a cool feature. Like the design, get a lot of compliments.
Neutral Tone Corduroy Blazer Jacket
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✅ Best Olive Brown Casual Corduroy Blazer
Perfect 👌 – The style is classic. The fit is modern and the material is very comfortable. The only complaint is the top front pocket is fake, and missing suede elbow patches.
Wool Blend Vest
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✅ Best Premium Wool Blend Waistcoat
This Vest is a Professional Delight! – It looks amazing. Great material, buttons, tweed front and back. The sizes are maybe British sizes (too small for American bodies), so you NEED TO READ REVIEWS to see what size to order.
Corduroy Cotton Trousers
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✅ Best Men’s Corduroy Pants
Warmth and Comfort – This product really surprised me. It is a very good weight of corduroy at a very reasonable price. Perfect fit. Try them.
Iconic Trench Coat
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✅ Best London Fog Men’s Iconic Trench Coat
Perfect fit, excellent coat. – This coat is excellent, as one would expect from London Fog. A wonderful coat. Warm and waterproof. The material is a very fine corduroy.
Solid Long Sleeve Linen Shirt
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✅ Best Lacoste Linen Shirt
The color is so beautiful – This is a linen shirt with a modern flair and exceptional quality. You pay a good price, you get a great product!
Button Front Long Sleeve Cardigan
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✅ Best Long Sleeve Cardigan Sweater
Great cardigan sweaters. – It doesn’t get more essential and classic than a basic v-neck sweater long sleeve cardigan with front button-down closure for males with a perfectly tailored fit for a timeless look. Masterfully crafted in a versatile solid color so you will coordinate it with ease. Mix it up with modern slim-fit cardigan for casual outings or professional settings.
Fisherman Sweaters
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✅ Best Irish Cable Knitted Shawl Collar Sweater
SLEEK AND UNIQUE – This quality Irish Wool Sweater has an authentic Aran design that gives the garment a traditional and beautiful style feature. Irish knitwears from Aran Crafts are designed and created using traditional Aran stitches to bring you an authentic piece of Irish clothing, perfect for any occasion.
Cashmere V-Necks
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✅ Best Cashmere Men’s Essential V-Neck Sweater
Excellent Product – Great Price – Absolutely loved the white, red and black sweaters I received from state cashmere. They are not the heaviest but they fit very well and the fabric is extremely soft.
Shawl-Collar Cardigans
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✅ Best Cashmere Shawl Collar Cardigans
Amazingly Soft and Warm – The Yak wool is crazy soft and warm. Very high-quality, good fit and fantastic styling. The collar is much better than most. Some of these cardigan sweaters are a bit loose or poorly tailored. This one is spot-on.
Smart Flannel Shirts
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✅ Best Venado Flannel Shirt For Men
Great build quality and fits great for someone active – Great lightweight flannel that fits great for those who are active. The gussets in the under arm of the sleeves are a big advantage. The build quality is definitely there. From the quality of the material to the larger button sizes. You will be buying a few more for sure.
Plaid Blazers
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✅ Best Men’s 2 Button Coat Blazer
A really good looking jacket – The camel hair is smooth, soft to the touch, and of a satisfying weight. The color a rich camel and herringbone pattern that you’ve looked for sometime but never seen this low before. The coat pairs well with denim, linen, and wool. It works as well at dress up as dress down.
Wool Knit Neckties
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✅ Best Knit Ties For Men
Love these ties – Vivid colors, ideal long and wide. They took care of packaging though an extra layer of protection wouldn’t hurt. Recommended at 100%
Slim-Fit Stretch Chinos
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✅ Best Men’s Stretch Slim Fit Flat Chino Pant
Great fit and true to size – These pants looked fantastic. The material is great and doesn’t shrink or fade while washing and drying.
Pea Coats
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✅ Best Men’s All-American Authentic Style Peacoat
Extraordinary design – This product has an excellent finish, fits according to the size indicated and is a very useful garment to withstand intense cold weather. The delivery was early and arrived in good condition.
Argyle Socks
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✅ Best Men’s Carlyle Argyle Crew Socks,
Exceptionally Comfortable Socks! – First off material is good, feels high quality and with a good thickness. Not too flimsy like cheap socks. These are made mostly of cotton and have that cotton feel, but do have a bit of stretch in them from the nylon / spandex.
Oxford Shoes
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✅ Best Men’s Morris Wing Ox Oxford Shoes
Comfortable like the rest of this series – The Morris series are light weight comfortable shoes, Chukka boots and Chelsea boots that feature no break in time and comfort from the start. These wing tips are oil tanned leather. It’s hard to find oil tanned leather shoes let alone ones so comfortable.
Leather Belt With Brass Buckle
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✅ Best Adult Leather Belt
Excellent quality belt – You were very happy with purchase and the company are top class. Thankyou very much. .The belt is flexible but stiff enough for you to hang cordless impact wrench on. you’d probably say it’s stiff enough to use for a holster as well if you carry.
Chunky Nostalgic Eyeglasses
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✅ Best Chunky Nostalgic Eyeglasses
Super happy with these glasses – Super happy with these glasses! Great bargain and awesome look! YES, they are AUTHENTIC! Mine came in a white Michael Kors case with a white wiping cloth. You CAN make these into prescription seeing glasses because the lenses they come with can come off and be replaced with better high quality prescription lenses of your choice VIA your EYE DOCTOR! This is defenitely the cheaper way to go if you want designer eyeglasses! Nice and sturdy, good fit, the temples aren’t too tight or too loose, the nose pads sit perfectly on the nose without discomfort and you DON’T need to keep adjusting them like most eyeglasses! 10/10!
Plaid Pants
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✅ Best Levi’s Men’s XX Standard Tapered Chino Pants
Levi’s does it again Perfect in every sense of the word! – These chinos are magnificent! They fit perfectly, they’re comfortable, they stretch beyond belief, they’re breathable. Did you mention they have a secret zippered pocket in the right pocket?! No. Well, they do! Levi’s always makes a quality product and they do not disappoint this go around. So, buy them. What’re you waiting for??
Light Academia Backpack
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✅ Best High Capacity Canvas Vintage Backpack
Versatile, roomy, stylish canvas backpack! – This is a really nice canvas backpack with leather straps. It has a magnetic connector to close the top flap plus drawstrings to close it tight. inside the large space there is a padded pocket for your laptop, a small zippered pouch, and a pouch that holds pens, chapstick or whatever. It also has three good-sized zippered pouches around the front and sides and a small zippered pouch on the back as well as broad, padded shoulder straps that make it comfy to carry.
Light Academia Messenger Bag
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✅ Best Dark Academia Messenger Bag
Ideal size for travel – Great size for on the plane travel bag, it is in between sizes of the messenger bags/satchels and smaller shoulder bags/satchels so ideal for that. Has compartment divider inside and pouches there is an outs pocket as well the look and feel of the material is of good quality and looks like leather, the strap adjusts to a good length so it can hang down just below the top of your back on to your bottom the only issue was it doesn’t come with a shoulder pad on the strap so did purchase that separately otherwise a good buy.
Light Academia Book Bag
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✅ Best Leather Comfortable Lightweight College Bookbag
MAX COMFORT ASSURED – Effortlessly carry your laptop and accessories, the backpack is a feather-light, soft leather backpack that forms a suspension system to protect your back from discomfort and to encourage maximum support. The bag boasts thick padded adjustable straps is designed to relax your shoulders. Looks attractive, so makes it perfect for college, school, business, travel, short hiking, camping, and outdoor activities.
Light Academia Leather Bag
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✅ Best Genuine Leather Messenger Handbag
Excellent bag – For the money, this is well worth it. Roomy and the feeling of quality for the price is better than messenger bags costing two or three times the price. Sure, you can find a better bag, but it will cost a lot more.
Light Academia School Bag
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✅ Best Leather Messenger Bag For Men
A nice leather bag that looks expensive – A very nice bag. The front buckles are very secure, the front pockets are useful, and the design is sleek, classic and the bag looks very expensive. It fits a 15.6″ laptop.
Light Academia Shoulder Bag
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✅ Best Dark Academia Leather School Bag
Great bag for a great price – Slim messenger bag construction with dual magnetic closures under the leather flap. Roomy main compartment can fit documents, everyday essentials, a laptop or tablet, and features a full-length zipper pocket. Rear exterior open pocket for easy access to frequently needed items.
Light Academia Laptop Bag
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✅ Best Leather Shoulder Bag
Solid bag with lots of styles! – The bag feels as thick heavy leather should. The frame of the bag is more rigid while the flap is soft and flexible. The strap is still stiff, but I imagine it will become more flexible over time. It gives the impression of an “Old West” saddlebag, sturdy, weather-beaten and well-traveled.
Light Academia Crossbody Bag
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✅ Best Chest Shoulder Backpack
It’s perfect – This is the cutest bag ♥️. It is perfect for anyone. Especially women who carry a purse. If you’re like me you don’t like it but it’s necessary. This little wonder is hands-free. Sling it over one shoulder and that’s it. It is a little larger than expected but it holds necessaries like a phone, ID, gum and keys. Plenty of room for checkbooks and credit cards. No worries about some fool trying to snatch it. It is on your body not in your hand.
Light Academia Fashion Mask
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✅ Best Cool Goth Face Mask
Spectacular Fun – love this. It fits perfectly. It’s well made high quality. The graphics are amazing and totally fun. You will buy more. Love this.
How to dress light academia for males?
Light academia clothing for males is a romantic combination of muted earthy tones, tweed pants, and an armful of books, with roots in the classic Greek arts and traditional 19th century England boarding school. That is why the light academia style encompasses a wide range of prep school staples such as sweater vests, tailored trousers, collar shirts, Oxford loafers, long trench coats, small leather backpacks, and plaid patterns with knee-high socks.
Fashion from the 1930s and 1940s is prominent in the light academia aesthetic, particularly clothing is worn by students at Oxbridge, Ivy League schools, and prep schools during that time period.
What is the light academia fashion color palette for men?
Cardigans, blazers, dress shirts, Oxford shoes, houndstooth and tweed clothing are among the most commonly associated with the men’s light academia aesthetic, with its color palette primarily consisting of beige, camel, copper, champaign, blush, tan, gold, light brown, light gray, light olive, slate and sapphire colors. You can add some dark shades as contrast through vintage patterns such as plaid, stripes, herringbone, houndstooth, floral, paisley, twill, polka dots, madras and checkered, etc.
What is the light academia fashion history?
The user ‘plantaires’ created Light Academia in a Tumblr text post in 2019. The light academia fashion style is the pale, muted, dim and light color version of the Dark Academia style. Both outfit styles target a classy scholar vibe.
How to dress light academia for guys for Summer?
For summer light academia outfits for guys, you can wear lighter, brighter pants, such as beige chinos, shorts, and jeans, then accent them with your favorite neutral color top. Simple cotton or chambray button-downs, camp collar shirts and polos are examples of classy shirtings. Your outfit will still reflect your personal style while still conveying the summer vibe you’re going for.
How to dress less academia for guys for Fall?
Autumn-themed imagery is the most popular for light academia mood boards because of the matching color scheme and vibe. You can wear a simple classy long-sleeved shirt layered under a neutral color oversized sweater. Wool, cashmere, linen, cotton, and corduroy are the best material for keeping you warm and cozy. For a classy or nostalgic vibe, look for vintage, washed, and worn fabrics. You can also pair this outfit with a light sweater that is not too thick, then add layers of vest, blazer and winter coat as the temperature continues to drop.
How to dress light academia for guys for Winter?
Light academia men’s outfit for winter is very classic. You can include a navy blue, burgundy, olive or tan sweater over a white collared shirt, with some light brown or light orange corduroy trousers (or jeans), some oxford shoes (or brown loafers), and a gray scarf. This look has a lot of nice textures for the cold weather — the sweater is knit, the shirt is made out of cotton, satin or silk, and there are elements of leather in the oxfords and corduroy in the pants. The scarf ties it all together: traditionally, academic students would wear these long rectangular scarves on cold days at university.
How to dress light academia for college?
Classic pieces, such as tailored trousers, pleated jackets reminiscent of a prep school uniform, plaid or tweed separates, and a sharp pair of loafers, are driving light academic outfits. A color palette of neutrals and shades of off-white, light olive, light brown and tan are also essential for your light academia college style. Make sure to get a handful of classic books and leather binders to complete the look. If you are planning to go out in the cold, take high-quality statement silk or cashmere scarf along with you.
How to dress light academia for guys for casual street style?
To make the light academia aesthetic for street style, you can wear collared shirts, button-down tops, and sweaters that give off a more academic vibe than a t-shirt. Denim is also not commonly worn in light academia for men, but rather plaid skinny pants, slacks and trousers.
How to dress light academia for guys for formal wear?
The light academia style is quite formal and classy by nature. To make the look more formal, you can pay homage to classic silhouettes and practical staple pieces by layering them in unexpected and stylish ways. Suits, cardigans, and shirts under dresses are the ideal light academic-inspired formal wear. To project authority and formality, you should pay attention to details, dress modestly and decently. It is all about doing more with less.
What accessories to wear with men’s light academia outfits?
A light academia accessory is a decorative item that supplements the masculine outfit to add the classy scholar vibe. Popular items include brass cufflinks, silk or cashmere scarves, watches, monograms, square pockets, dark color leather bags and handmade leather belts, Ray-Bans wayfarer, berets and vintage glasses.
Where to buy light academia aesthetic clothes for boyfriend?
Ralph Lauren, Cole Haan, Tommy Hilfiger, Dockers, LONDON FOG, Fyre and Haggar are some fashion brands that are particularly associated with light academia aesthetics for men. Other stores carry a lot of light academia pieces for both males and females including Nordstrom, ASOS, Anthropologie, Uniqlo, Urban Outfitters, Zara and H&M.
For those who want to dress in light academia for cheap, you can find a lot of light academia clothes and fashion websites. In fact, similar items can be purchased at a cheaper price on Amazon or eBay. If you want to buy light academia fashion items at the lowest sale price (and do not care about long-term quality or copyright issues) then you can even explore sources like Shein, AliExpress or Wish.
Another good idea to support small businesses and get quality deals is to shop from your local second-hand stores, vintage shop, flea markets, consignment stores, yard sales and Craigslist. You can even treasure hunt grandparents’ wardrobe. Delivery time is usually the fastest when ordering from Amazon or shopping locally.
If you are into handmade crafting, ethnic clothing and indie styles, you can spend some hours in our DIY session or shop from Etsy to get inspiration. For more light academia room aesthetics, don’t forget to check out our website!