Flicking through the autumn glossy fashion magazines, I noticed that some of the models did not look very well.
A few of them appeared to be dead. This is because one of the key looks, especially at the younger end of the fashion spectrum, is Goth.
Faces are chalky white, eyes and lips black. You can wear any colour you like so long as it’s black.
To achieve that just-got-out-of-acoffin look, you need corsets, capes, Celtic crosses, an unseeing stare and a prop such as a slightly mutilated china doll dragged along in one hand.
For those of us who have lived through Siouxsie And The Banshees and the Rocky Horror Show, the look is depressingly retro.
Fashion acknowledges those of us who lived through it first time round – Elder Goths, as opposed to Baby Bats, who are the under-30s.
It even nods to a working population, permitting Corporate Goths, who wear black trouser suits.
There is a also a term which is new to me and amounts to a much more dangerous teenage cult.
The Emos – short for Emotional – regard themselves as a cool, young sub-set of the Goths.
Although the look is similar, the point of distinction, frightening for schools and parents, is a celebration of self harm.
Emos exchange competitive messages on their teenage websites about the scars on their wrists and how best to display them. Girls’ secondary schools have for some time been concerned about the increase in self harm.
One governor of a famous boarding school told me that it was as serious a problem as binge drinking, but rarely discussed for fear of encouraging more girls to do it.
Although it is invariably described as a ’secret shame’, there is actually a streak of exhibitionism about it.
The internet has many sites dedicated to Emo fashion (dyed black hair brushed over your face, layering, black, black, black), Emo bands (Green Day, My Chemical Romance), Emo conversation (sighing, wailing, poetry).
The Instant Emo Kit site gives advice on identity. Wear a child’s T-shirt with a slogan such as ‘Unhappy Chick’ and drive a Vespa. Above all, ’show your inner despair by looking like you are too sad to eat. Obesity and emocity do not mix.’
Adult Goths refer to the Emos disdainfully as ‘the spooky kids’ or ‘moshers’.
The Emo song, by the American band Adam And Andrew, has cult status on the internet, appearing on many personal websites. It is called Dear Diary and is both witty and alarming.
The chorus goes: ‘Stop my breathing and slit my throat, I must be an Emo.
I don’t jump around when I go to shows, I must be an Emo.
Dye in my hair and polish on my toes, I must be an Emo. I play guitar and write suicide notes, I must be an Emo.’
The courting of misery and death is a long-established teenage tradition. How many bedroom walls have been plastered with posters of drippy pre-Raphaelite heroines, or Marc Bolan or Kurt Curbain?
When death is a long way off, you can afford to be more morbid about it.
Film-makers note that horror films are now more popular than romance among young women.
In particular, Goths and Emos are a rebellion against sporty, manly cultures – which is perhaps why they flourish particularly in North European countries or North America.
The androgynous nature of the Goths is appealing to the young because it is sexually unthreatening.
Teenage girls are frightened of manliness: they like boys who look like girls. Kate Moss, the girl who never grows old, understands youthful taste completely.
There is also a deadly glamour about the Goths. The word femme-fatale is Goth based.
Many of the alluring women of our time – Nigella Lawson, Debbie Harry, Chrissie Hynde, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Lily Allen – have a touch of the Goth about them.
They have a sophistication and depth lacking in the blonde, bouncy chav faces which dominate our television screens and nightclubs.
Who are the male pin-ups for young girls? Johnny Depp and the comedian Russell Brand, who is about 90 per cent Goth. Lord Byron, of course, was the greatest Goth of all time.
Emos have a strong arts graduate bias and are among the few that read poetry (if only of the romantic, morbid kind).
Some pretty terrible Emo poetry is offered on websites. A cartoon of two Emos has a bubble which says: ‘What rhymes with razor blade?’
But compared to the music, the poetry is positively cheerful. The Gothic bands have names such as Bloody, Dead And Sexy or Colder Than Death.
There is a genre, popular in Germany, known as Death Pop. Bands include The Knives In The Attic and Love Equals Death.
Although Goths are from the same family tree as punks, they are a lot less fun to be with. While I loved punk for its energy, Goths were too bloodless to lift a finger.
One of the most annoying characteristics of teenagers is their refusal to open their curtains. Their world is dark and airless.
If this environment is coupled with the psychological traits of self-pity, introspection, self-dramatisation and hormone imbalance, you have a fully-fledged Emo, even without the small Tshirt and black hair.
The wondrous thing about being an adult is that you have so much more to worry about that you stop striking poses and get on with it.
Unless you are an Elder Goth – in which case you have fashion on your side and everybody else against you.
What worries me is that teenagers are less equipped to manage strong emotions and a cult of suicide could have real and horrible consequences.
It is irresponsible for the fashion and music cultures to encourage it. If you want retro style, I recommend Ian Dury’s song Reasons To Be Cheerful.
As an adult Goth I have to admit, I find emo’s to be whiny, self-centered, and just flat out obnoxious. Knowing several self-professed emo’s, one of whom is my older daughters best friends, I find myself constantly trying to to bring her over to the “other” dark side. It hasn’t worked yet, but I’m not going to give up on her yet.
As a young “emo” or “emothic” as my friends call me
i must say all “emos” not the poser ones…
discourage cutting and kids who do.
most people only recognize “emo” kids for that.
it irritates us as we are very happy kids.
We do not cut, we may have in the past
but we do not like it and we do it for reasons.
We try to talk other kids out of it
but because of how society stereotypes us
anyone who wears black is called “emo”
and continuously harassed.
in the past year alone myself
and my friends have been continuously
harassed as we are considered “emo” by everyone.
even going to shops alone can be a danger
i myself being cornered over three times by groups of “emo bashers”
had to step in for friends who left school because it was just too hard to concentrate with the harassment without help from teachers…
we all have our reasons for this…
if anything i wont stay “emo”
too much trouble comes with it
but i wont go like society’s thought of normal…
As someone who is emo I have to disagree. We are not all like this article makes out. In fact, at school we are some of the loudest most cheerful people. And we don’t all self harm. This is a myth, not all emo’s self harm. And I am sure a lot of people who are NOT emo self harm. Next time you might actually want to talk to someone who is emo before you write something, so you don’t look like an idiot. Sorry no offence but it had to be said.
Thats a horrible article. Emo and goth culture is NOT similar at all. Goth came along years before emo did, and emo is stemmed from goth and punk.
Ive been in this culture for five years now.
Plus, you said goths are no fun to be around. When in fact, they are some of the funniest, cynical and honest people you will ever meet. Goths are hilarious and incredibly fun to be around.
I would know.
And it pisses me off to see articles calling everyone with black hair who wears black clothing goth. Im goth, and i have blonde hair. I never wear makeup, and i wear pretty much every color of the rainbow, be it blue, green, purple, red, gray, brown, and of course, black.
Although, I do agree with your stereotype of emo kids. Every single one ive ever met has been whiny, self absorbed, obnoxious, and annoying. They all think theyre artists, or poets or musicians or something. Some of them are, but most of them are talentless wannabes. I cannot stand to be around them, and neither can any of my friends.
I have also noticed that while most goths remain goth for life, emo is just a phase. I have never met an emo person over the age of 19. Yet, I have met many elder goths, and absolutely love them.
Needless to say, I prefer goths over emos.
ah.. even born in the 90’s i feel as an elder goth.. as a child.i grew up listening to the cure, the bauhaus and many other groups..and i feel i must speak against this article..emo’s and goth are different in EVERY way!!
emo’s are extremely annoying, whiny, and set up a HORRIBLE stereo typre for goths.
goths arent always sad, morbid, and dont always wear black..we dont worship “satan”…
goodness.. what a shame emos have brought to society
Okay, I’ll admit I’m a ‘baby bat’. But just because I’m young doesn’t mean I can’t be a real Goth. If you wanna tell me different, I know myself so–no offense, but–I don’t really care what you think.
Anyway, this established–this article is an enormous bunch of bull. First of all people, Goth and emo are two COMPLETELY different things. Goth is much more sophisticated, for one thing. Emo is more juvenile. If you ask me, emo is sort of wannabe-Goth. I hate to stereotype; not all emos are like this. Likewise, while there are a lot of emos who are self-absorbed and self-pitying, which is obviously annoying, not all of them are like this. I know a few emos, and while I’m not real close friends with any of them, many times they’re pleasant, friendly people and know how to have fun without doing ‘bad things’. Most of them don’t support self-harm at all. This said, Goths especially are the most fun, hilarious, all-around great people to hang out with. They tend to be some of the most accepting and friendly people, and know how to make you feel welcomed and comfortable, whether you’re ‘one of them’ or not. I’ll admit I wear mostly black and enjoy the makeup; I just think it’s fun. But not one real Goth will tell you that you’re not Goth if you wear any color or don’t wear ‘the makeup’. Likewise, no real Goth will tell you that you have to wear a certain type of jewelry, a certain clothing style, listen to certain music, practice a certain religion, like certain things, etc. Goth does not have ‘rules’. We are strong individuals just like anybody else; we like whatever the hell we feel like and don’t let people tell us otherwise. Many of us appreciate the darker sides of things, but that’s not because we’re negative people–we’re just realistic. There’s beauty as well as ugliness in everything, including the ‘taboo’ stuff like death, and we choose to see both sides of it rather than bury our heads in the sand and pretend that everything’s perfect. We’re not afraid to look head-on at things like death, but we also appreciate life. We celebrate all aspects of both. Really, we’re just being practical.
Also, for the record, can we quit blaming the music? Honestly, why do people assume that’s the cause of everything? One of the labeled ‘emo’ bands mentioned in this article is My Chemical Romance, who happen to be my favorite band (from a non-typical style for me), contrary to popular belief are NOT EMO. Neither is Green Day. While many of these bands and other ‘Goth bands’ can come off as ‘dark’, most of them really have positive messages–you just have to look a little deeper to find them sometimes. You have to be intelligent to get the real meaning out of this music. So really, people who condemn this kind of stuff because they don’t understand it are just making themselves look ignorant.
Please people–how many times do we have to go over this stuff before we can figure it out?
I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this, but femme fatales is not a goth based word. It’s a French term that well predates any modern goth movement, and it’s much more associated with film noir than goth culture. While both the character archetype and the genre may have influenced the subculture, neither is “goth based.”
Secondly, the emo subculture came out of the punk movement. The term has been co-opted by the media and by writers like this to mean whatever they want it to mean, so there is no “definitive emo.”
There is significant overlap between “goth” and “emo” probably because the media and those outside (and some inside) the subcultures latched on to superficial similarities and have now grouped the two together.
That said, the reliance on labels to define individuals is limiting. Personally, I get exhausted saying that yeah, my style may be more Blaire Waldorf than Suicide Girls, but I prefer Cleveland Bound Death Sentence and the Horrorpops to top 40. (Full disclosure, I also like folk, blues, jazz, musicals and alt pop, so define that.) My clothing style really doesn’t have much bearing on my musical tastes, or my personality, and I’m sick of people assuming they know me because they know where I shop.
And one last comment, as a rule, pre-teens/young teens are whiny and obnoxious. As a 14 year old “punk”, I was whiny and obnoxious. All the “preps” I went to school with were whiny and obnoxious. The “goth” kids were whiny and obnoxious. All to varying degrees of course, but it depending on the kid, not what stereotype they adhere too.