The Dark Academia Aesthetic Might Be Our Favorite Halloween Style Yet

Welcome to the dark side of Halloween, where crust and decay, moody hues, and collections of curiosities make unexpectedly chic party decor.

For Gwen Hefner (a popular home blogger known as @themakerista on Instagram), Halloween is a celebration of the season she’s loved ever since she first read Mary Shelley’s classic, Frankenstein. Her Halloween decor style is an homage to that sort of mad science but with a side of “dark academia”—the trending social media aesthetic that puts a Gothic spin on traditional collegiate style.

The look is built around idealized details associated with higher education, literature, and classical art. Dimly lit library shelves stuffed with vintage books, old paintings and collections of oddities, ornate candlesticks, and dark wood all create a sense of richness and mystery. “I want things to feel spooky and creepy but beautiful,” Hefner says.

How to Implement Dark Academia in Halloween Decor

You can decorate with dark academia decor any time of year, but spooky season is a natural fit for the aesthetic. After all, the retail stores are stocked with faux bones, dark linens, and plenty of inspiring ways to elevate the look of an old manor. The landscape outside is drying up and providing gorgeous grasses and leaves that are easy to incorporate into your look. Rich, warm woods and shelves lined with books are in the DNA of dark academia decor. Pair these essential pieces with charred-gray linens, mossy greens, and blood-red accents. Accent the look with dim candlelight and tarnished gold or metallic pieces. Want more inspiration for this dark yet chic look? Use these 10 ways to incorporate the moody Halloween style into your home this season.

1. Replicated Aged Florals and Decor

Dried blooms, foliage, and silk roses in deep colors make for a beautiful blood-red arrangement. Dark linens topped with torn gauze transform a buffet and a headless winged statue plays up the Gothic effect. Amber bottles evoke Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory.

2. Mysterious Bookcase

Black books without their jackets (a collection of thrifted murder mysteries) play to the dark academia effect. Hefner creates curiosities under glass cloches using found items like a dried, decaying gourd, fungi from a potpourri mix, and more moss. Decorative skulls and busts add elegant humor. An old portrait adds to the vintage feel.

Related: Scotlandcore Is the Moody Fall Decor Trend You Need in Your Home

3. A Haunting Console Table

Herfner’s eerie but beautiful approach is on full display on the console table. Stone balusters set a stately base for a scroll candelabra and a footed bowl full of grapes, gourds, and greenery that emulates an old-world still life. A faux skull and a stack of skeleton bones under glass serve up the spooky factor. The old turtle shell was a found curiosity.

4. Eerie Place Settings

Hefner combines vintage pieces like the dinner plates and goblets with modern ones including the crackle chargers, geometric salad plates, and 3-D placemats. A mix of gold and silver gives you the freedom to mix anything you have. A playful plastic spider tames the fancy. 

Related: The 16 Best Placemats of 2024 to Step Up Your Dining Game

5. Sticks and Bones Centerpiece

On the table, Hefner creates a boneyard using a bed of moss and fake bones with thrifted silver and mercury glass candlesticks. “You can never have too much candlelight when you’re going Goth,” she says. Decorative bones with a vintage finish can be purchased in bulk for large displays.

Related: 31 Quick and Clever Centerpieces to Help You Win Halloween

6. Embellish Found Objects

A simple black mask cheekily disguises a white bust perched on a clever pedestal of on-theme books. Scour antique stores for unique found objects that can be decorated to fit your eerie Halloween theme.

7. Ghostly Cocktails

Put a bloody good spin on a margarita with the addition of blackberry puree. Dip the rim in coarse black sugar and garnish with a paper moth-topped skewer of berries for a memorable statement cocktail.

8. Flower Faces

Yes, the dahlias really are watching you, thanks to wiggle eyes (you can find them at any crafts store). Gently attach with glue dots or double-stick or florist tape. A tarnished silver vase adds to the look.

9. Spiderweb Pumpkin

Transform any harvest pumpkin into something a little bit spookier this Halloween. Gold spray paint shines up the stem, while black spray paint covers the body. Gold craft wire wrapped around a cylinder creates a spiral shape and is attached with small craft-grade nails. A few plastic spiders painted the same gold color, create this modern, no-carve design.

Related: How and When to Harvest Pumpkins from Your Garden

10. Spooky Cookie Hacks

Turn any cookie dough dark with black gel food coloring. Blackberry preserves and poppy seeds give these cookies their dusky good looks. For the thumbprints, add a blackberry on top and pipe chocolate legs to create spiders.

Related: 34 Cute Halloween Cupcakes with Deliciously Spooky Decorations

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