Am I a Goth?

Am I goth? It is a question that many of us, from Baby Goths to Elder Goths ask. Goth is both a state of being and classification of personal style. Over the years, I’ve learned that fashion styles may come and go, but personal style, your “art of display” is everlasting, regardless of the shifting fads sweeping through. It’s your creative adaptation of the underlying sea of current trends that shows that you are both confident and caring about your gothic self.

Am I goth? It all starts with your imagination. The art of display is a creative expression that allows others to see the “real” you. And by expressing your uniqueness through your self-image, this enables you to attract like-minded people into your life. Individuality is the gothic subversion to the mainstream convention on how one must look. Therefore, I have found that most Goths are very accepting of the diversity of clothing styles and body types. Unlike mainstream culture, which emphasizes a youthfully thin figure for women or a muscular body type for men, Goth celebrates the beauty of the human form in all shapes, sizes and ages. This helps to debunk the disempowering belief that “my body is not sexy enough because…” which may come from the feelings of unworthiness perpetuated by mainstream media. Instead, gothic subculture enables you to express yourself attractively in its many variations.

Am I goth? As Gothic style rejects popular values, emphasis is on freedom of expression and challenging taboos. One of the most striking features of Goth is that both men and women may wear items that are typically relegated to women in modern culture such as fishnet, PVC, lace, velvet and even corsets and skirts. Menswear in mainstream culture and what is allowable to be worn in the workforce is limited to shirts, pants and suits, usually within conservative colors. Gothic attire enables men to accept of their feminine essence as all humans, whether male or female contain both the yin (feminine) and yang (masculine) energies within us.

Even though there are variations, there are definitive and unifying elements within Goth style – such as rejecting of popular values, emphasis is on freedom of expression, and challenging taboos such as black eye liner on men in Western culture, whereas lining the eyes with kohl was a practice in ancient Egypt and in oriental cultures for both men and women as the eyes are the windows of the soul.

Am I goth? Finally, this can only be answered ultimate by how you feel about being goth. I have found that goth is a state of mind that appreciates the darkness of life or the shadow self. This came about after realizing that I needed to know my inner darkness as much as my inner light to be goth. Goth is about facing our deepest fears since running away from them will only make them stronger. What you resist will persist. Light exists because darkness coexists. Eureka is the sudden clarity emerging from the depths of chaos and the midst of darkness.

The Origins of Gothic Fashion

The origins of the Gothic subculture, unfortunately cannot be explained in a simple statement. Not only do the origins stream from music, the lifestyle, and a certain sensibility. While many may not think of it, the word “Gothic” can be used in three separate ways. Firstly, it tends to describe a building such as a cathedral, that has a Gothic style of architecture that can be distinguished by the tall pillars, vaulted ceilings, and pointed arches. The Gothic term is also used to describe stories, which mysterious things tend to happen in dark places such as a castles ruins, or a style of printing used to write in print.

In the old world, the term Gothic was used from the Renaissance to signify the art styles of the middle ages. It was called this, after a German tribe of Goths who had once invaded Italy and shattered the roman empire. However, in the fifteenth century, man had hoped to revive the classic age, as the inkling of re-birthing the renaissance. This intervening period was called the middle age, which is still another means of a not so endearing form to refer to it. The Italians blamed the Goths for this destruction of the Roman empire, thus calling the art of this period Gothic.

While this in and of itself, didn’t spawn the Gothic subculture. However it did help to inspire the originality. However, the Gothic term was spawned out of negative connotations, and not quite as positive as this day and age. During the romantic movement, is when fashion became the key in the goth culture. In the eighteen hundreds, people romanticized the Gothic culture, creative a revival of Gothic, and medieval things within fashion.

Generally, the romantics as they were referred to, wanted to escape the concrete historical situation. They used several ways to achieve this, such using the dark, strange, and bizarre symbols and themes. Which were tinged with the resemblance of the Gothic artwork. Most of these trend followers, exhibited a sexual obsession, by allowing it to trickle down into romantic literature. Some of the books of this period, containing an important role of femme fatales, which took in several sinful agonies within delight.

These darker novels have helped to spawn the unweilding fascination with the undead. Most of the literature existing of a complex mix of terror, horror, mysteries, and eroticism. The typical characters, not only being femme fatales, but vampires, and were beasts as well. Some examples of this work, would be Edgar Allan Poe, and Bram Stoker. Stoker, however did have a rather vague picture of the vampire, which emerged from the nineteenth century literature, and earlier, of who’s vampiric lifestyle assumed a mythic status in pop culture. This of course, has helped to inspire not only modern day vampiric tales, but the fashion of the Gothic subculture.

Applying Gothic Makeup for a Pale Complexion

If you already have a pale complexion, choosing and applying goth makeup is a snap. Enhance your pale complexion with carefully chosen colors and impeccable makeup application to achieve an enviable, aesthetically-pleasing goth look that others can’t help but try to imitate.

Pick a foundation one or two colors color lighter than your natural skin tone. Check labels for a high pigment concentration. Consider mixing in a few drops of your regular foundation in with the lighter one. The result will be a dramatically paler version of your natural skin tone.

Dip your foundation brush into the foundation and apply it evenly on your skin. Blend the makeup all the way down to your neck to avoid a mask-like appearance.

Set your liquid foundation with translucent, loose powder. Use a kabuki brush to apply the powder.

Apply three more layers of foundation and powder if you plan on taking pictures or being under lots of lights. The extra layers help your makeup stay in place and discourage fading and smearing.

Line your eyes with liquid eyeliner. Gray and dark brown eyeliners compliment light eyes, while black works for darker eyes.

Decide whether you want to use eye shadow or not. The right eye shadow can enhance your look by giving you smoky, dramatic eyes. Burgundy, dark grey and brown provide just the right type of contrast against pale skin for Gothic eyes.

Use a lip brush to apply your lip color. Pass up black in favor of experimenting with interesting shades of red, purple or even brown. These colors compliment the Gothic look without seeming stereotypical. Use a lip liner that is a darker shade of your lip color to line your lips.

# Be impeccable when applying your makeup. Sloppy makeup detracts from the Gothic style.
# Be original with your makeup.
# Brush your face with a bit of baby powder if you don’t want to go through the trouble of applying layers of foundation.
# Pay special attention to your eye makeup, but avoid using the eyeliner to draw cliché shapes.