If I Can’t Be My Own Goth, I Don’t Want To Be Anyones

This is a post in the series of The Goth Challenge altered by Darkstalker Girl from a former Lolita Challenge. Find more information here. This is a combination of challenge seven and eight – even though I barely answered the questions.

In some peoples eyes I don’t look like a Goth. Sure, when I’m laying around the house in pastel boxers and one of Coen’s shirts I don’t look like a Goth at all – but the rest of the time I consider my style to be varying degrees of the fashion: dressing down for interviews and family reunions, over the top when I feel like being bothered and most of the time a mixture of the two.

Photo by Gothopotam on Flickr

The general public and media have a tenancy to personify Goths and all of Goth culture as a over-the-top, knee-high boots wearing and corset training person. Of course, this is far from true with the ridiculous amount of sub-styles including romantic, Trad, technically Deathrock (click here to read my article on Why Deathrock ISN’T (or wasn’t) a sub-genre of Goth) and mixtures of sub-styles and other subcultures entirely.

But it’s very evident that Goths generalise Goth fashion just as much as the media does – you wouldn’t think it was possible but it’s true. Many other bloggers have written about the ‘elitist goth’ but like many topics this isn’t as clear cut an issue as some make it out to be. 

Some claim you can’t be a Goth because of your style preferences. For instance, you don’t often see me walking around with teased hair or wearing corsets. This limits the subculture to the greatest extent and prevents members from enjoying aesthetics they adore – which is what modern Goth Subculture is suppose to be all about! 

Screw them! – is my mantra, I will dress however I damn well please.

Do you dress like the Gothiest Goth that ever Gothed? Or do you like to mix other styles in with your own?

Outfit Post: Elizabethan Inspired Coat Transformation – With A Touch of Deathrock

I’m in love with this outfit and I think this is my best outfit yet. I was so happy to wake up to pouring rain and concerning winds (I was very worried about the cats and my partner getting to work) but I was so happy to get a chance to wear this coat that I tailored, for the first time. You would probably remember this coat from it’s review here and another outfit post I did with it here (oh god, it’s embarrassing looking back on). I really wanted to go for an elegant feel today. I’m lucky that it was so cold considering it’s summer here!

Cutting this coat up was so frightening, considering it’s a two hundred dollar coat that was a gift from my partner. Of course I checked with him first and well, he didn’t even remember buying me it. Even so, I knew I had to do something with it, otherwise it would hang under all my other coats for another year. Buying it was a complete catastrophe but I can finally feel better about it. Damn you Fanplusfriend custom sizing!

I ended up raising the waist line and making it straight rather than pointed as it’s more flattering on my figure. I removed the arms, slimmed them down and removed the puff sleeves, made some alterations (some of the buttons were coming off and the lining parts needed adjustment) and completed remodelled the cuffs (though they aren’t what I wanted them to be).

Don’t mind the creme on my nose, it’s Bepanthen. (Yes, I’m STILL unhappily fighting infection).

 My hair actually has curled extensions in it. It’s not actually completed in this photos and looks a tad messy. Curled extensions are so useful when you don’t want to use heat on your hair or any product and generally it’s very fast – all I do is clip them in and clip some layers back so the curls peak out.

I had to take this rainy chance to get my favourite parasol/umbrella out, besides I was looking for elegance today!

Outfit:

Coat: Fanplusfriend originally, but remodelled and tailored by myself.
Socks: Cotton On. It’s so cold I have to wear crochet socks over my stockings!
Stockings: Anonymous.
Blouse: Secondhand.
Skirt: EBay. It’s my tulle cake skirt, layered underneath so you can’t really see it but it puffs the coat out nicely.
Boots: Dr. Marten.
Necklace: EBay. It’s an octopus.
Earrings: You can’t really see them but they’re my bird skulls from EBay.
Parasol: Alice and The Pirates (bought at Supanova)
Gloves: Anonymous.
Hair extensions: EBay and yes, they actually are human hair. I made sure to test them before curling them myself..

Best wishes,
– SaryWalrus

Why Deathrock ISN’T (or wasn’t) a Sub-Genre of Goth

Link

Even a lot of experienced people have made this mistake but I’d like to make the point that Deathrock is NOT a sub-genre of Goth (or at least it hasn’t always been) and it most certainly is not an interchangeable name of Goth Rock. Deathrock and many Deathrockers would suggest that they were a completely separate movement up until a point where a majority of subcultures joined in unison.

As you may already know though it is debated heavily (remembering that debating Goth Rock is not the point of this article) Goth rock progressed from Post-Punk which progressed from Punk in the late seventies in the UK. Such Post-Punk bands include Sioxsious and the Banshees, The Damned and Bauhaus.

Deathrock wasn’t developed from Goth-Rock or Post-Punk but instead developed parallel to it. It developed from the late seventies Punk movement into such bands as Kommunity FK, Christian Death and 45 Grave “known for prominent bass lines, eerie guitar, and dissonant vocals(1)” . While Post-Punk progressed majorly in the UK, Deathrock developed in the US. Primarily in the LA scene.

It was only later (a major example being The Batcave Club) that the two genres combined in events. That’s for obvious reasons as Goth, Deathrock and to some extent Post-Punk (which includes a plethora of genres) didn’t hold a broad enough audience on their own to bring in enough money for said clubs to profit. It’s only natural that they combine like genre’s for broader audiences. Not to mention that these genre’s eventually started to take inspiration from each other as all musicians do.

 Though there is a very large debate that just seems to go back and forth on whether Deathrock was inspired by Goth-Rock and actually started in the early eighties rather than late seventies. I don’t think it really matters. The point is that at one time they were separate genre’s and all genre’s are inspired by other genre’s which doesn’t necessarily mean that they are a brand from that genre. But don’t take my word for it and read up on the controversy. I always suggest making your own opinion on the matter and would love to hear it.

Best wishes,
-Sary Walrus

Other references:
A Brief History of Deathrock – Part 1
Part 2 – Part 3.
 And interesting article on the cross over between Horror Punk, Death Rock and Goth Rock (check the comments! Here.
Then there’s the always exciting Wikipedia here. 
For an example of the annoying arguments on the topic view here. It’s the Wikipedia ‘Talk Page’ archive on the topic where the contributors of the page, well, argue about it.

For the record this was only in discussion of the stylistic music associated with each movement rather than the other contributing factors such as fashion and their interchangeable and/or modern development.

Outfit Post: Hell Bunny – Eye Balls – Death-Hawk

Recently I bought this Hell Bunny dress, called the Perry dress. I’ve been in love with it for probably more than six months and now its mine! I bought it as a study present for working hard and hopefully do well in my trial HSC exams. Though things are not looking good as I think I’m about to fall quite sick – my mum’s infected me with he flu. I just have terrible luck.

Outfit:

Dress: Hell Bunny (From Trash Monkey’s online store.)
Stockings: No idea.
Fishnets: No idea.
Headband: Supanova.
Cardigan: Thrifted.
Boots: Dr. Martens.

I really wanted to tease my hair up that day and practice some big death-hawk hybrid. I found that I actually missed some of my lower hair and it wasn’t as huge as I would have liked but it lasted all day like this. Then again I don’t think I’ll be doing my hair like this very often because it’s a complete bitch to get out. Forty-five minutes of untangling in the shower. And that’s after I put a leave in conditioner in for another forty-five minutes.

The dress is pretty nice, it’s a little bigger than I expected. Apparently I’ve lost two inches around my waist. Plus, I’m thinking of changing the straps – I knew when I bought the dress that halter-necks just don’t agree with me.

I think I might go take a nap now and attempt to ward off this sickness I can feel coming on. Bleh, wish me luck.
Best wishes,
-SaryWalrus

Poll of the Week: Trad-Goth.

Link – A young Dave Vanian, lead singer of The Damned and my newest celebrity crush.

Recently I was reading a series of articles on The History of Deathrock, which you can find here, here and here, plus some articles on Post-Punk which brought up a question. Did Trad-Goth music (in which I mean Post-Punk/Positive Punk and earlier Goth Rock) die in the late eighties to the rise of electronic bands? Personally I would say no, I listen to and love this style of music and am always trying to expand my knowledge of it but there are a lot of younger (which is strange because I’m only eighteen) alternative people that don’t even understand the term post-punk yet are trying to make video’s and the like on Goth Rock and other such genres.

This is becoming a bit of a rant so I’ll cut to the chase: Do you enjoy Trad-Goth/Post-Punk/Early Goth Bands?

• Yes.
• No.
• What is that?

Iif you believe there should be another option in the post post below why and if you have an opinion on whether Trad-Goth is dead I would love to hear your opinion.

DeathRock Maquillage Practice

Okay, I’m usually one to strongly dislike excuses and think them unnecessary but I suppose sometimes they are the truth. I know I haven’t posted in a week or two and that is because of being sick, exams/assessment and emotional and health problems. After Supanova I attempted to continue my usual schedule of waking up at eight every morning. It was fine until school on Monday when I woke up and my head would not stop spinning. I walked into thinks as I went about my morning hoping it would wear off but eventually I had to admit to myself that I needed to sleep.

Please skip this section unless you wish to read me rant on about my own emotional problems.

Every-night for the past few weeks I’ve spent wallowing around in my own misery. There comes a point in the year when I just CAN’T take interacting with people any-more. As I’m an over thinker I think over and over every single little thing that I say or do in relation to other people and how they may have perceived me (yes I can be that insecure. I’m far from perfect!). This continues to the point of terrible emotional breakdowns, and literally me screaming at my own brain to just BE QUIET. It’s extremely frustrating.

…Enough personal talk. It’s rather extremely awkward for me.

 I have no idea what inspired this but I have been obsessed with Deathrock fashion for sometime now. I think it’s the least likely fashion to fit my body-type and generally highly feminine everything (not that deathrockers can’t be feminine.)

Well, I’m sick of attempting to explain this obvious thing. English assessments have forced me to now be defunct at explanations.

I love making this grrrrrr-face! :3

Bonus picture of me attempting to style my awesome new bone clip. This post is filled with amateur everything!

I’m aware this is overly saturated and it was in no way intentional.

Best wishes,
-Sary

Outfit Post: Little Lolita dress with a lot of Deathrock.

All photo’s are a lot larger, so just right click open in new tab to see them at full (horribly detailed) size.

Recently I ordered a Bodyline dress as a test run to see whether it would suit me and sizes and such. I have to say, I love it! Mostly because it’s my first actual lolita dress! I know that this outfit isn’t very ‘lolita‘. I was trying to do a cross between lolita and Death-rock, another of my current loves (music wise mostly).

Bow: It was originally the giant detachable bow for the bodice but was way too large so I made it into a head-bow. I still need to fix it a bit. I just need a simple headband instead of using ribbon to tie it.
Dress: Bodyline.
Boots: Demonia, as usual.
Blouse: Second-hand.
Cameo: Present from Kitty of Bloggery of a GothCat.
Stockings x3: Fishnets and others from kmert.
Fishnet glove: EBay.
Cardigan: Second-hand.

I actually teased my hair up a lot more than it seems.

My make up isn’t anything special, just school make up.

It was actually pouring with rain outside, it has for the last two days, yay! The umbrella is my mums and an adorable lilac but my camera doesn’t show purple tones very well at all.

What do you think? Success or mess?
Best wishes,
-Sary

P.S. I know I haven’t been consistent with posting at all lately but it’s currently half yearly exams (so expect a lot of school posts) and I’m busy as hell! I still love you guys, don’t forget that! In conjunction with that it’s also summer here and at a steady 95% humidity.