Goth Challenge #13, 14 - Ts & DIY

#13: What was your first band T-shirt?
(Continuing the Goth Challenge questions -- follow the tag below to see all.)

No idea what the very first one was, but I've held on to one from 1987 -- it's from the Cure's "Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me" tour, which I saw at the Oakland Coliseum about a month or two after graduating from high school. This T-shirt is almost falling apart, but I've kept it from pure nostalgia.

Ancient Cure T-shirt

#14: What was your best and worst DIY attempts?

Best? Well, I've made a ton of things, full gowns & such, so it's hard to say what's the best. My current faves are jewelry for everyday wear, if we don't count the costumes.

Worst, oi!, there are plenty of disasters that I stopped mid-construction. I learned the hard way that I hate making corsets, they're a royal pain. After making a dozen different styles in different materials, I just stopped, & now I gladly pay others to go thru that hassle for me.

Wearing a spiderweb-print corset made by a friend.

Goth Challenge #11, 12 - Lifestyle & Inspiration

#11: Is goth a lifestyle for you?
(Continuing the Goth Challenge questions -- follow the tag below to see all.)  

Goth is part of my lifestyle. I couldn't say it *is* my lifestyle. My life is made up of many things. I spend many weekends of the year dressing up in historical costumes, pretending to be in a different century. I spend most of my weekdays as a professional writer & editor at a major Internet corporation. Gothic is the major style in which I do both of those things in my life -- my costumes all have a goth edge (whether or not that's historically accurate, hah!), and I'm CorpGoth at work.

#12: What's your gothic inspiration?

Lots of stuff! I especially love Pre-Raphaelite artists, for the combination of romantic medieval imagery through a Victorian lens. As mentioned in the "cliches" question, I also love original gothic literature a la the Bronte Sisters, and I love crumbling cemeteries and churches and old castles. And the things that would go inside them, like candles dripping wax and old leather books and tapestries and such. Romantic old things, that's it.

Goth Challenge #10 - The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

#10: What do you hate and love about the subculture?
(Continuing the Goth Challenge questions -- follow the tag below to see all.) 

Oh dear. Where to start... well, I do get tired of the samey-ness, which is kind of to be expected. Everyone dresses in black, everyone wears corsets & big boots, everyone wears a lot of eyeliner & dark lipstick, everyone listens to the same music & goes to nightclubs, everyone likes skulls & bats, blah blah blah. The cliches can build up & look trite, tired, & old.

It's why I don't want to wear more obviously goth stuff than I do. Corp with a goth flavor, instead of cliche goth trying to squeeze into corporate. I do not want to look like a cartoon character because I'm not one. I'm a real person, I'm an individual, I may like the subculture, but I'm not only made of this one subculture.

What do I love? The aesthetic, which combines modern edgy darkness with a connection to the past. While the music clued me in about the subculture as a kid, it was the fashion, the style, the trappings, all that really drew me in and kept me going throughout the years. I discovered I could goth my whole world, not just a few mix tapes. That's what I find appealing, the beautiful darkness in everyday things.

Goth Challenge #9 - More Music

#9: What genre of music do you dislike?
(Continuing the Goth Challenge questions -- follow the tag below to see all.)  

I can honestly say there isn't an entire broad genre of music I dislike. There are subgenres I don't enjoy and plenty of artists I hate. But when it comes to things like country, rap, jazz, classical, sure, I like a little bit of each of them. There are bubblegum pop songs I dig. I will always karaoke to Patsy Cline's "Crazy." I will jump to the dancefloor if the DJ plays "Baby's Got Back" by Sir Mix-a-Lot.

But I'm not fond of speed metal, industrial, new country, acid jazz, & probably a few other things that I don't know what they're called.

My friends Lisa (left) & Francis (back) & my husband Thomas (front)
playing Renaissance music.

Goth Challenge #8 - Non-Goths

#8: What's your worst and best experience with non-Goths?
(Continuing the Goth Challenge questions -- follow the tag below to see all.)  

Worst -- Haven't been many, but I do recall my grandmother picking on a coffin-shaped necklace I wore during a visit to see her, maybe a dozen years ago. Even tho' I was wearing a white T-shirt and blue-jean cutoff shorts. She zeroed in on the only goth thing on me at the time and criticized it. Sheesh.

Best -- All my friends. Offline, I don't associate with that many people who self-identify as goths. Not on purpose, but "goth" isn't the first or main thing I look for in a potential friend. My friends have no issues with my style, it's just part of me that they love because they're my friends. That's why we're, y'know, friends!

My pretty pretty princess, non-goth, BFFs.

Goth Challenge #5, #6, & #7 - Music Matters

(Continuing the Goth Challenge questions -- follow the tag below to see all.)  I'm combining these because I don't think I have enough content in either one...

#5: Is there a local Goth band or group in your area?

Hah! There isn't even a goth club anymore. Downtown San Jose used to have a fun little goth night on Thursdays called Backlash in the mid-1990s, but it's long gone.

Not that I care much. I'm not really interested in going to clubs or seeing live music anymore. Not my thing -- I'm an old lady and far happier hanging out with friends at my house or theirs, where we can drink not-overpriced cocktails and actually hear each other talk.

#6: Handwrite your favourite lyric and take a picture.

Uh... sorry, I can't think of a fave lyric!

#7: Ten of your favourite goth bands.

1. The Cure
2. Sisters of Mercy
3. Love and Rockets
4. The Smiths
5. Siouxie and the Banshees
6. Bauhaus
7. The Mission
8. Dead Can Dance

That's as far as I get! In goth music, I don't like much made past 1990. And I didn't think it would be fare to start listing out special projects like The Sisterhood, Tones on Tail, or The Creatures, just to pad the list, not when I already have the main parts of the bands there (note: listing both Love and Rockets *and* Bauhaus is ok, imo, because their music is significantly different).

And no quibbles, please, about The Smiths -- the music is so freaking dark, at least lyrically, that it's goth in my book! Also, see Goth Challenge Day 1 to see how it was a influence on my BabyBat days.

Goth Challenge #4 - Good Cliches

#4: Name a stereotype or cliche you can relate to.

Tombstone at Holyrood House,
Edinburgh, Scotland

(Continuing the Goth Challenge questions -- follow the tag below to see all.)  Oh dear. Goth cliches, there's so many of 'em! Some I'm really tired of. But I must admit, some I am entirely guilty of and revel in, like...

• I dye my hair black (even tho' it's almost naturally black).
• I only wear dark, dark lipstick.
• I only wear black eyeliner.
• My favourite authors are the Bronte Sisters (original Gothic novels, yeah!).
• I love bats & skulls (but I hate spiders!).
• I love cemeteries & crumbling churches.
• I have been depressed a lot of my life.
• I buy Halloween merchandise most every year (best item this year: skull damask tablecloth from Target).
• I love old-school goth music like Sisters of Mercy, the Cure, and Siouxie and the Banshees.
• I sleep on dark sheets (black, purple, black & white stripe).
• I painted the walls inside our house dark colors.
• I love velvet (both wearing it & using it in home decor; we have a velvet-covered couch, velvet bedding, and velvet curtains).
• I prefer silver jewelry.
• I love cats (we have two).
• I enjoyed playing Vampire: the Masquerade -- in fact, my husband (then-boyfriend) & I used to run a live-action game.
• I don't wear pastels.

I'm sure there are others, but that hits some of the bigger cliches that qualify.

Now, for more fun, here are some ways I deviate from goth cliches!

• I'm not afraid of the sun, in fact, I regularly take tropical vacations.
• I really dislike industrial music.
• I kind of hate most goth clothing brands (I'm looking at you, Lip Service).
• I'm not into piercings.
• I enjoy wearing blue jeans.
• I still don't get elegant gothic lolita.
• I'm totally over goth clubs, seeing live goth bands, & most any goth music made after 1995.
• I absolutely despise tiny top hats (remember my rule: your hat must be bigger than my fist or I will punch you!).
• I mostly hang out with non-goths.

Hmm ... most of my non-cliches are more about me not liking specific parts of the subculture. Well, I tried :-)

Goth Challenge #3 - Out as Goth

#3: When did you come out the Goth closet? (If you didn't then simply discuss the topic)

(Continuing the Goth Challenge questions -- follow the tag below to see all.)  I didn't really "come out of the closet as a goth," but certainly my mom began to notice, during high school, that I was gradually dressing less in a mainstream fashion. And she wasn't particularly thrilled with it all the time.

I got the "you could be such a pretty girl without all that makeup" speech, along with "why is your hair always hanging in your face?" But she didn't restrict what I could wear or make any demands on me. That wasn't her way. Especially since I was a straight-A student; involved in various 'good-kid' extra-curricular activities like the school yearbook, newspaper, literary magazine, and drama club; plus headed to one of the country's top universities. She had no real complaints, just mild disapproval. (And she's since grown to love and encourage my unique style.)

The most "in the closet" I've been as a goth was probably my first job out of college, when I worked at a horribly conservative, old-school, electronics company as a technical writer. I hated the job, the company, and myself because I couldn't be myself. That's a big part of why I went back to grad school. And ever since, I've had a requirement that I only work at places where I can be me.

Goth Challenge #2 - Flashback Pix!

#2: Share photos and experiences from your BabyBat days.

(Continuing the Goth Challenge questions -- follow the tag below to see all.)  Hard to say when I was a true BabyBat, but considering I'm in my 40s now, I think any time pre-25 is "BabyBat" territory. At least that's how I look on other people (yeah, I'm crotchety that way ;-). Here's a little wacky trip thru the time machine...

I had to really hunt for photos because Back in My Day, kids didn't have tiny cameras in their pocket (aka camera phones). The first pic is from my high school yearbook, and the second is obviously my formal prom pic (don't ask me about the guy!). In later years, if I had a camera and remembered to take photos at a party, I took them of other people (I still tend to do that).

1986, on yearbook staff, apparently filing while wearing sunglasses
(much like wearing sunglasses at night). Pink vintage Chinese coat. Big hair.

1987. Senior prom. I specifically wanted a dress like nobody else would wear.
Which I achieved.

1988. Working at a second-hand clothing store in Berkeley, during college.
Started shaving half my head & would continue thru most of college.

1988-89ish. "I'm not a mod, I'm not a rocker, I'm a mocker."
Bonus points if you can ID that quote.

1990. My college sorority's colors were pink & white, so I dyed pink streaks into my hair.
Gotta show spirit!

Funny, but looking back, some essential stylistic elements have not changed. I cannot resist wearing black + other bright color (like hot pink or a pattern such as stripes). I freakin' adore necklaces & hoop earrings. I'm, ehem, still fond of some height in my hair, & flat hair is the bane of my existence, even if I don't go to the extremes as I once did. I'm still a big fan of matchy-matchy (not shown in my prom picture: matching gold lame vintage purse & you prob. can't tell that all the rhinestone jewelry is *gold* rhinestones, down to the shoe clips & there's gold glitter in my hair). The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Taking the Goth Challenge #1

I realized it's about a month until I hit the one-year anniversary of starting this blog. Also, when the date actually happens, I'm going to be traveling, or at least returning from, Spain! This got me thinking and looking around online, and I decided to play with this little Goth Challenge series of questions started by Juliet's Lace. Let's see how far I get!

#1: How did you come across the subculture?

Me in high school, circa 1986.
All about the Aqua Net!

In high school, circa 1985 or '86, I started listening to indie new wave music on local college radio stations, and this encouraged me to push the boundaries with my wardrobe. More funky thrift-store and vintage clothes and more stuff I sewed or modified myself. Colorful tho, in a punky Cyndi Lauper way.  But a friend gave me cassette tapes of The Cure and The Smiths, which I absolutely madly fell in love with. That connected immediately with my dark inner self.

At school, there were two girls who were trying to look goth (which everyone called "alternative" or "mod" then; I didn't hear the word "goth" or "gothic" until college). They dyed their hair black, wore lots of black eyeliner, and wore black clothes. However, they were spoiled rich girls, and their clothes were all designer black clothes and expensive leather boots, plus they both had fancy sportscars. Our school was on the border between a very wealthy suburb and a much more average, middle-to-lower-middle-class suburb. All very "Pretty in Pink."

So my punky friends didn't want to associate with those rich bitches, and while we loved the dark music, we cultivated our brightly colored, rag-tag, vintagey styles as a contrast to their sleek, designer, all-black look.

Soon enough, tho', I went away to college (a mere hour's drive away), where I discovered a fabulous little cafe right off campus where all the town's goths and punks seemed to hang out. Real, everyday goths, not ones who bought it from a boutique. So I could wear vintage black velvet as well as vintage pink chiffon with no problems ;-)