Tips For Dressing Alternatively at School

As a full time Goth that has been as such throughout school this is something I have LOTS of experience with, especially since in Australian schools (obviously not exclusively) it’s almost always uniform only. Considering my uniform, until this year of being a senior, was yellow and brown, may I repeat yellow and brown, you could consider me an expert.

Just as a warning, I went to a public school. Most private school’s would have more strict rules, which means some of this might not apply to you.

You have no idea how long it took me to find the name of this film after forgetting it. FYI it’s A Haunting Hour – Source

• If you’re as unlucky as me with your school colours being terrible to start with I would focus on black and silver everything. You wont want to clash with red or blue but if you do add colour, take a look at the colour wheel first so you don’t end up clashing. For instance if your uniform is part purple, adding black and purple stockings wouldn’t be terrible.
• Learn your school rules and stick to them. Then bend them slowly and slowly. My teachers would always be on my case while I wore striped stockings, until they gave up but that’s not what we’re aiming for! Teachers almost always can’t say anything about ripped plain stockings as long as they aren’t overboard but to start try sticking to plain black stockings or socks. If you have a rule about wearing only white socks, it’s not the end of the world. They can be delightfully gothy if you work in enough ghostly style.
• Bracelets, studs and accessories. Of course you’ll want to save those spiked collars for the weekend, most of the time. My school has rules that all spiked objects must be confiscated so beware! Ear studs are generally great as most schools don’t allow elaborate piercing jewellery. Try to stick to simple jewellery though and nothing too over the top. You wouldn’t want to have your dangly earring’s dripping with Hydrochloric Acid, would you?
• It’s almost never appropriate to wear a corset to school. I would NEVER trust such an expensive piece of clothing with a bunch of teenagers that probably wont understand the amount of money it can cost nor care. Don’t risk it, unless you have money to just throw away. Besides this it’s generally not practical. As an art student I spend a lot of time drilling and sawing, which would be dangerous in a corset.
• Take this time to experiment with your hair. What’s a better time than when you don’t have to worry about discrimination in the work place (or other such place). The rules tend to be reasonably slack and you have your own school full of critics. Not to mention it’s an easy and fun and easy way to add something dark or personal to your style.
• Cosmetics can be a touchy subject. It’s good to remember that something styles as simple as retro winged eye-liner can be just as good as a dark, smokey eye with tons of eye-liner. This is also something you might want to experiment with at school. I’ve only had one moment when my school has told me to wash my make up off and that was when an ex-friend had done it into the messiest, sluttiest horribly done thing you could ever imagine. Trust me, I wanted to wash that shit off my face. Try and stick to something simple and/or classic. Don’t go overboard and as long as it’s well done no one would probably care – so that means lots of practice!
• Personally, when I first started dressing eccentrically at school I was tormented for a while. But after a while a few things happened:
• I became better at dressing eccentrically.
• I learnt my boundaries.
• I was used to the abuse.
• People eventually became used to me. Or became bored.

Best wishes,
-SaryWalrus