That One Babybat

Had a fun night at the paranormal cirque

I need to make some local gothy friends or something

Diy doesn't have to be Make A New Jacket From Scratch btw, it can be turning Jacket You Don't Wear into Jacket You DO Wear by adding a simple patch, adding a cool charm to your zipper, or dying it a new color! :) diy is about doing whatever you can do, with what you have, however you feel comfortable.

Don't psyche yourself out of a good thing! It takes time and practice but you can Get There!! what the practiced diy-ers with all the coolest projects don't tell you is they were beginners too once upon a time!

Worn vs styled

breakdown below

Some more songs I've been listening to a lot lately.

ִֶָ🦇་༘࿐𝕻𝖆𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖈𝖎𝖆 𝕸𝖔𝖗𝖗𝖎𝖘𝖔𝖓 𝖔𝖋 𝕾𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖘 𝖔𝖋 𝕸𝖊𝖗𝖈𝖞 ִֶָ🦇་༘࿐

The biggest pet peeve of mine are "goths" who excuse their shein amazon aliexpress hot topic hauls with "my thrifts only have granny clothes" as an excuse to why they can't thrift. 100% of the time, it's people who go to thrift shops and expect to find hot topic and killstar and overlook the 80s black clothing that looks shapeless or outdated when unstyled. All you have to do is add a belt, some pins, and maybe a chain, maybe distress it, and it will look 100 times better than the ugly ass shein clothing you are already buying. The visual parts of goth are built on those common 80s basics that you can find literally everywhere styled in unconventional ways. Granny thrift stores are the actual goldmines for dirt cheap goth clothing . You are just uncreative and lazy and refuse to put effort into your looks

Adding on to this since I already see it in the tags. The 80s basics I am talking about are not the trendy 80s clothing that are prized up in thrifts. Im talking about the long shirts with weird collars, the granny sweaters with ugly beads and shoulder pads, the beat up blazers. The basics that thrifts are filled with that never really sell. You need to see potential in “ugly” outdated clothing.

The type Im talking about are more often than not in larger sizes too. I know that a lot of plus size sections in person are horrid but I’ve seen so much good 80s stuff online really cheap in up to 6xl. Most things I tend to find online are in plus sizes

I feel like I need to give an example of what I mean with “seemingly unflattering”, this is one of the most extreme cases I have. I found this late 80s sweater for around 5€. This is what it looked like on the rack vs it on

I made some simple alterations, this is what it now looks like styled. Everything in this outfit apart from my belts are thrifted 80s pieces (skirt was 8€, necklaces between 3-10€, boots 30€)

The most important thing to remember is that a goth wardrobe can take years to build. You won’t go to a thrift store and find a whole closets worth of clothing. You need to know what to look out for and see potential in pieces that don’t look alternative at first glance. The way you style it is what matters the most.

“No ethical consumption under capitalism” is not an argument that works when you are buying non necessities from companies that are infamous for their horrible working conditions.

Also, slightly different point, but if you really really can’t/don’t want/are too lazy to or whatever thrift - instead of throwing your money at big brands like Kill Star or shitty exploitative companies like Shein and Amazon - have you considered throwing some money at your favourite band instead and buying some of their merch? Get yourself a nice, high-quality T-Shirt or a comfy hoodie and support your favourite artists at the same time - it’s a win-win-situation! Sure, your outfit won’t look as unique as the one above, but it’s miles better than some cheap shit from Amazon or Shein that will look like ass and have anyone in the scene go “newbie” or “poser” immediately.

Particularly for small bands people buying their merch is huge, because it means money + free PR, since you’re walking around with their logo or album cover on your shirt where anyone can see it. Plus, merch by small bands is also really cheap most of the time and you can get some really fun, creative products (not just apparel).

Take your Amazon/Shein budget and take it to your favourite bands’ online shop and actually support the scene you want to be a part of.

The biggest pet peeve of mine are "goths" who excuse their shein amazon aliexpress hot topic hauls with "my thrifts only have granny clothes" as an excuse to why they can't thrift. 100% of the time, it's people who go to thrift shops and expect to find hot topic and killstar and overlook the 80s black clothing that looks shapeless or outdated when unstyled. All you have to do is add a belt, some pins, and maybe a chain, maybe distress it, and it will look 100 times better than the ugly ass shein clothing you are already buying. The visual parts of goth are built on those common 80s basics that you can find literally everywhere styled in unconventional ways. Granny thrift stores are the actual goldmines for dirt cheap goth clothing . You are just uncreative and lazy and refuse to put effort into your looks

Adding on to this since I already see it in the tags. The 80s basics I am talking about are not the trendy 80s clothing that are prized up in thrifts. Im talking about the long shirts with weird collars, the granny sweaters with ugly beads and shoulder pads, the beat up blazers. The basics that thrifts are filled with that never really sell. You need to see potential in “ugly” outdated clothing.

The type Im talking about are more often than not in larger sizes too. I know that a lot of plus size sections in person are horrid but I’ve seen so much good 80s stuff online really cheap in up to 6xl. Most things I tend to find online are in plus sizes

I feel like I need to give an example of what I mean with “seemingly unflattering”, this is one of the most extreme cases I have. I found this late 80s sweater for around 5€. This is what it looked like on the rack vs it on

I made some simple alterations, this is what it now looks like styled. Everything in this outfit apart from my belts are thrifted 80s pieces (skirt was 8€, necklaces between 3-10€, boots 30€)

The most important thing to remember is that a goth wardrobe can take years to build. You won’t go to a thrift store and find a whole closets worth of clothing. You need to know what to look out for and see potential in pieces that don’t look alternative at first glance. The way you style it is what matters the most.

“No ethical consumption under capitalism” is not an argument that works when you are buying non necessities from companies that are infamous for their horrible working conditions.

Saw Mind's Eye, Cathedral Bells, past self, and Los Empties. They were all good. Was there first to support the homies past self, and then the other bands were more indie postpunk or post hardcore, or whatever Los Empties was cookin up (Augh. Yes. Their basslines were tasty).

Went to a farmer's market and as expected of the area, there was a handful of farmers and a lot more vintage clothing sellers. Managed to buy half a pound of kumquats to share though. Bit too sour for my taste. Not much I found of interest with vintage sellers tho. Though I'm picky because I do tend to avoid polyester like the plague. Rayon's.... ok.. but I'm not really comfortable with clothing that's not at least 50% linen, wool, or silk. Even cotton is pushing it unless the piece makes up for it in... if it's well designed.

Ends up such that I make a lot of my own clothing. Not related to my interest in goth or anything. I'd be into sewing, fashion, and diy even if I didn't consider myself part of all that. But it does make for neat clubbing fits to have that skill.

For this fit I crocheted the headband, tablet wove the fabric of the middle belt, made the black bead jewelry- made the shirt by cutting off the bottom of this other jacket item I made and dyed (was similar to a hanfu beizi, used hemp linen from dharma fabrics). No pattern but I sewed it up the shoulders just wide enough for them to hang off my shoulders. The pants are a stretch linen with 5% spandex that I drafted and tied around the legs with these bands I also tablet wove. No pattern for that but the legs just flare out at a 45 degree angle and are open at the sides. The back panel attaches to the front with skirt clasps.

Also ordered cotton velveteen recently to see about making some.... poofy sleeves with a linen lining. Still need to make a mockup of the sleeve pattern I drafted because idk if it fits. But the lower sleeves are almost finished- I still need to sew down 10 more lacing eyelets and add boning and boning channels to prevent wrinkling while lacing.