About Goth Subculture

 What is Goth?

The goth subculture arose from the dark, horrific and romantic scenes of architecture, literature, music, and style. Anytime a topic of life, death, and afterlife came up, it caught people’s attention and had them interested. In the modern-day, Goth fashion has exerted a powerful influence on street style, runway, and also fashion trends.

Influences behind Goth Subculture

During the Middle Ages, from 13th to 16th century, Goth architecture took Europe by storm. They had detailed and captivating designs of art. The buildings were tall and spooky with spires, pointed arches, and tall windows.

Today we can see many pretty churches and cathedrals that look similar to the fairytale castles. These creepy looking buildings inspired writers to create dark and ghostly scenes. Therefore, a new genre of literature came into being in the late 1700s – the gothic fiction. It is a part of literature that combines horror and dark romanticism.

A typical scene would be – alone, dimly lit castle with dungeons in a dense forest with bats flying around, haunted hallways, and white curtains flowing by the wind during a thunderstorm. Not to forget a pinch of supernatural characters like ghosts, vampires, spirits, and witches.

In the late 1970s, the later phase of the aggressive punk period saw the rise of the gothic rock. It was rather calmer than punk. They give messages of sadness and loneliness, which in turn gave joy and support to the audience.

The vocals were soulful, passionate, and dramatic. The music was dark, soothing, emotional, nihilistic, and had supernatural elements. Joy Division, Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and The Sisters of Mercy were among the first bands to make gothic music. ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ by Bauhaus was the first official gothic song.

Music created a dark atmosphere which inspired many. They found comfort and felt no less than home. Eventually, they started adopting the culture in their lives. Although the Goth lovers look very mysterious and distinct, they are peaceful and soft at heart.

What is Goth Fashion?

Celebrating the darker aspects of life and inspired by the Goth subculture, Goth fashion started in the early 1980s. Dark and rebellious punk aesthetics combined with the Victorian romanticism make goth fashion. Victorian beauty standard’s influence brought the pale skin, tight-laced corsets, and long elegant dresses. Punk gave leather jackets, spiky accessories, and dark makeup.

This gave birth to the Goth club culture where people dressed themselves inspired by the gothic rock scene. It was a place for all the gothic lovers and bat cavers (early members of the goth subculture) where Goth culture, fashion, and music met.

From the children of the moon to the granddaughters of witches, Goth fashion took the world by a storm. Later the trend bubbled up to the labels. Gradually designers then started incorporating gothic elements into their designs and runway collections.

In the early 80s, Yoji Yamamoto took the runway with elements of traditional, or trad goth, and then designers like Alexander McQueen, Jean-Paul Gaultier introduced their take on it. Later many designers like Balenciaga, Thom Browne, Givenchy, Valentino, Olivier Theyskens, etc. bought their own variations to trad goth, such as romantic goth, corp goth, Victorian goth, etc.

The time when goth fashion was introduced, DIY was the only way to dress like a Goth.  There were no specific stores that sold Gothic clothes. But today we can see numerous designers who design clothes only for the Goth subculture. They are readily available and easily accessible. The runway designers played a huge role in expanding the Goth culture and introducing new Goth trends.

Read this - https://fashionsocietyculture.blogspot.com/2021/10/evolution-of-goth-fashion-on-runway.html