Recently I've had a lot of questions from those attracted to the Gothic subculture and enquiring about how on earth they begin the wardrobe building process. This blog began as a ranty blog about pop culture and the world as a whole; and I will get back to that, don't you worry, but I'm very much enjoying showing the other edge of the sword and withdrawing the venom a little in favour of imparting what knowledge I have on these subjects. I began dressing the way I do a long time ago, it has been at least 12 or 13 years and in that time I have gone through phases; to begin with I only wore gothic clothing occasionally and was bullied relentlessly in school because of it, I was a shy and quiet kid so the bullying just made me recoil further in to my shell. After that I only wore it at weekends and would spend my Saturday mornings playing dress up in anything dark in colour I could find and listening to my dads thrash and death metal records simply because it was what appealed to me. I've always enjoyed metal music and whilst it is not a staple of the goth culture, it has managed to become intertwined with it and I enjoy both post-punk and deathrock to the same extent I enjoy metal, diversity is key to a happy and engaged brain guys. When I entered high school shortly after beginning my journey in to gothic culture, I discovered the internet and stumbled upon a glorious myriad of gothic fashion and music, goth metal and 80's music, early 2000's goth as it was at the time and I immediately knew this is what I had been searching for. As a child I had always had an interest in the darker cartoons about bats and ghosts and zombies that were so popular in the early 90's, I was drawn to the more intricate and macabre designs of toys and books and loved to get dressed up in my mothers rich purples, blacks, royal blues and emerald greens, wear all of her Harley Davidson jewellery, dark fringed devoré scarves and the slave bracelets, jangly metal belts and big black boots she wore to rally's with my father (which I would later attend with my family), I felt like a magical performer, a star in my head. Whilst singing in the living room window dressed up in my mothers heavy metal jewellery, I felt like a mysterious witchy angel and I loved every second, I didn't want it to end; now that I am older,it didn't have to.
My beginnings were somewhat unusual in that I was brought up in a family where alternative appearance and culture were the norm, guys with long hair and tattoos were my guests at tea parties with my disney princess tea set, women with big dyed hair head to toe in leather scooped my up in their arms to hug me,say hello and tickled me til I was doubled up laughing. These people who were shunned by society were our friends and family, they still are! They've just aged a little, people have a habit of doing that. I was drawn to the appearance rather than being introduced to it, I didn't know what it was ; I just knew I wanted to look a bit like that. Growing up I didn't have the money or access to buy fancy garments and so my mother and I trawled the local shops and second hand markets to find interesting looking items. Not gonna lie, I picked out some hideous HIDEOUS things but my mother always let me try them out. If I was going to find a style, I was going to find it on my own.
Enter "Goth Capsule Wardrobe". This is the wardrobe I started out with when I went to university, it served it's purpose and allowed me to build around it as and when I could. At the time I was in to the clean lines of trad goth and thankfully this taught me how to bulk out your style without having to bulk out your wardrobe. I feel that by this point in this article you're thinking "For the love of all that is unholy mother get to the fucking point!" and so I shall, for a starter wardrobe I advise obtaining:
T Shirts or Shirts
4 tshirts may seem like a very small amount, but in actuality you will be able to style these four in different ways and people are less likely to notice you wore it last week. Especially if you live in a city, you're most likely not going to be seeing the same person two days in a row. 4 Shirts gives you the option to play around with how you wear them and get in to the groove of your personal taste a lot more before buying more clothing. The same can be done with shirts if you're more in to the romantic or victorian goth styles.
Examples of both mens and women's wear suitable for multiple different occasions:
Skirts and Trousers
A good solid selection of 2-4 skirts or pairs of trousers will get you by, there is wiggle room in each case of course, this is just to build upon. If you're in love with 8 skirts you've found, that's totally fine and a great advantage in future, so long as they go with your top halves. This is just something to base your wardrobe on, so feel free to expand if you find you are more confident and happy once you've found your groove in your capsule wardrobe.
Examples:
(Kilts are great alternatives to trousers or skirts, suitable for both men, women, and agender/nonbinary goths!)
An essential component of any Gothic wardrobe is of course your arsenal of accessories. I leave this relatively free to interpretation but I would suggest looking to history of inspiration; headwear, gloves, parasols, spats, veils, ruffs and collars of all shapes and sizes. Below I will show some examples, it should be known that I consider accessories to be unlimited in terms of the capsule wardrobe. Accessories can change the look of the few outfits you have and enhance the impact of every outfit. Very important to remember about useful accessories such as handbags, belts and sunglasses, you don't want to look amazing then realise you have nowhere to store your phone.
My beginnings were somewhat unusual in that I was brought up in a family where alternative appearance and culture were the norm, guys with long hair and tattoos were my guests at tea parties with my disney princess tea set, women with big dyed hair head to toe in leather scooped my up in their arms to hug me,say hello and tickled me til I was doubled up laughing. These people who were shunned by society were our friends and family, they still are! They've just aged a little, people have a habit of doing that. I was drawn to the appearance rather than being introduced to it, I didn't know what it was ; I just knew I wanted to look a bit like that. Growing up I didn't have the money or access to buy fancy garments and so my mother and I trawled the local shops and second hand markets to find interesting looking items. Not gonna lie, I picked out some hideous HIDEOUS things but my mother always let me try them out. If I was going to find a style, I was going to find it on my own.
Enter "Goth Capsule Wardrobe". This is the wardrobe I started out with when I went to university, it served it's purpose and allowed me to build around it as and when I could. At the time I was in to the clean lines of trad goth and thankfully this taught me how to bulk out your style without having to bulk out your wardrobe. I feel that by this point in this article you're thinking "For the love of all that is unholy mother get to the fucking point!" and so I shall, for a starter wardrobe I advise obtaining:
T Shirts or Shirts
4 tshirts may seem like a very small amount, but in actuality you will be able to style these four in different ways and people are less likely to notice you wore it last week. Especially if you live in a city, you're most likely not going to be seeing the same person two days in a row. 4 Shirts gives you the option to play around with how you wear them and get in to the groove of your personal taste a lot more before buying more clothing. The same can be done with shirts if you're more in to the romantic or victorian goth styles.
Examples of both mens and women's wear suitable for multiple different occasions:
Skirts and Trousers
A good solid selection of 2-4 skirts or pairs of trousers will get you by, there is wiggle room in each case of course, this is just to build upon. If you're in love with 8 skirts you've found, that's totally fine and a great advantage in future, so long as they go with your top halves. This is just something to base your wardrobe on, so feel free to expand if you find you are more confident and happy once you've found your groove in your capsule wardrobe.
Examples:
(Kilts are great alternatives to trousers or skirts, suitable for both men, women, and agender/nonbinary goths!)
Dresses
Dresses can be worn by anyone of any gender, it may be intimidating to some, but a nice ragged dress looks amazing on anyone! If you'd like to try opting for dresses then I'd suggest adding one or two in to your wardrobe to start with. I say this only because dresses limit you a lot more than tops, skirts and trousers do when it comes to stretching the ways you can wear them.
Shoes
It's easy to be enamoured by so many pairs of shoes, I'm guilty of that. I have a collection of boots that barely fits in my apartment these days but yet I still fall in love with shoes and they still come home with me haha. However, when you're building your wardrobe and want to have a good solid base to dress up or give an edge to any outfit; one pair of shoes, one pair of boots. Depending on your style it could be victorian ankle boots, Demonia platforms, New Rock boots, TUK flats or Iron Fist, anything your heart could desire. Now fly my pretties, and find those shoes!
Accessories
An essential component of any Gothic wardrobe is of course your arsenal of accessories. I leave this relatively free to interpretation but I would suggest looking to history of inspiration; headwear, gloves, parasols, spats, veils, ruffs and collars of all shapes and sizes. Below I will show some examples, it should be known that I consider accessories to be unlimited in terms of the capsule wardrobe. Accessories can change the look of the few outfits you have and enhance the impact of every outfit. Very important to remember about useful accessories such as handbags, belts and sunglasses, you don't want to look amazing then realise you have nowhere to store your phone.
Jewellery
I recommend finding a good set of jewellery, for example Alchemy Gothic carries beautiful matching sets in a myriad of styles, to wear with your first outfits. You can expand on this set later, but a good quality bat or cross necklace, and maybe a few rings can make all the difference to your style. Many people think you must wear ten tonnes of jewellery to wear Gothic fashion, that is incorrect, the only things that you should really do are; enjoy yourself, express yourself and listen to the music that started it all, at least once or twice anyway.
~Amaris~
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