personally, i think we should stop having stupid corset discourse on this website and talk more about fashion from the ancient minoan civilization
Can’t NOT include the Minoan snake goddess with this line up!
I feel very defensive about the "goth is bougie" shit because it is historically incorrect, yes, but also and more personally, because it just erases the generations of goth kids who grew up in trailer parks and project housing or just straight up homeless, helping each other out.
I suspect this may be the topic that draws me out of my torpor about updating the actual Gothic Charm School site, but some quick asides here:
The majority of goth fashion in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s was DIY out of necessity. Even when there WERE pre-made goth clothes (Lip Service, Bogies, indie designers), most of us couldn't afford them. Even basic goth staples like fishnets and black lipstick or nail polish weren't available year-round. We waited until Halloween and cleared out the costume aisles of our local big-box retailers. A group of friends spent an evening pouring over the pages of the big fall fashion edition of Vogue that one of us bought so we could see what dark style clothing would be trickling down to the mall department stores so we could hit the clearance racks in January, or the thrift stores in March. We memorized the discount day schedule for thrift stores and bought wedding and prom dresses to hack apart and dye. We saved for shitty plastic-boned "corsets" from Frederick's of Hollywood to wear over those hacked-apart dresses.
Goth, especially in the previous decades, was about getting whatever you could afford and figuring out how to make it spooky. Plain black leggings + thrift store or clearance black slip + layers of thrift store or clearance belts were a standard "goth uniform" for femme goths. Did we look amazing? No, not even half the time. But we took whatever we could afford and made it work as well as we could.
Doing research today, particularly focusing on old Colorado legends, and I found a story about a woman nicknamed Rattlesnake Kate. Apparently she killed 140 rattlers in a day, a good portion using a metal “No Hunting” sign when she ran out of bullets. She then proceeded to skin them and turn them into a dress. Later she opened a snake farm.
Given that I found this story in one of those questionably researched, self-published books you find in roadside gift shops, I figured it had to be a little oversold, right? So off to the internet I went and. Nope. Not oversold. There’s pictures. The dress is now in a museum.
damn, girl made a necklace to go with it, she knows how to accessorize
Saw this post a while back and realised, wait. I’m in Colorado. And today I had the time to drive up to Greeley to see it.
Not only did she make the dress, but she also made a headband with 37 rattles on it, and covered the shoes with snakeskin and rattles, so it all matches.
The museum also has the gun she used, although not the “No Hunting” sign.
She’s buried in nearby Platteville, under the name “Rattlesnake Kate”, by her request.
In Jan 2022, the Denver Center for Performing Arts premiered a musical about Rattlesnake Kate composed by Neyla Pakarek, who used to sing in the Illumineers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7aTiy0d_WA
Not sure why the above wasn’t allowed to link, so here you go.
the summer is like well what if it was unbearable outside and you can't wear any cool jackets. and everyone's going to tell you that this is the best time of the year. and you're the crazy one
couples t shirts that say “please ask me about birds” and “please for the love of god don’t ask her about birds”
cursed construction core hi vis bra that came to me in a dream
In the dream I saw it in the window display of a hardware/DIY/trade shop, implying it was meant to be a practical garment designed for actual female constructions workers in a Female Armour level missed-the-brief attempt at gender inclusion
The practical support from the visible underwire combined with the hi vis implying it’s not meant to be worn as an undergarment, I just-
I blame my binge-reading ND Stevenson’s gender comics talking abt masculinity and femininity incl the one abt Victoria’s Secret lingerie yesterday for this monstrosity x’D
Butch lingerie
It just occurred to me that getting a hat steamed up for you is something a lot of people have never seen or done. Speaking of which, i kind of miss my hat now...
I want a hat now.
Nice to see a skilled professional at work.
Back in the days when hats were common, they were always bought plain ("open crown") like the one in the TikTok and like this...
...then steamed and personalised with pinches, dents and brim curls, collectively called "bashes".
This image by famous press photographer Weegee of hats in a New York poolroom ca. 1943 gives some idea of the variations. (The flat cap second right top row is an outlier...)
