Where the hell should I start?

Rizash · 11-22-2006, 10:51 PM

A little history.... I'm 23 and have never dressed with ANY sense of fashion because I always wanted to "go goth" but never had the guts or the care to do it. Now I have time/effort and am wanting to "fade to black" like I should have years ago..... When I say I rejected all other styles I mean I literally wear short sleeve POCKET T-shirts and blue jeans year round because I wouldnt feel right as any other style, I just never had the guts to dedicate to a goth appearance.

I'm thinking at first I'll just do a pretty simple black jeans/black shirt/black over-shirt (something of a more traditional look, as to ease into the new look, it'll just be all black)

Anybody know any good sites/places to buy good "entry level" goth clothes? Shoes are killing me since everywhere I look I see uber stand-out goth boots or GRAY shoes. Anybody got advice on "not so eye catching" black shoes/boots?

Lastly... What do you guys do about dye fade? Since black is the harshest dye, it fades the easiest.... any advice there?

Thanks
Rizash

FYI If you're wondering... Rizash = Risen from the Ashes --

c130 · 11-23-2006, 03:18 AM

Hehe, story of my life. I've been in the transition since I was 15 (17 now) and I'm wearing New Rocks and trenchcoat most days. Moving from school to college this year really helped because I felt free to do whatever I liked rather than sticking to what all my old schoolmates knew me as.

Are you from the UK? If so, I reccommend you try Primark, because they do good-quality clothes fit for any enterprising goth for less than it costs to buy your lunch.

For your clothes, you can go just about anywhere that sells smart-casual clothing. Aim for the low-to-middle price range, if you try and buy lots of designer clothes you'll just look like you're trying to fit in with the Prada crowd'. You don't need Hot Topic to look goth, you just need the initiative to check out regular shops for clothes that you could visualise complementing a gothic outfit.

Shirt: Get a plain black cotton or polyester shirt with short sleeves (or long sleeves, I like long sleeves so I can roll them up) from anywhere that sells basic plain-and-simple workers' shirts. Try some pinstripe if you come across a pinstripe pattern you really like; I've got one pinstripe shirt with an almost circuitboard-style print that I picked up for 4 pounds ($8) from Primark. I love cyber stuff so that was a great find for me.

Over-shirt: Try a military surplus shop. Ask if they have any German army shirts dyed black. If they don't, then buy one of the green army shirts and get a tin of dye from a craft shop, and dye it black yourself. I wear these quite regularly. You can sew stuff onto the shirt as well like patches and zips, add rivets, safety pins, paint on it with fabric paint, etc. because they're dead cheap and really easy to sew onto.

Jeans: Go to a jeans shop, lol. Again, try the bargain shops, you could be surprised at what you find. If all fails, buy another tin of black dye and recolour a pair of your existing jeans.

When the black fades, just re-dye (unless you can't because it's a garment of multiple coloured fabrics, in which case you'll probably just have to live with the shades of grey). To avoid having to do this though, wash your blacks with a lower temperature than your other clothes, and use a washing powder made for use on coloured clothes as it'll help stop it running and losing colour.

NME · 11-23-2006, 03:39 AM

Why bother with traditional goth styles? Just go with what you're comfortable with. I see no reason to care what particular style you choose. Unless you choose a style just to "fit in."

Minyaliel · 11-23-2006, 03:41 AM

You should be able to find something in any shop. I usually buy my stuff at thrift/ second- hand stores and H&M sales... and then, of course, modify it to look more "me". Can't see why that shouldn't work for a guy aswell...

Draconysius · 11-23-2006, 05:39 AM

Yeah, thrift stores are a great bet. You can go for trench coats, combat boots, blazers, leather, or whatever, and you'll find it all at thrift stores for literally two or three bucks a piece. You can take what you find there and modify it to your liking, as well. I bought a cheap bottle of white fabric paint from Wal-Mart (ugh) and made dozens of patches and shirt logos with it. DiY is probably the best way to go, too; at least with that, you'll have a style more unique to YOU.

OsoCrazy · 11-23-2006, 07:37 AM

Jus to help on the shoe situation, just go w/ a pair of skate shoes, like Etnies or DC, they usually look nice with no matter what you wear. Thats what I wear anways, plus their about the only shoes wide enough for me.

c130, my pants fade VERY fast, i've got 4 pair of Tripp pants that are losing their black very fast, I've only had them for a 2-3 months it disappoints me, how would I dye the pants to bring them back to their original glorey, and if I do dye them, will the stitch change to black as well? ( 2 long pair, 1 w/ white and red stich, the other w/ just red. 2 short pair [1 zip-off]<- 1 blue stich, the other Glow-in-the-Dark stich. )

chain ring · 11-23-2006, 10:29 AM

Cotton dyes the best, and polyester not at all. If your pants are cotton (fast fading, they probably are) they will dye back nicely. The thread is most likely poly-cotton, so it will probably dye to a mousey greyish if it's light colored.

I've taken the position that worn-out black is actually a gloomier color than new dark black, and stopped worrying about it.

c130 · 11-23-2006, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OsoCrazy

c130, my pants fade VERY fast, i've got 4 pair of Tripp pants that are losing their black very fast, I've only had them for a 2-3 months it disappoints me, how would I dye the pants to bring them back to their original glorey, and if I do dye them, will the stitch change to black as well? ( 2 long pair, 1 w/ white and red stich, the other w/ just red. 2 short pair [1 zip-off]<- 1 blue stich, the other Glow-in-the-Dark stich. )

The thread will dye a bit, but not completely. Dying the trousers will turn the actual material black, and it'll darken & dull the threads. Though with a few washes, the colour of the thread will very likely start showing through again. I wear those dyed-black German army shirts I mentioned, and the first thing that goes back to its original khaki green colour is the thread, because it doesn't hold colour (other than its own) very well.

Rizash · 11-23-2006, 06:10 PM

First... I'm from the US. Second, I'm actually not a total newb to modifying/creating clothes, so dyes/mods arent that scary. (Hang out with enough girls who make their own clothing and you'll get over the anti-male aura most sewing, etc... seems to have, 2 of my male cousins also own a screen printing shop, so I could always have them re-dye/mod stuff too!) As far as thread/lacing not taking dye or fading quick, yeah.... 90% of thread is 50/50 poly cotton or higher percent poly, since "unrestrained" cotton thread will "peel" and eventually all the fuzz from it will jam even the best sewing machines. As for it not taking dyes... its impervious to dye, since it has no pores, it just sits on the imperfections in the surface, enough washing and it disappears. I was more just asking what you guys do to fight fade.... or if thats part of your look.... All my black jeans go gray after a few months.

emeraldlonewoulf · 11-23-2006, 10:51 PM

someone mentioned footwear, honestly, I have a pair of black doc martens ( the steel toe work boots, not the club variety) and they definitely have a gothic cast to them. yes, they will run you about 130 bucks, but they last a long, long time, and don't wear off my big toe nails the way other steel toes do. ( they have more square, as opposed to round, toes) Besides, what could better complement the jeans/t-shirt goth/industial look?

DarkHeartedDemoness · 11-24-2006, 09:10 AM

Shoes:
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...1124061058.jpg
Yes, those are my feet. And yes, those are my pink socks. I like pink socks. They make my feet smile.

Anyway, as you can see, those are those terrible grandma shoes that only old people wear... but in plaid, with skulls. They're hella comfortable, go with everything, and I love them to pieces.

They're by BC Footwear. I just checked the site-- they're not in stock anymore, but they still have some cute stuff.