’Tis a tale as old as time:girl rejects the forced pink plasticity that retailers foist on her,and finds an aesthetic that better suits her sarcastic personality. The 1980s might not have had Pinterest,but they did have Cockburn Street,an Edinburgh mecca for all things black,leather,lace,studded and fishnet. As my school forbade dyed black hair,I was what those more devoted to the cause disparagingly called a “Saturday Goth”,whose dalliances with the dark side were strictly confined to weekends. On Friday and Saturday nights,I’d give it my all,altering black thrift shop clothes,adding lace panels and painting my face with blue,pink and violet make-up sold by Miss Selfridge and Barry M. The look:40 per cent Siouxsie Sioux,30 per cent Susanna Hoffs from The Bangles,30 per cent pop duo Strawberry Switchblade. Thank God social media was yet to be invented.
Rare is the teen who doesn’t find his or herself by first trying on the identities of other people. In this,fashion is an essential tool. Goth fashion,in particular,is a kind of semaphore that says ‘I’m different’:it relies on black,and in colour psychology,black is symbolic of mystery,sadness and anger. But don’t mistake it for rebellion,says behavioural psychologist Dr Carolyn Mair,author ofThe Psychology of Fashion.
“In a sense,it’s the opposite,because it’s serious and considered. Wednesday is so-named because ‘Wednesday’s child is full of woe’,and goth fashion is about expressing the darker side of one’s own emotions and understanding the power of these.”
Mair believes the gothic trend is particularly appealing to Gen Z because of the world they find themselves inheriting. “We might be in the middle of the festive season,but politically and economically,there’s still a lot to feel gloomy about.
“Black clothing is typically representative of seriousness and mourning. In emotional terms,it’s the opposite of ‘dopamine dressing’,where people wear bright colours to boost their mood.”
Whatever your views of goth fashion,it’s pretty cool that a character who made her debut in 1938,in a New Yorker cartoon,is still proving popular more than 80 years later. Although for how much longer is unclear. “They think they’re such edgelords,but they’re still wearing the same stuff as each other,” says 16-year-old Eleanor,whose taste runs more to streetwear than studs. “They’re still conforming.”
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With nearly 110 million TikTok users having already searched for Wednesday’s beauty look,and MAC’s Nightmoth lip liner (the shade used on Ortega’s lips) sold out across the globe,Eleanor has a point. More likely,the goth trend will mutate rather than die. Dark academia,a hybrid of goth and preppy,has been trending on social media all year,as has indie sleaze,whose 1990s tropes also have an element of goth to them. Whichever trend Gen Z moves on to next,there will always be a place for goth in women’s wardrobes:you only have to look at the continued success of The Vampire’s Wife,or Valentino’s Rockstud range for confirmation of that.
As for the black-haired teen scowling her way through the carol concert,I couldn’t help but enquire about her as we drove home. “Who was the goth?” I asked my daughter. “Oh,that’s Alannah,” she said,without missing a beat,despite the congregation being hundreds-strong. Pause. “Apparently,she growled at a teacher.” Wednesday would be very proud.
The Telegraph,London
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