Goth Subculture

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Goth subculture emerged in the late 1970’s in Britain. Punk had generated an age of youth with its D.I.Y. manner and taste in music, fashion, safety pins and thrift shops. Punk had triggered a rise of new styles such as romantic and ‘hard-core’. During this subcultural revolution, a number of personalities and musical bands began to develop this idea of ‘Goth’. Goth subculture as a fashion can be described as the development out of punk and was inspired by the mood the music evokes. Goth punk, 'death rock' and part of the 'post-punk' movement deals with concepts of death, sorrow, fantasy, melancholic life of society, the supernatural, romanticism, terror and trauma. The relationship between Goth subcultures and new technologies has been particularly…show more content…
Evans argues that “fashion plays a leading role in constructing images and meanings during periods of rapid change” (Evans 2007 p.1 introduction). This is evident in 90’s where Fashion became darker, often inspired by death, mortality, decay and often associated with anxieties. Society at the end of the 20th century had visited an economic and technological change, shaping concepts in fashion: modernity, technology and globalization. If fashion at the end of the 20th century appeared dark or funereal this may be because it implied to project and develop new social identities during a time of rapid change, while touching on the idea and concerns of death and decay. The 1980’s suffered from a financial crash and the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, thus creating fear throughout the 1990’s. This fear was reflected in all the arts particularly in fashion design. A lot of fashion in the 90’s contained and reflected anxieties about cultural continuity, the body and death. High fashion brands in particular played a role in this approach and style of fashion. Some fashion designers expressed the experience of cultural discontinuity, transforming negative thoughts into happy, positive, ‘shiny images’, instead of reconnoitring this entire idea of human emotion and reaction to experience. Tom Ford is a perfect example of this curiously optimistic approach during this time, what he was doing at Gucci was sexy for a reason, “I wanted people to look sexy again”. DAZED, Tom Ford
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