Gothic

Below: Gothic Clothing | Gothic subculture | Gothic Jewelry and Makeup | Gothic Art | Gothic fashion

Gothic products

Gothic items for sale right now on eBay - Check bargain Goth related stuff at eBay (USA), including clothing, accessories, jewelry, studs and more. Brits can also check the Goth stuff for sale at eBay UK.

Accentuate Oddments and Accoutrements - Offers clothing, jewelry, pet accessories and gifts.

Alchemy Gothic - Offers such items as jewelry, accessories and gifts. Pictures and product information.

Amphigory - Jewelry, cosmetics and candles.

Androgynity Industries - Photographs and descriptions of hairpieces for sale.

Argoth - Clothing, jewelry, underwear and accessories. A choice of illustrated or text site navigation and a currency converter.

Bewitching Baskets - Offers gear knobs, clothing and conversation pieces. Pictures and production information, forum and chat.

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - Perfumes for personal and home use including tarot oils, love potions and voodoo blends.

Dark Delicacies - Offers lotions, DVDs, collectibles, dolls and t-shirts.

Diabolis UK - Product information and pictures of items such as cloaks, bags and jewelry.

Exquisite Lass - Clothing, hair accessories, aprons, and bath salts.

Fifi Mahony's - Specializing in wigs, cosmetics, and accessories.

Flaming Angels Designs - Fashion for women and men, home decor, t-shirts, and bags.

Goodgoth.com - Clothing, cosmetics, jewelry, special effects hair dye, and Egyptian imports.

Gothic - Clothing and accessories split into categories with pictures and pricing information.

Gothic Auctions - Auction house serving the Gothic subculture, books, clothing, services, and arts.

Gothic Greetings - Handmade cards. Items categorised by theme with pictures and pricing information.

Gothic Outfitters - Jewelry and home and garden items. Product pictures, descriptions and purchase information.

Gothic Queen - Offers perfume oils for men and women.

Grave Designs - Halloween, Victorian and herbal soaps, hair accessories and backpacks. Picture and product information.

Headrazor - Hairpieces, dreadlocks, wigs and falls. Pictures and pricing information.

Heavy Red - Modern, Victorian and Gothic dresses, corsets, shirts, skirts, costumes, and jewelry.

In Dark Decorum - Jewelry, shirts, goblets, and novelties.

Jaded Minx - Stockings, lingerie, accessories, and footwear.

Leather Works - Clothing for men and women, jewelry, accessories and goblets.

Legacy of The Cauldron - Specializing in original magickal art work and hand-made Gothic romance clothing.

Morgeve - Clothing, cosmetics, accessories, and fashion and make-up tips.

N/A Designs - Offers art, clothing and accessories. Product information and pictures.

Phantazi - Product pictures, information and pricing for items such as fridge magnets, medieval weaponry and incense boxes.

Purple Raven - Clothing and capes, dragons, crystal wands, and sea serpents.

Shaddow Domain - Offers a variety of products including magnets, candle holders and stickers.

Shadow Clad - Address labels including faerie and wiccan labels.

Something Spooky - Jewelry, tarot cards, artwork and handmade cloaks and purses.

Sunspot Designs - Affordable jewelry, gifts, and ritual tools for those who appreciate a dark aesthetic.

SuperstarDreads.com - Custom made dreadlocks, lights (for the hair) and boots. Photographs, step-by-step instructions and ordering information.

Those Things - Gothic clothing, accessories and lingerie. Pictures, product information and toll free live customer support.

Vampire - Offers items such as clothing, boots, belt buckles and smoking gear. Pictures and purchase information.

The Velvet Garden - New and vintage clothing, music, books and accessories.

Gothic subculture

Goth is a modern subculture that gained visibility during the early 1980s within the gothic rock scene, a sub-genre of post punk, and continues to this day. It is associated with gothic tastes in music and clothing. Styles of dress range from gothic horror, punk, Victorian, fetish, cybergoth, androgyny, and/or lots of black. Since the mid-1990s, styles of music that can be heard in goth venues range from gothic rock, industrial, punk, metal, techno, 1980s dance music, and several others.

Original subculture

By the late 1970s, there was a small handful of post punk bands in Britain that were being labeled "Gothic". However, it was not until the early 1980s that gothic rock became its own sub-genre within post punk and that followers of these bands started to come together as a distinctly recognisable group or movement. The opening of the Batcave in London's Soho in July 1982 might be seen as marking the coming out of this scene.

Independent of the British scene, the late 1970s and early 1980s saw death rock branch off from American punk. With similar themes and dress, goths and death rockers were sufficiently compatible to more or less merge.

The word goth, as a label for fans of gothic rock, did not start gaining currency until around 1983.

Etymology

Goth was originally the name of two Germanic tribes: the Ostrogoths and Visigoths, who lived near the borders of the Roman Empire and later penetrated those borders. The Visigoths sacked Rome and settled in Spain and France while the Ostrogoths settled in the Eastern Roman Empire but later invaded Italy. The term "goth" became pejorative, synonymous with "barbarian." (Another Germanic tribe that caused incredible damage to the Roman Empire were the Vandals, resulting in their name also acquiring a pejorative meaning.) Like most of the Germanic tribes that lived near the borders of the Roman Empire, the Goths were converted from "paganism" to Arian Christianity while the Roman Empire converted to Catholic Christianity. The latter considered the former to be heresy, not helping the barbarian association with the word "goth."

During the Renaissance period in Europe, medieval architecture had been retrospectively labeled "gothic," considered barbaric in contrast to trends in architecture during the Renaissance. Gothic medieval architecture often had dark and intimidating aspects, with depictions of gargoyles and other demon-like forms. By the 1700s, people became fascinated with medieval gothic ruins (even building fake ruins), and they became a perfect setting for horror fiction.

Gothic horror

The gothic novel, of the early nineteenth century, was responsible above all else for the term gothic being associated with a mood of horror, darkness and the supernatural. They established what horror stereotypes became by featuring graveyards, ruined castles or churches, ghosts, vampires, cursed families, and melodramatic plots. A notable element in these novels were the brooding figure of the gothic villain, which developed into the Byronic hero, a key precursor in the male goth image. The most famous gothic villain of this genre would be Dracula. In 1993 Whitby became the location for what became the UK's biggest goth festival as a direct result of featuring in Bram Stoker's Dracula.

The work of Edgar Allan Poe, master of the gothic short story, has also been an inspiration for many goths. The modern figure of the femme fatale, which has its roots in Romantic literature, is a key image for female goths.

Cinema

An important medium between the goth scene and gothic literature is the modern popular horror genre, in which the horror film is paramount. One of the earliest impersonators of cinematic goth might be the silent movie actress Theda Bara. Imagery from horror films and television, especially the figure of the vampire and even camp horror B films such as Plan 9 From Outer Space have had significant influence on the evolution of Gothic fashion.

Hammer Horror films and 1960s TV series, such as The Addams Family, The Munsters, and Ann Radcliffe, have also inspired goths. The interconnection between horror and goth was highlighted in its early days by The Hunger, a 1983 vampire film, starring David Bowie, which featured gothic rock group Bauhaus performing Bela Lugosi's Dead in a nightclub.

Some of the early gothic rock and death rock artists adopted horror movie images and passed them onto their goth audiences. Such references in both their music and image were originally tongue-in-cheek, but as time went on, bands and members of the subculture took the connection more seriously. As a result, morbid, supernatural, and occult themes became a more noticeably serious element in the subculture.

Goth after post-punk

After the demise of post punk, goth continued to evolve, both musically and visually. This caused variations in style ("types" of goth). Local "scenes" also contribute to this variation. By the mid 1990s, Victorian fashion had worked its way into the goth scene, with the mid-19th century Gothic Revival and the morbid outlook of the Victorians (partly owing to the state of national mourning which developed in response to Prince Albert's death, and partly to the Victorians' general obsession with Christian funeral practices). The 2003 Victoria and Albert Museum Gothic exhibition in London furthered a tenuous connection between modern goth and the medieval gothic period. In the 1990s Goth also fed and was nourished conceptually by the roleplaying game Vampire the Masquerade; it's original creator, Mark ReinHagen was obsessed with young female goths and as such the theme of the game largely revolved about gothic nightclubs.

Among contemporary media popular and among goths are Anne Rice novels (Interview with the Vampire) and notable movies such as The Crow, the Matrix series, and the movies of Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetlejuice, and Sleepy Hollow). Influences from anime have also crept into the Goth scene, which helped give rise to cybergoth.

The above text is reproduced under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Goth.

Gothic Clothing

Alienskin Clothing - Cyber and clubwear for women.

Arsenic Fashions - Featuring clubwear, victorian reproductions, custom ordering and fantasy creations for men and women.

Ashes - Offers velvet boned bustiers, dresses, coats, and satin and lace skirts with trains and bustles.

Asylum - Offers a variety of mens and ladies wear, make-up, hair products, and jewelry.

The Black Angel - Fashion wear for men and women, jewelry, boots and accessories.

The Black Rose - Goods include PVC, fishnet, crushed velvet, lace, make-up and hair color.

Blackrayne.com - Custom-made fashion for women including corsets, shirts and gowns.

The Boundary Boutique - Alternative store featuring goth, punk, and fetish designs using PVC, leather and stainless steel. Includes corsets, dresses, cuffs and collars.

Buried Alive Clothing Company - Custom designs inspired by the Gothic and Lolita fashion of Japan.

Clothing Whore - Dresses, cloaks, ritual robes and corsets.

Crimson Empress Clothing - Offers tops, bottoms, skirts, dresses, and accessories.

Cruella - Original designs, lots of batwing scallops, drapey sleeves, and velvet.

Cryoflesh - Offers apparel, shoes, wallets, bags and rubber care products.

Dare Gothic Clothing - Gothic, wiccan and alternative clothing and accessories, including corsets, shoes and boots. Also carry large selection of plus size clothing.

The Dark Angel - Offers coats, cloaks, leggings, and skirts.

Darkdoll Clothing - Includes gothic, industrial and punk styled clothing, shoes and accessories.

Darkside Clothing - Large range of t-shirts, mesh shirts, net tops, angel arm tops, raglan-baseball tops, and velvet hoodies.

Delirium Clothing - Offers fashion for men and women, accessories and hair products.

Desire Inc - Velvets, PVC, coats, and dresses.

Drac in a Box - Fashion for men, women and children. Boots, jewelry, and gifts.

Dragon's Blood Creations - Handmade dresses, gowns, and corsets, lots of custom work.

Emily Rishea Designs - A gothic and fetish clothing designer, featuring a small selection of staple items with some unique styling at reasonable prices.

Enigma Fashions - Offers bridal, evening and mens-wear.

Faernyn's Grove - Offers a selection of corsets, dresses, and accessories.

FairyGothMother - Offers dresses, separates, accessories, mens-wear, and lingerie.

Fierce Couture - Offers designs in fabric and latex. Pictures of ready-to wear garments and custom pieces.

Futurstate - Pure Fashion Destruction, devoted to presenting hyper dark futurist club wear.

Gallery Serpentine - Corsets and victorian-styled skirts.

Gothic Costumes - Costumes and clubwear

Gothic Haven - Cyber wear and corsets in PVC, leather, velvet and lace.

Gothic Lace - Ladies accessories with a Victorian flavor, includes gloves, shawls, and stockings.

Gothic Styles - Wide selection of quality leather and PVC clothing.

GothShop - Offers clothing for men and women, and also a consignment section.

Grave Wear - Gowns, size chart, order form and contact information.

GreenBee Clothing - Custom-made corsets, 'wearable-art' tops and a wide range of clothing.

Heavy Red - Underworld of gothic noir. Darkwave Lady Death's clothing: corsets, dresses, t-shirts, hats, gloves, lunch boxes.

Heebeejeebees - Offers corsets, men's-wear, t-shirts, and lingerie.

Hot Topic - Gothic and alternative music related apparel and accessories.

Inkubus Haberdashery - Large selection of clothing.

Ipso Facto - Vampiric and sinister fashion for men and women.

Jeannie Nitro - Velvet capes, dresses, coats, pillows, and purses.

Kambriel - Capes, gowns, blouses, and skirts.

Kate's Clothing - United Kingdom business offering alternative, gothic, punk, latex and PVC clothing. Plus sizes and wholesale available.

Lady Maeve's Closet - Specializing in corsetry and fine handmade clothing, inspired by the past, present, and future.

Le Gothiq Boutique - Offers shoes, boots, fetish wear, lingerie and accessories.

Lil She Creatures - T-shirts and thong underwear with the 'lil she creature' logos.

Lost4dreams - Strait jackets, Hellraiser coats, Cyber wear, Trench coats, and custom sizing.

Madame le Goth - A wide selection of handmade clothing. Based in the UK.

Magic Velvets - Romantic, gothic capes with hoods of reproduction 1800s style for women or men.

Metamorphose - Gothic and Lolita fashion from Japan.

The Mission Boutique - Offers a large number of brand names of attire for both men and women. Fashion show videos also available.

Moody Dragons - Gothic and medieval clothing.

Moonmaiden Gothic Clothing - Offers medieval gowns, wiccan robes, skirts, batty tops and fishtail designs.

My Lords and Ladies - Specializing in gothic, medieval and renaissance fashions for men and women. Includes custom designs and full bridal salon.

Mystic Tor - Offers gothic, renaissance, and medieval inspired clothing.

Nightshade Corsets and Clothing - Provides a variety of different designs. Fabric samples and sizing chart.

NY Apparel - Offers vinyl, gothic, and alternative clothes, studded belts, chokers, and lingerie.

Omen - Alternative mens and womens gothic, tribal, bondage, cyber and PVC clothing.

Phaze Clothing - Clothing in sexy, naughty and dramatic styles for both men and women.

Pixiefashions - Gothic, Punk & Lolita inspired original clothing and accessories. Specializing in alternative hair accessories and pvc clothing.

Plastik Wrap - Offers post-rave fashions for the new millennia.

PVC Leather - Leather and PVC party dresses, costumes, lingerie, and swim wear.

Queen of Goth - Exclusive designs handmade to measure.

Red Ankh Clothing - Independent designer and manufacturer of gothic, industrial, cyber, punk clothing with retro and vintage influences.

The Reivyn's Nest - Specializes in airbrushed and hand-painted clothing, purses, and shoes with skull, flame, tattoo, and flash motifs.

Religious Sex - Offers a wide range of gothic and fetish attire.

Rev. J. Belick Novelties - Apparel, stickers, candles and novelties.

Rose and Thorn - Unique and affordable Gothic, Fetish, Renaissance style garments, including plus sizes.

Rose Mortem - Designing dark, romantic clothing for women.

Secret Oktober - Small selection of velvet clothes.

Shadow Fae - Offers alternative custom-sized clothing and accessories for men and women. Includes plus sizes.

Siren - Variety of clothing for men and women, shoes, t-shirts, corsets, coats, and accessories. Contact information, FAQ, and links.

Sister Vermillion - Unique gothic clothing made to measure, including steel-boned corsets, waist cinchers, skirts, treasure cases, and other Victoriana.

Spooky Boutique - Offers fashion-wear for men and women, purses, cosmetics, shoes and hair-dye.

Starkers - Offers a variety of made-to-measure designs. Also offers hats, skirts and dresses.

The Stranger - Offers original high-end gothic and dark cyber clothing.

Subcultural - Goth, and emo punk clothing for girls.

Synth-Tec - Cyber gothic clothing and accessories. Featuring clothing by tripp nyc, lip-service, dogpile, UFO, kikwear.

Tentacle - Handmade latex clothing, featuring satin corsetry.

Tripp NYC - Specializing in goth, punk, industrial, new wave, and club fashion.

Ultra Vixen - Gothic, Retro, and Alternative clothing. Shoes, boots, jewellery and housewares. Original Vince Ray Ultra Vixen and Voodoo Rockers designs.

Underbelly - Gothic garb that works for day or evening for men and women, with a specialised line for plus-sizes.

Underground Aristocracy - Custom Corsets

Vampire Technology - Extreme fashions, fetish, gothic, latex, rubber and vinyl.

VampireWear - Specializing in hand made blood vial fang necklaces and earrings. Designs feature vampire bites embroidered on the neck of every shirt.

Vicious Venus - High end corsets and jewelry

Void Alternative Clothing - Velvet, PVC, leather, rubber, and lace clothing for men and women.

Woe Is Me - Fashion for women including lingerie, dresses, t-shirts and panty sets.

WolfKitten Clothing - Carries an array of unique clothing items for men and women as well as Manic Panic cosmetics and latex necklaces by ArtWith Designs.

XtraX - Fashion for the gothic, wave and dark-metal generation. Thousands of items.

Zuss Fashion Design - Bicycle innertubes, recycled into eye-catching one-of-a-kind 'hot couture'.

Gothic Jewelry and Makeup

Axel Jewelry - Jewelry in silver, rhodium, gothic, heavy metal.

Bizarre Moon - Offers pendants, chokers and lighter cases.

DarkePoison - Custom crafted jewelry inspired by gothic culture, vampires, and pagan worship.

The Goth Rosary - Offering made to order custom rosaries.

Gothic Style - Offers pendants, earrings and bracelets. Pictures and product information.

Marche' Noir - Sterling silver rings and pendants, and stainless steel piercing jewelry.

Mordaunte's Coffin Shaped Gems and Jewelry - Custom and ready-made items. Information and pictures.

Tart Blossom Accessories - Specializing in anime hair; specifically switches, falls and wigs.

Urban Decay - Fabulous line of gothic makeup.

Vampire Cosmetics - Features eyeshadows, dusts, liners, lipsticks, and nail polish.

Gothic Art

Arkham - 3D and 2D work for sale from a selection of artists. Specialising in areas related to H.P.Lovecraft, Gothic imagery and Dark Fantasy.

Black Annis - Handmade art dolls. Picture and pricing information.

Dead Elf Music - Specializes in Gothic, industrial, and electro CDs and vinyl. Also links to band official and unofficial homepages and notes where those pages offer audio files.

Monolith Graphics - Gothic fantasy art and merchandise by Joseph Vargo. Posters, T-shirts, postcards, calendars, fiction: "Tales From The Dark Tower" and music by Midnight Syndicate.

Pagan's Cave - Gargoyles, planters and statues. Pictures and product information.

Pretty Pale Galleries - Offing fine art photography, both black and white and hand colored, with a Gothic theme.

Star Craving Creations - Wall plaques. Product information and pictures.

Gothic fashion

alt.gothic.fashion.faq   - The FAQ for the alt.gothic.fashion newsgroup. Includes tips on makeup, fashion, DIY gothic clothing, as well as a mighty directory of mail-order and online stores for gothic jewelry, clothing, shoes and boots, makeup, and home decor.

Batgear Beyond - Gothic fashion and clothing. Links to online stores, in categories.

Dark by Design - Hand made gothic clothing fashions by Crystal Elliott. Includes photographs and resume.

Dark Wyccan's Guide to Gothic Nail Care - For anyone who wants to maintain long nails; especially goths, who are often opting for a certain look that would make a nail care professional scream. (Such as very long and/or sharp nails - especially on men.) Contains a compilation of nail care techniques and design tips.

Darklady's Gothic Mall - Links to gothic clothing and accessories.

GawthPallor - Don't resemble the moon or cold marble, but want to? A compilation of paling recipes, freckle and tan removal mixtures, and hints on keeping it that way.

GlitterGoth 101 - Offers goth/glam/new-wave makeup tips and related links.

Gothic Fashion Sewing - DIY gothic fashions. Patterns, tips, and links.

Grey Sterling's Self-Service Mortuary - Tips for makeup application, plus links to online shops that carry pale makeup, black lipstick, and dark clothing.

Heliophobe - A not-so-sexual fetish magazine exclusively devoted to pale-skinned women. Each issue contains how-to advice on avoiding sunlight, beauty tips on accentuating paleness, and notices honoring albinism. Also, we print fiction, comics, and the photos of readers.

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.

This material is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Gothic fashion.

Some Gothic listings from the ODP