As the Goth turns..

[Brian J. Parker]

On Thu, Nov 6, 2008 at 9:51 AM, gwen <gwenix at gmail.com> wrote:
> So, with Ceremony closing down, I've started to reflect on how goth
> has been changing for a while.  I still remember in my early days as a
> gothling (babybat), people were still very much darker, dressing in
> different times, costuming much more than we've seen in the past
> decade.
[SNIP]
>   ..in the 1980s, we were worried about something that would affect us.
>
>   That would kill us.
>
>   At any time.
[SNIP]
> And I realized that is what probably really inspired the original
> goths when they sprung out of punk, thus the scene was much darker for
> it.

Interesting, and something I thought about to.  As I see it, goth has
always been influenced by mainstream fashion (sometimes a few years
behind), whether we want to admit it or not.  The 80's goth look
borrowed as heavily from New Romantic as punk; big hair, lots of
makeup, and home-altered outfits were hardly exclusive to goths.  In
the 90's, after grunge brought casual dress to the stodgiest
corporations, I saw more goths in black-jeans-and-black-tee outfits.
Now I think we're reacting to the return of ostentation last seen in
70's disco.

Of course, the prefab Hot Topic outfits are also just a sign of who is
wearing them.  Younger people are usually more daring, but less
creative (often because they lack resources), in their dress.

Other aspects of culture influence us: for example, the relative
popularity of club culture (on a serious downswing for about a decade)
and live music culture (I think due for a comeback as recorded music
is increasingly considered valueless).

I could be dead wrong, but it's interesting to think about.