| Gothic fashion
is a style of dress of young people who identify
themselves as goths. It is allied to Goth music,
but not all those who dress in this fashion listen
to Goth music.
Typical goth dress consists of black clothing accessorized
with silver and/or pewter. The stereotypical gothic
outfit, 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, lots of
eyeliner, fishnets, and styles borrowed from the
Elizabethans and Victorians. Also popular are
tight-fitting trousers, 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 personal style is
generally more important, and it's not unusual
for several club-goers on a given night to appear
dressed to the nines for no apparent reason.
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 dark makeup. Hair is most often
dyed a flat, matte black. There are similarities
between goth fashion and black metal fashion,
which can make it difficult to discern the subculture
of the individual. This may present a problem,
since goths tend to not like black metal, and
metalheads tend to not associate with goths.
Gothic fashion is a part of the identity practices of the goth
subculture. As such, a person's style (including
their clothing, hair, makeup, 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 rules of how one has to 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.
Occasionally, 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.
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