Morbid Fashion A Basic Guide to Identifying & Creating Your Grown-Up Gothic Style (A special preview.)
By Zellain Dystopia
“It is more important to know what to look for than where to shop.� - Zellain Dystopia
Grown-Up Gothic Style I began using the phrase “grown-up Gothic style” to describe the type of Gothic style I was sharing on Morbid Fashion. After running the blog for a few months and getting some confused messages from people expecting a stereotyped Gothic fashion blog I felt the need to use a term or phrase to show that the blog was different from what one might initially expect. Even though it has been nearly two years since I started using the phrase to differentiate the type of Gothic styling featured on Morbid Fashion I still get confused and angry messages from people wanting to let me know that the blog is: “not goth,” “not grown-up,” “not morbid” and sometimes “not fashion.” Why use “grown-up” in the tag-line if I do not mean it to indicate that it is Gothic fashion for certified adults who are not allowed to have tattoos and colored hair because they have real jobs? To me the “grown-up” part of “grown-up Gothic style” was always supposed to refer to the fact that Gothic style has grown-up over the years. It is far easier to dress as a goth, Lolita, punk, scene kid, metal head or whatever subculture you identify with today than it was ten, twenty or thirty years ago. According to Wikipedia goth officially became a subculture movement in the late 1970s or early 1980s when bands like Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Bauhaus started being labeled Gothic. I believe there have been goths around far longer than that without the official subculture label. People like Maila Nurmi, also known as Vampira, in the 1950s; Max Schreck the actor who played Nosferatu that skulked around the movie set in character constantly; Edgar Allan Poe the American poet, who shares the Gothic poster child role with The Cure's lead singer Robert Smith and Charles “Chas” Addams the cartoonist who created the Addams Family; are some of the people who come to mind as being goth before the term was popular. Ask any goth older than thirty and they will gladly tell you about the days spent in their teens trying to find any black clothing in stores, the times they spent dyeing fabric black, raiding the outdated wardrobes of relatives and inevitably taking up sewing to create the clothing they wished to wear. American teens in the late 1980s and 1990s began to see the spread of various clothing stores catering to alternative cultures like Hot Topic. These stores showed mainstream clothing retailers that there was real money to be made off of the
subculture. I vividly remember walking into a JCPenney store with my mother and grandmother in the early 1990s, spotting a black faux-leather motorcycle jacket in the teen section and begging them for it. I was told, “not until you're sixteen” which was the answer my family usually gave to most of my outrageous questions. In 2001 at the age of sixteen I had a fauxleather jacket, faux-leather pants, vinyl pants, more silver eyeliner than I knew what to do with and a closet filled with black clothing. Being a Gothic teenager in the early 2000s was easy from a clothing and accessories acquisition standpoint. In my hometown there were two Hot Topics, several cheap jewelry stores along with a local smoke shop that carried an array of t-shirts and patches with cocky phrases. There were also a handful of local Pagan stores to buy incense, jewelry and books that gave my grandmother heart palpitations. Ebay was also a major source of band T-shirts and memorabilia for my generation. Every September I would drag my family members to the twenty plus Halloween stores in the area, that stayed open for only two months of the year to get really cheap and unusual tights, jewelry, décor and accessories. In the years since I graduated from high school, and started paying for my wardrobe pieces, Gothic clothing and accessories have become even easier to acquire, provided you can shop online. Today there is a multitude of Gothic fashion blogs, an incredible amount of online stores catering to every style imaginable, independent artisan stores like Etsy and a huge number of goths going into the custom clothing and accessory business themselves. Goth has grown up. It is no longer just a mixture of punk, glam rock and old horror films. The internet has blurred culture lines, made information more accessible and provides us all with every opportunity to dress as unique as our budgets will allow. For those of us with no sewing skills to speak of there is no reason that we cannot save up to buy custommade clothing from the people who can. For those of you with sewing skills there is no reason for you to not go forward and create your own custom clothing brand and sell to those of us looking to buy the things you create. If there isn't a clothing label out there that carries the things you would like to see then create it. Take some classes, or watch some YouTube tutorials, learn to construct clothing or jewelry, create something different and put it out there. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
Gathering Inspiration Gathering large amounts of inspiration is, in my opinion, one of the most essential steps in creating your wardrobe. I started my Tumblr blog Morbid Fashion in July 2009 as a place to collect my Gothic style inspiration. I have identified with Gothic style and culture since I was a child, but I knew that my ideal version of a Gothic wardrobe was different from traditional Gothic styling. When I started Morbid Fashion it was purely for myself, a place for free time inspiration documentation. Within six months of starting the Tumblr the growing follower count made it obvious that there were many more people out there that shared my love and fascination with a different form of goth. Before starting Morbid Fashion I did not have a clear idea of my ideal style. I knew which clothes I was most comfortable in, but I had no idea how to translate that comfort into something I could call goth with any confidence. Not that the label itself was anything I needed to identify with, it was just the easiest description of where I wanted my style to go. Today I have over 9000 Tumblr posts spanning two years, a Pinterest account with thirty-two inspiring style boards and almost 4GB of images saved into inspiration folders on my computer. I also have a definite idea of my ideal Gothic wardrobe and style. Something that is suitably Gothic, while being comfortable, dressy, slightly luxurious and doesn't play by any rules other than my own. Gathering inspiring images, notes and ideas is essential to getting to know your own style. My most recommended sources for inspiration are: movies, television, cartoons, stories, anime, books, comics, manga, art, dreams, music, models, magazine editorials, advertisements, bloggers, mythology, history, etc. Save your favorite images and ideas for later. Even if they are not what you think you'd wear save the things that speak to you. Paste them into notebooks, hang them on your walls, save them on your computer, compile them on a digital image sharing site, write them down, etc. Over time you will notice patterns, spot themes and be able to better choose the things you enjoy.
Choosing Your Goth Style Icons While compiling my Gothic style inspiration I noticed that there were some people whose images and personal style I gravitated to the most. This realization led me to creating a “People� sub-folder in my main style inspiration folder. This folder has ninety other subfolders, separated by person, filled with images of bloggers, celebrities, socialites, stylists, magazine editors, models and friends that I am continually inspired by. A few of these people I would describe as my goth style icons. These are people who never stop inspiring me. People who rock their own look from the colors in their hair, to the cut of their jackets to the tiniest of details on their accessories. These are the people who I would happily swagger-jack entire outfits from. Perhaps you will also find Daphne Guinness, heiress to the Guinness brewing company, is a goth style icon for you with her aristocratic, luxury alien style. Your love for vintage clothing might become exceedingly clear after realizing that modern burlesque performer Dita Von Teese is a major goth style icon for you. Then again maybe you would be more comfortable emulating the heavily layered and rugged style of designer Rick Owens. Or a simple, constantly customizable uniform like Chanel's Karl Lagerfeld might more of what you're looking for if you would like to take the hassle out of choosing a new look everyday. Don't be alarmed if your goth style icon ends up being someone who would never be described as goth. Victoria Beckham has been a style icon of mine for the last decade because the woman really knows how to wear clothing. She is not goth, but it doesn't matter because inspiration and style icons have no rules. If the images you save inspire you then that is all that matters. If your Gothic style icon ends up being someone who looks nothing like you, that doesn't matter. You are looking for the way that certain people wear their clothes. The way that these people express their feelings, personalities and sense of humor through pieces of jewelry and bits of thread. Find these people, figure out what it is in their wardrobe that screams to you the most and see how you can emulate that in your own way. This does not mean that I have to go tanning to emulate Victoria Beckham, nor do I have to bleach my hair and add thick brown streaks like Daphne Guinness. I can, however, work their love for tailoring, monotone outfits and stand out accessories into my everyday attire as my way of emulating their style essence.
How to Shop for Wallets and Bags When shopping for a new wallet or bag the first thing you need to know is how much you want to store in each of these things. Do you prefer to carry everything you need in one folding wallet and no bag? Do you regularly carry a bag large enough to hold everything you could need? Are you somewhere between? Most wallets should be able to carry a smattering of paper money, plastic bank cards, identification cards, membership and credit cards. It is for you to decide if you want a wallet that can store more than that. Some people still carry check books in their wallets, others keep pictures of loved ones, some of us prefer to store change in our wallets and many need a place to store receipts. I use a long zippered wallet that allows me to keep my money unfolded, store change, separate work receipts, carry my bank cards and have a separate section for my store membership cards. In the past I have gone for folding wallets, wallets that forced me to store change separately from everything else and wallets that I kept in my pocket. When it comes to the type of bag that you will carry there are more questions to be answered. What kind of material do you want your bag to be made from? Do you want your bag to be made from vegan materials, organic cloths, cheap to produce plastics or animal products? Do you want to have a bag that you spend a large amount on to last you several years or do you want to spend very little and switch up the bag you carry regularly? Can you only picture yourself carrying a bag that is black, or brown or white? Do you want your bag to be made with patterned fabric or something plain? What do you need to carry in this bag? Do you only need it so you don't regularly lose your wallet and keys? Is this doubling as a bag to carry your school supplies in for the classes you're taking this fall? Do you want something that can carry a thin sweater or one that fits snugly around your wallet? Of course you know that in order to find designer handbags you should shop at stores carrying designer wares or directly from a designers flagship store. However, did you know that if you are looking for a plain, dark-colored, structured bag your best chances are in the mens section of most stores? Did you know that stores tend to stock handbags and wallets made of lighter fabrics in brighter colors during the Spring and Summer. Whereas if you're
looking for a bag that features darker colors and faux-leather your best bet is to look during Autumn and Winter? For unusual bags you should look at local events that different vendors can set up booths to sell at. I tend to find fantastic vintage inspired bags at car shows, insane handmade leather bags at Renaissance Faires and unique cloth bags at Farmer's Markets. If you're going to be traveling to a large city in the future do some research beforehand of the best shopping areas. When I traveled to San Francisco years ago I made a point to visit the second-hand shops lining Haight & Ashbury where I found a lot of military inspired bags, brightly colored suede bags and a lot of other interesting worn in bags. Don't be afraid to ask locals carrying around something interesting where they found the bag they're carrying either.
Morbid Fashion A Basic Guide to Identifying & Creating Your Grown-Up Gothic Style
Morbid Fashion is a style guide written by Zellain Dystopia, the woman behind the popular Gothic Tumblr blog Morbid Fashion. Since starting the blog in 2009 she has worked to help goths from around the world with their sartorial questions. This book is a collection of her basic tips and tricks for identifying and creating a Gothic wardrobe you will enjoy wearing.
Morbid Fashion features explanations for: gathering style inspiration, identifying your Gothic style icons, using inspiration to come up with your own ideal Gothic wardrobe that you would actually like to wear, general clothing care tips for Goths, tips for shopping in-person and tips for shopping online. There will also be a huge resources section featuring links to places to buy Gothic friendly clothing, cosmetics, jewelry and accessories as well as resources for finding Gothic culture news and information.
Zellain Dystopia lives in Northern California with her husband. She is a writer, artist, interior design nerd and all around Gothic style geek. She is the woman behind the popular Gothic style blogs: Morbid Fashion, The Morbid Fashion and Spooky Home. For more information visit http://themorbidfashion.net/