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Gothic fashion

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Gothic fashion is a style of dress of individuals who identify themselves as goths. It is allied to Goth music, but not all those who dress in this fashion listen to Goth music.

File:Music manasan.jpg
Mana, a Japanese musician known for his goth fashion.

Typical goth dress consists of black clothing accessorized with silver and/or pewter. The stereotypical gothic outfit, sometimes referred to jokingly as the "mopey" or "romantic" look, is limited only by what the wearer thinks he or she can pull off, and can (and frequently does) include elaborate gowns and corsets, veils, teased hair, eyeliner, black fingernails, fishnets, and styles borrowed from the Elizabethans and Victorians. Also popular are tight-fitting trousers, pointy boots, flouncy shirts in the manner of Lord Byron, and anything with buckles on it. The nature of the event will to some degree dictate the dress code, but expression of personal style is generally more important, and it's not unusual for several club-goers on a given night to appear dressed very formally or elaborately in a way unrelated to the specific event.

The simplicity of the style lends itself to variation, and it is often seen combined with elements of other styles (typically punk or BDSM fashion). Various piercings are not uncommon, and both males and females often wear elaborate makeup. Hair is often dyed blue-black, and sometimes backcombed to give it a large, ratty appearance. There are similarities between goth fashion and the more masculine black metal fashion, which can make it difficult to discern the subculture of the individual.

Gothic fashion is a part of the identity practices of the goth subculture. As such, a person's style (including their clothing, hair, makeup, and accessories), is a major factor in determining whether the person will be perceived as "authentic" by others in the subculture. This is not particular to goth; rather, it is a feature of many subcultures. Members of the subculture may and often do have different ideas about what constitutes gothic fashion than members of the population at large, and some styles which read as "goth" to many people are seen as "outsider" by those in the scene. In his book Goth: Identity, Style and Subculture (Berg Publishers Ltd., Oxford, 2002), Paul Hodkinson talks about goths using their fashion choices to demonstrate commitment to the subculture. In particular, he asserts that more extreme, less easily concealed choices -- such as dyeing one's hair or shaving part of it off -- demonstrate greater commitment.

However, the core of gothic fashion is that whatever you like is fine, as the gothic culture per opposition to "fun society" is against the conventions of how one has to look. While there are recurring patterns in the clothing, many different and unique outfits can be witnessed in events like the Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig, where the color range ranges from complete white to pitch black. Between those two extremes, anything goes, be it modern, classic, conservative or ragged.

Sometimes, goths will tear or cut their clothes apart, normally with scissors, then repair their clothes with safety pins. This gives an odd 'splitting at the seams' look.

Another prominent style of gothic fashion is sometimes described as "romance gothic", or seen simply as "classic". This is the elegant, historically-inspired side of the subculture, often involving chiffon petticoats, antique lace, intricate brocades, or corsetry. Most variants of gothic fashion incorporate some facet of this classic style.

Given the style's close relation to musical sub-genres, its particular counter-culture revolt against and rejection of mainstream values, as well as its emphasis on individual freedom of expression through clothing that challenges societal taboos and often redefines the body, defining the aesthetic is sometimes difficult. Goth fashion emphasizes transformation of the body, elements of beauty, order, conscious eroticism and 'otherness' that is counter the mainstream, and can express a personal or intellectual refusal to accept mainstream rules and conventions to varying degrees. While a Goth may or may not embrace nihilism, many are drawn to the fashion or music through a deep sense of alienation, which is a possible reason for the attraction to Goth fashion's companion theme of morbidity or vampire style. Wearing black eyeshadow and shroud-like clothing that refers to the dead or undead, might express an attitude of grief, despair, mourning or deathwish toward the kind of falseness of the life a person sees being offered to them by society, yet this is not to be confused with an anti-life attitude. Rather, Goth fashion can be a positive transformation from alienation through self-expression via beauty and fashion, and through a sense of belonging to a community that shares the same alienation. It is self-validation, not self-destruction. Alternately, the choice to embrace this fashion may simply rise from a far less complicated psychology, and reflect an attraction to Eros through Thanatos, an attraction to the 'darker' side of sexuality. In other words, wearing the fashion or embracing the music because the wearer finds the extremity, intensity or 'otherness' of the dark Goth look or preoccupations to be sexy or empowering.

An interesting aspect for women is that Goth fashion embraces all body types, unlike mainstream fashion that insists on a hierarchy of beauty superiority based on body and hair type. In fact Goth fashion privileges voluptuousness, sensuality and sexuality through its referral to fashions and even individuals of other eras that also prized these qualities. One famous female role model is Theda Bara, the 1920s femme fatale known for her dark eyeshadow, curves and smoldering onscreen presence. In a sense, the message of Goth fashion is similar to that of the Urban Primitive movement: that if one does not fit into or agree with the values and trends of the mainstream of the day, that it's possible to reject these, and reinvent oneself by transformation or physical modification. That one may take total control of one's image is a powerful individual response to a society dominated by Photoshop images that prescribe a rarely attainable ideal of a faked 'natural' beauty. With its obviously dyed hair, pale skin, and differently-defined physical aesthetic, Goth fashion is a considered response to the unattainable California Girls golden Barbie (or Ken) image.

What can be agreed on, however, is that Goth fashion can instantly be recognized by its stark black or white clothing (or hair or makeup), often contrasted with boldly coloured clothing, hair and makeup in strong shades of deep reds, purples or blues, in fabrics and styles that evoke romantic eras as well as morbidity, that usually combine style elements that flow and drape as well as restrict or emphasize and sexualize a body part (i.e. corsetry or tight sleeves or trousers). Goth fashion further emphasizes the personal power of an individual, as the calculated juxtapositions of elements of the rugged (i.e. metallic and leather accessories) to that of the vulnerable, fragile and sensual (i.e. lace, silks, high heels for either gender, restriction of body parts) communicate the will of the wearer to make conscious choices, and awareness that their non-"natural" fashion choices are gauged to elicit a strong response from non-Goth others. This form of dark, sometimes morbid, eroticized fashion, along with the pale, untanned skin of the wearer, immediately identifies one as "Goth".


See also

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