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[[Image:Gothic girl.jpg|thumb|Gothic woman, traditional style, with spikes and piercings.]]

”’Gothic fashion”’ is a clothing style worn by members of the [[Goth subculture]]. It is stereotyped as a dark, sometimes morbid, eroticized fashion and style of [[clothing|dress]]. Typical Gothic fashion includes black [[Hair colouring|dyed hair]] and black clothes. Both male and female goths wear dark [[Eye liner|eyeliner]] and dark fingernails. Styles are often borrowed from the [[Elizabethan]]s and [[Victorian fashion|Victorians]]. The extent to which goths hold to this stereotype varies, though virtually all goths wear some of these elements.

Goth fashion is often confused with [[heavy metal fashion]], and uninformed outsiders often mistake [[heavy metal music|heavy metal]] fans or musicians for goth,<ref>[http://alternative-fashion.com/industrial.html //Alternative-Fashion.com//<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> particularly those who wear black trenchcoats or “[[corpse paint]]” (associated with [[black metal]]).

== Goth fashion culture ==

Cintra Wilson declares that “The origins of contemporary goth style are found in the [[Victorian fashion|Victorian]] cult of mourning.”<ref name=cintra/> [[Valerie Steele]] is an expert in the history of the style.

Goth style’s rejection of mainstream values, emphasis on freedom of expression, and challenging taboos makes it difficult to define its [[Gothic aesthetics|aesthetic]] principles. Goth fashion emphasizes transformation of the body, elements of beauty, order, conscious eroticism and ‘otherness’ that flouts conventions.

Many goths are drawn to the fashion due to a sense of [[social alienation|alienation]], which may explain the style’s fascination with morbidity or [[vampire]] [[fashion|style]]. Wearing black eyeshadow and shroud-like clothing that refers to the dead may express grief, despair, or mourning. Some goth experience fashion as a transformation from [[Social alienation|alienation]] through self-expression and a sense of belonging to a community that shares the same sense of alienation.<ref name=cintra/> Alternately, the fashion may reflect an attraction to the darker side of [[human sexuality|sexuality]].<ref>César Fuentes Rodríguez “Mundo Gótico” (Quarentena Ediciones, 2007, ISBN 8493389161), page 233 & ss.</ref>

[[Image:fille-goth.jpg|thumb|Gothic look.]]

Like the [[urban primitive]] movement, the goth subculture rejects mainstream conventions and encourages reinventing oneself by transformation or physical modification.{{Fact|date=March 2008}} Goth fashion is an “unnatural” response to the unattainable “natural” [[Barbie]] (or [[Ken (Barbie)|Ken]]) image.

Goth fashion can be recognized by its stark [[black]] clothing (or hair or makeup), often contrasted with boldly colored clothing, hair and makeup in shades of deep reds, purples, blues or emerald green. Fabrics and styles that evoke romantic eras as well as morbidity, and usually combine style elements that flow and drape, or restict and emphasize a body part (i.e. corsetry or tight sleeves or trousers). Goth fashion further emphasizes the personal power of an individual, as the juxtapositions of elements of rugged accessories (metal and leather), to that of the vulnerable and sensual restriction of body parts (i.e. lace, silks, and high heels for either [[gender]]).

==Role models==

[[Image:ThedaBara.jpg|thumb|Theda Bara's look has inspired some types of Goth fashion.]]

One female role model is [[Theda Bara]], the 1910s [[femme fatale]] known for her dark eyeshadow, curves and smoldering on-screen presence.{{Fact|date=March 2008}} [[Musidora]], [[Bettie Page]], [[Morticia Addams]], [[Robert Smith]], [[Nico]], and [[Siouxsie Sioux]] are also style icons.

==Haute Goth==

Goth fashion has a reciprocal relationship with the fashion world. In the late 2000s, designers such as [[Alexander McQueen]], [[Rick Owens]], [[Gareth Pugh]], [[Rodarte]], and [[John Galliano]] brought elements of goth to runways.<ref name=cintra/> This was described as “Haute Goth” by Cintra Wilson in the ”New York Times”.<ref name=cintra>Cintra Wilson, “You just can’t kill it”, ”New York Times”, September 17, 2008. [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/fashion/18GOTH.html] Access date: September 18, 2008.</ref>

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==External links==

{{commonscat|Gothic fashion}}

* [http://www.darkfashionlinks.com Listing of Gothic Fashion Sites]

* [http://www.paulhodkinson.co.uk Goth Fashion Cultural Researcher Paul Hodkinson]

* [http://www.istasy10.com/goth/gothic-moda-goth-fashion/0/ Goth Fashion]

{{Goth subculture}}

[[Category:Goth]]

[[Category:Gothic fashion]]

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