Crimes of Fashion
Mistress McCutchan
Undoubtedly, one of the largest elements of the gothic scene is vanity. Some people carry themselves beautifully, and well, face it, you and I both know we’ve seen people guilty of the following “don’t’s”. Before the fashion police come for you, take heed and check out our guide to good taste!
Don’t
Use Halloween makeup to achieve your pale pallor.
Do
Use a shade or two lighter than your natural color or try a touch of lavender foundation to neutralize and pale out your skin (Caucasian, Asian or fairer complexions). Blend, blend, blend at the chin and ears!
Don’t
Use black lip liner with red lipstick. Unless you are in the cast of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, this look instantly says “drag queen”.
Do
Line your lips with a lighter or matching shade then then apply your lipstick. The lip liner keeps your colour from bleeding.
Don’t
Wear anything originally meant to be part of a cheap, pre-packaged Halloween costume (i.e. cheap capes, top hats, gloves, fangs)
Do
Support your local goth fashion designers! Plenty of designers offer really nicely made capes out of nice fabric, not that polyester shit the Halloween costumes are made from. For opera length gloves, you Don’t need to go anywhere special, just hit your local bridal/prom boutique. There should be an assortment of dressy gloves for cheap! Tons of fashion resources are available on the gothfashion link page. I won’t get into the fang wearing thing...
Don’t
Wear the wrong size corset
Do
Determine your corset size by measuring your natural waist size and then subtract four inches. If it’s too small, you will have “back tits” and if it’s too large, it’s not going to Do its job flattering your figure.
Don’t
Create really contrived rips in your punk rock tights or tees, especially when the tights/t-shirt is new. The younger set tends to gravitate to this Do-it-yourself style. Ripped up clothing just makes you look like you’re part of the gutter crowd, so if you’re going to be a class act, just throw them out!
Do
Take the time to properly fix your old favourite clothes. (Old comfy favourite with holes are great!) Lots of dry cleaners offer tailoring services to fix hems, mend rips, etc. fairly inexpensively if you can not sew your own. If you get a teeny tear in your stocking, a quick fix is to put a little clear nail polish on it to keep it from running.
Don’t
Wear too much jewelry.
Do
Pick out one or two nice pieces to wear together. If your neckline/clavicle is exposed, chokers will work nicely. You may have really nice jewelry, but wearing everything together cheapens your look. Too many necklaces are fine for the “Mr. T” look...
Don’t
This sounds like a crazy “Don’t”, but I can not stand seeing guys and gals in g-strings. I Don’t want to see bare bottoms on the folks standing around at the bar. (Fetish nights are a different story, but at your standard goth club, this is an *eeeew*) Some people feel like they have “got it” and want to flaunt it, but good taste, needs to be practised in these cases. Leave something up to the imagination.
Don’t
Wear ill-fitting clothing.
Do
Know your body, love it, and use it the best way you can! Some people (and this is not exclusive to our scene) Don’t seem to know their size and will wear something tight with their gut busting out. Or on the flip side, a skinny person will wear something very baggy that hides their body and makes them look as though they’ve just lost 300 pounds and need to update their wardrobe. I Don’t care what your body type or size is, just use what you’ve got and dress accordingly.
**If you offended by this list, we mean not to offend, but educate the ignorant (or at least provide a chuckle or two, we’re sure some of our points have struck close to home!)
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