Styles
Photo by Chris Moorhouse, Evening Standard, Getty Images.
Photo by Erica Echenberg, Redferns, Getty Images.
Fundamentals
Subcultures
119
Goth Gothic literature, whose deep roots reach back to the eighteenth century, evokes traditions of death and mourning, the mystical, supernatural, and spiritual. The dark foreboding beauty of the goth aesthetic, originating in 1980s Britain with goth rock, favors jet black hair, porcelain skin, stylized make-up, and layers of black clothing, ornamented with memento mori jewelry or symbols of the occult and the macabre. Erotic elements of BDSM culture and images from early horror films have played parts in the look as well. Prevalent worldwide, goth tribes have translated old-school goth style into numerous subgenres: romantic, cyber, fetish, Victorian, medieval, metalhead, deathrocker, emo, vampire, tribal, and faerie.
e
Right Goth girl, 1980 • Below Steampunk enthusiasts, Leipzig, 2011
Steampunk, originating in the late 1980s, fuses science fiction and fantasy with the trappings and contraptions of the Industrial Age. Inspired in part by films from the 1950s and 1960s like The Time Machine, the aesthetic reimagines modern technology through the forms of gears, levers, pulleys, and other mechanical components commonplace in an era of steam power. Steampunk style is built on the period fashions of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Women wear gowns, corsets, petticoats, bustles, and parasols, while men don overcoats, suits, vests, starched collars, spats, pocket watches, and fobs. The look also integrates fantasy accessories like ray guns. Steampunk also splinters off into interpretations: literary, Victorian, American West, Uchronia (alternate time world), fantasy, and horror.
Photo by Carsten Koall, Getty Images.
Photo by James Coldrey, Getty Images.
Steampunk
001-416_29436.indd 119 001-416_29436.indd 119
(Text) (Ray)
(Fogra 39)Job:10-29436 Title:RP-Fashion Design Referenced #175 Dtp:225 Page:119
10/26/12 1:35 PM 10/26/12 1:14 PM