I have been invited to a Goth party. [Wardrobe help]

In My Humble Opinion
1

It’s a vampire-themed festival of gothiness.

I’m not a goth girl. I am a jeans and tank-top girl. If I’m to go, I need to pull together some sort of gothick outfit, that doesn’t cost too much, that I can dance in, and that looks not-too-idiotic. If I can pull off “attractive” that would be good, because it’s a date with a cute boy.

I do not own a corset, fishnet stockings, black lipstick, those little lace fingerless gloves, or anything of that nature.

I do own a very pretty and feminine black dress. It’s a wraparound style that shows off my little waist. So that can be my foundation.

What else do I need? Ladies, what would you wear? Guys, if you’ve ever been to a thing like this, how did the best-looking women dress?

(Did I mention that it’s this Saturday?) :slight_smile:

2

Well, if it were me, I would wear high black boots with the clunkiest sole I could find, a long, dark red, burgundy or black velvet dress, a long black trench type coat, and appropriate makeup, but I tend to overdo these things.

I think if you wear your dress and do some decent goth makeup, you’ll be golden. Pale skin, smoked out eye, dark lip, dark nail, you should be good. Don’t wear cute shoes though - that will wreck the whole thing.

3

No cute shoes … check.
Alice, my dress looks a lot like this. It’s not very goth, but it does look pretty on me. So that with, like, boots, and dark red/purple lips? How about the hair?

4

You’re right - it’s not very goth, but it is very pretty. Perhaps you can be a wanna-be goth. :slight_smile:

I think your hair should be sort of plain - either “romantic” wavy or something if it’s long, or slicked down if it’s short. I wouldn’t do big, honkin’ Robert Smith hair unless you wanna do retro goth.

I think you’ll look great - just remember, no cute shoes. You could add a dark tight to the dress, which for any other occasion would look horrendious, but for a goth night would probably look just right.

5

(Mind you, I was a goth years ago, so much of this is out of date. OTOH, the out of date stuff is what forms the goth stereotype, so there you are.)

Rule number one: Black, white and red are the only colors worth wearing. Okay, I guess now dark pink or emerald green might be okay. Whippersnappers.
Rule number two: Pale is good. Tan is bad.
Rule number three: Other people’s religious symbols are good, but only if they are large enough to blind a bull at ten paces. (Crosses, pentacles, ankhs, stars o’ David.) If anyone asks you what it means, sigh heavily and mutter that they wouldn’t understand.
Rule number four: Silver, silver, silver. No gold, ever.

That dress isn’t bad, actually. It will goth up well with either an obnoxious religious necklack or a simple velvet ribbon tied around your neck.

If you don’t have fishnets, drag out that pair of black pantyhose in the back of your drawer - you know, the one with a run in the thigh that you save for the long skirt? Make a few more rips and runs in them. Secure the edges with nail polish (clear) or hairspray (aerosol).

You can get black nail polish for 99 cents at the drug store - look for the Kiss brand. Also pick up some black eyeliner and deep purple or red lipstick.

Night of - don’t use foundation, or use foundation several shades lighter than you normally use. Make sure you blend it down onto your neck so you don’t have a mask line. If you don’t use foundation, put a generous layer of moisturizer on, and dust your face with baby powder. Use the eyeliner generously on both the top and bottom lids, as well as around your lip line, like you would a lip liner. Then apply the red lipstick and blend the black line into it. You can, if you’re good with makeup, also use the lipstick as a creme eye shadow, like this.

6

Go to the fabric store and grab a few yards of black tulle (cheap). Make a veil to wear with the dress. Voila - bride of the dead! I wore this look with a floor length black lace gown and granny boots. Lily Munster ain’t got *nothin *on me (with apologies to Pete Steel).

7

I once saw a college girl at a party all Gothed out, but with a twist. She wore her old Catholic Girls School uniform (Coat and Shirt) wth a very short black miniskirt, sleeves rolled up, hair in some crazy braid. It was too dark to see her jewelry but she definitely had some bangleies. The most disturbing part was her face, painted in an evil and crude, scrawling fashion- black on white, crazy clown fashion. I joked with her that she reminded me of one of the Joker’s Henchman, or something out of Burton’s Batman. It was “cute” goth, but effectively diturbing and dark because of The Crow syle make-up job.

8

Do you have anything less fashionably frilly, like a black mini skirt and a black top that you can wreck/disfigure? From what I’ve seen, a lot of women’s goth clothes either have fewer frilly bits on them or an excessive amount. Here’s some Harajuku girls showing a little bit of both worlds of goth.

I used to go to a goth night regularly when I was in college. Black skirt, black top, red lipstick, witchy boots. It was passable.

Just remember that the goth subculture and “look” was something that grew out of the punk subculture originally, so it’s got a lot of inspiration from them in a lot of the looks. This also may help you figure out what’s appropriate to “the look” and what doesn’t quite fit.

9

if you’re going to a party with people who normally dress goth as a matter of course, seriously dress as preppy as you can. I’m so tired of the “actual” goths complaining about how everybody else looks the same while they adopt a much more rigid standard of how a “goth” should look, and it’d be fun to challenge their perceptions of “everybody else”
If it’s really more that the party is just themed goth, I guess then…well the suggestions above should be enough :slight_smile:

10

For hair:
I sometimes do pigtails, using pink fuzzy hair elastics or white ribbons (good with black light). This look works best with something along the lines of the gothic Catholic school girl look or gothic raver chick (baggy pants, really really short black crop top). With that dress, I think hair down would look fine.

11

Great suggestions from everyone …

This particular party seems to be of the Romantic / Beauty of the Night type stuff, with lots of Anne Ricism, weeping rose tattoos, corsets and lace and velvet chokers and that type stuff. I actually like the urban punk look a lot better …

I also love **enigm4tic’s ** suggestion of dressing like a total preppie, but I swear, the invitation says “Dress Code Enforced.” Like, lah di dah. :dubious:

I’m not going to fit in with this crowd; but would like to get in the door.

12

Ripped hose? Black lip liner? Dear God … I remember that! That was the '80s! That was high school!!

13

Well, I did say it might be out of date! :smiley:

Actually, I was semi-gothy up to the late nineties, but I was still pretty old school. I remember when the first girl showed up at Neo in all white with platinum bleached hair instead of all black with Manic Panic hair. Man, that was a shocking night. :eek:

And I’ll have you know, old lady :wink: , that I was the host of a party for a bunch of teenagers a couple of weekends ago and the 14 and 15 year olds were terribly excited that I could show them how to do their lips like Dr. Frank N. Furter! (As above, plus vaseline on top.) And they just about died that I knew every word and a whole slew of shout-outs to *Rocky Horror *that they’d never heard! When I told them I’d been to the midnight shows in five cities, they lost it. My ears are still ringing a little from the squeals.

14

Clearly, you’re a mentor for today’s youth.

15

That dress you have plus a too-large black biker jacket would be aces. Or a black blazer-style jacket. Or even a black military style jacket (you know, with the rows of buttons and braid?). Black overcoat/trenchcoat in a pinch. Black stockings (don’t have to be ripped) and black shoes/boots. Flats if you have them. Doc Martens or engineer’s boots for preference. Simple shoes will stick out a lot less than anything “dressy” like a strappy heel. You’d fit right in at my local Goth club in that dress as it is. Depends on your shoes and hair, basically.

16

And that’s why I no longer live in a “hip” suburb. Well, okay, I can’t afford it eitherm but… the things I thought were cool in high school in the 80s were still being done in the 90s, and I thought that was a little odd, and now they’re STILL being done, and I just find it bizarre (this bizarre element is probably what the kids doing it want to impress upon the rest of us - but they don’t realise it’s because we’re laughing at them rather than being shocked). I walk down King St, Newtown in Sydney, and I think, “Hey there you with the bare feet and green hair. You a rebel? An individual? I saw the same look in 1984. You look like you were born in 1990…”

Back to the OP: go in full HELLO KITTY rig.

17

If you wear the right boots, nobody’s going to notice the rest of the outfit!

18

Glassy, I’m terrifically not-goth, but my brother-in-law and many of my friends are, so I often find myself in your situation. I wouldn’t try too hard to look uber-goth, because if you’re not used to it, it’s difficult to pull off without looking silly or poseur-ish. Whenever I’m invited to a goth party, I usually go for black top, black skirt, black boots and dark lipstick. The look is more “art student” than goth, but it works.

Your dress is lovely and would work well. I agree with others who’ve said to go with boots or flats rather than cute shoes. Also, black tights instead of panty hose.

I don’t like the music or the clothes, but most of the goths I know are perfectly nice people and easy to talk with. If you project confidence and not insecurity or snottiness, you should get along just fine.

TheLoadedDog, at bottom, it’s really not about expressing individuality or shocking people. It’s about expressing your identification with a subculture, just like hippies or frat boys or corporate businesspeople do with their clothes.