Even statues in cemeteries are pondering this!

I’ve noticed the term ‘trad goth’ being thrown around a lot these days in terms of ‘goth’ fashion. There seems to be a real need by those new to the subculture to put themselves into a named box and not stray from it. This actually makes me sad because they are missing out on having their own personal style. Also, this is tied to the people who feel like they have to spend a lot of money to look like the kind of box they want to jump into. I feel that a lot of this has stuck certain older 80’s ‘dark’ looks into the ‘trad’ box. You also have the ‘vampire’ box, the ‘Victorian’ box, etc… and you shouldn’t ever mix them all up together!

People in the know realise that all of this is ridiculous but there are some people out there who take this very seriously. It’s ironic that jokes about different kinds of ‘goths’ from twenty years ago are now being used as roadmaps to get into the subculture. If you don’t ‘get’ the joke you become the joke.

What the hell does ‘trad goth’ really mean these days? A box filled with torn fishnets and winklepicker boots with no personal style encouraged? Almost every single day I’ll come across somebody online who claims they look ‘trad goth’ because they are wearing black lipstick or a manufactured fishnet top. What these people fail to realise is that back in the 80’s/90’s not everybody in the subculture wore a ton of make-up or even fishnet. 90% of the time back then I wouldn’t even wear lipstick because I smoked and I hated to have to reapply it over and over again in one night. I just couldn’t be bothered. I think the people calling themselves ‘trad-goths’ these days have misconceptions about the era that they are trying really hard to copy.

A ‘trad goth’ to me is somebody who listens to goth music and is connected to it by going to shows, purchasing the music, and by wearing band merch. They support the bands that they listen to, just like what was done back in the 80’s by the fans of the original bands. It just means the person in question still takes the music seriously, instead of just dressing in black and thinking that goth is just a fashion statement. So, you cannot capture the spirit of being a ‘trad goth’ by simply taking a photo of yourself dressed in black while wearing black lipstick. That is not the way it works. Wearing a band shirt, leggings and boots is far more trad goth that wearing a ton of black eyeliner and an entire outfit bought from a ‘dark’ clothing website.

The end.