The Walking Dead: Gothic Fashion

You may wonder what it is that makes gothic fashion so attractive. Let me tell you what I like about it:

1. It deviates from the average, and is thus noticable.
2. It embraces aesthetic appeal, yet hints at emotional and intellectual depth. Certainly, our inner darkness is blatantly alluded to.
3. It takes a normally ugly and feared aspect of human existence, death, and strives to find beauty in its symbolism.
4. It is upfront about the horror and attraction all of us have for one another: sexually, romantically, and intellectually.
5. Most importantly, it allows men to wear makeup, painted nails, outrageous hairdos, and frilly shirts. (Why should women have all the fun?)

All in all, the following points also are about as close as I can get to describing "the look". Gothic fashion is a wide spectrum. You will see black jeans and T-shirts or sweaters. You will see silver jewelry and velvet dresses. You will see leather, chains, handcuffs, and PVC. You will see spiky hair, eyeliner, and dark lipstick on both men and women. They are all designed to transmit the beautiful, dark, frightening, and appealing gothic mood to your psyche via visual stimulus. Dress yourself up with that in mind and you'll fit in fine at your local goth club. (OK, you might also want to learn the "taffy-pulling dance", but that will be in another section…)

Vamped up for Bauhaus

This is a picture of some of my friends and I on the night of the 1998 Bauhaus concert in Vancouver, and features some articles of gothic attire.