“Oooooh, spooky.”
Fairuza Balk in The Craft
They say that this year, black is the new black, again. One pass through the stores will tell you that history is influencing this falls fashions heavily again – the 20s, the 30s, the Victorians. Well, history plus black equals goth, if you ask me. But goth for grownups … stylized and dramatic and sophisticated. Think Galliano and McQueen, not Hot Topic.
These clothes need a face that can keep up. Polished, and refined. MAC’s fall campaign is called Style Black, and showcases dark, intense colors and soft pale skin. This nicely captures the essence of the gothic subculture … severity and romanticism all rolled into one.
Of course, the original Goths were an East Germanic tribe, fierce people who played a key role in the fall of the Roman Empire. For a while, the term ‘goth’ was synonymous with barbarian. Later, during the Renaissance period, medieval architecture – considered unfashionable at the time – was contemptuously labeled ‘gothic’. The term stuck, and later went on to apply to a style of literature. The gothic novel (examples include Wuthering Heights, Dracula, The Picture Of Dorian Grey, and anything by Edgar Allen Poe) established much of the iconography we associate with goth – like ruined castles and cemeteries, vampires and melodrama.
Pale skin is key here, but that does not mean ‘white’ (The Crow is a great movie, but whiteface is for stage performers only). Skin just needs to be smooth, and finished. Foundation is necessary, as is powder. Blush you can skip, or apply a muted shade along the cheekbone to sculpt the face. Eyes can be smoky grays and blacks, or left clean with a sharp, tapered black liner along the top lid. Lips can be dark, lined and strong or they can be soft and berry stained.
Subtlety is necessary …. the idea is to pick one feature, lips or eyes, and emphasize it. Dark eyes and dark lips together or too much, and will take you out of Haute Goth and into Halloweentown. Whatever your age (older women should focus on the lips, and stay away from dark eye shadow – Catherine Deneuve in The Hunger is a great example of mature Goth), your ethnicity, even your gender, you can find a way to make this look work for you if you like it.
So, don’t be afraid to take a trip to the dark side this fall. It’s nice over there, moonlit and mysterious and elegant, and no one will bite you. Unless you ask them to, I guess, but that’s another story.