Gothic: Dark Glamour

Victorian Mourning Dress, Givenchy Fall 2006, Naoto

Growing up Asian in Houston, going Goth was part of my coming-of-age destiny. I was listening to The Smiths by the age of 10, my first concert was The Cure, and I definitely had a “black” period that ended as quickly as it had begun. With Halloween right around the corner and dark and frilly Fall fashions finally hitting the streets of New York City, the release of GOTHIC: Dark Glamour tomorrow couldn’t be better timing.

Beautifully illustrated with fashion editorial, street, and runway photography, this book explores the influence of the gothic aesthetic on fashion through the ages. Exploring everything from Rei Kawakubo’s Dress becomes Body becomes Dress collection from Comme des Garcons’ S/S97 collection, to ‘70s British album art and Japanese cosplay Goths in Yoyogi Park, the book takes on a broad range of creative culture that has borrowed from the gothic aestheic. In addition to a select discography and bibliography, GOTHIC features interviews with fashion designer Rick Owens, gothic rockers Sisters of Mercy, and photographers like Sean Ellis.

Check out The Museum at FIT’s ongoing exhibition of Gothic fashion set in a “theatrical mise-en-scene suggesting iconic gothic settings, such as the labyrinth, the ruined castle and the laboratory.” With over 75 ensembles on display, the exhibition on display through February 21, 2009. Or, if you’re not in the tri-state area, you can see parts of it online here.

From the Book:
From its origins in the eighteenth-century literature of terror to its contemporary manifestations in vampire fiction, cinema, and art, the gothic has embraced the powers of horror and the erotic macabre. “Gothic” is an epithet with a strange history – evoking images of death, destruction, and decay. Ironically, its negative connotations have made the gothic an ideal symbol of rebellion for a wide range of cultural outsiders.

Popularly associated with black-clad teenagers and rock musicians, gothic fashion encompasses not only subcultural styles (from old-school goth to cyber-goth and beyond) but also high fashion by such designers as Alexander McQueen, John Galliano of Christian Dior, Rick Owens, Olivier Theyskens, and Yohji Yamamoto. Fashion photographers, such as Sean Ellis and Eugenio Recuenco, have also drawn on the visual vocabulary of the gothic to convey narratives of dark glamour. As the text and lavish illustrations in this book suggest, gothic fashion has deep cultural roots that give it an enduring potency.

GOTHIC: Dark Glamour
Valerie Steele and Jennifer Park
Yale University Press
102 pp, 100 color illustrations