Masculine Emo fashion guide...

I see so many people posting in the fashion section of blogs asking about how to dress emo or whatever, and since I'm awake as fuck at 4 in the morning and I have nothing better to do that I thought would type one up, I'm going to do emo first then perhaps follow that with scene later. My credentials on this topic is that I started listening to emo music and having little gay boy crushes on emo and scene dudes at 11, so I know what they look like lmao. If this is enjoyed I will make a feminine rendition, or if y'all want a deep dive on the style of a different subculture just let me know and I will be happy to do that. 

Imma start from headwear and make my way down to shoes.  

EMO STYLE - AN OBSERVATION 

Headwear - So what I notice as far as male emo headwear goes is that there is a certified top three choices. 1 being "summer" beanies aka a beanie made with a thinner fabric, these usually have crossovers with the also popular slouchy beanie and they're honestly usually seen as the same thing, they're only worn to keep our hair in place at this point or when the back of our hair is wack, no warmth is coming from these hats. They're usually also worn pretty far back on the head, again, no warmth at all. The second option being a 2000s snap back hat, sometimes seen with the brim being bent up in the suicidal tendencies fashion, there is also a trend of having a band name or some slogan painted on the brim (also in the suicidal tendencies fashion), you can find a lot of these hats on second hand internet sites like depop or eBay, a lot of old skating brands made hats with cool designs and their logos on the front. Any sort of flat billed snap back will do for this honestly, adding your own creative touches really brings it together though. The third option is to honestly to just wear the most random hat or hat adjacent thing you can find, I see this a lot in both emo and scene photos from the mid 2000s with people wearing spirit hoods (or a weird brown wolf(?) hat if you're Chris drew), funky snow hats and patterned bandanas as well. The snow hats was more of an emo thing while the scene kids would wear things that were related to tv shows like Invader Zim. Honestly a lot of emo's just opted to not wear hats as well. So really anything can work. As a small end note I would also like to add the mini fad of people wearing like super small headbands around their bangs, I don't know what all that was about but for the right person it can be a good look

Makeup - Smudged eyeliner is always a good go to. Nail polish as well, chipped to hell and back of course. 

Jewelry/Accessories -  I'm going to also put piercing stuff in this section just because it makes the most sense. There was a good bit of the studded bracelet shit happening here as most people have observed. Studded belts were a common thing to see, usually in darker colors or classic silver, you can still get stuff like that at hot topic or Spencers, and if not they're super easy to find online for pretty cheap depending on where you look. One of the things I love about the typical emo style is that it's got a big androgynous vibe for the most part when it comes to accessories, even the dudes were wearing those simple black chokers or ball chain necklaces. Sun/normal glasses that almost have no purpose were also in style, lots of oversized frames with the lenses popped out or glasses with brightly colored or patterned frames were pretty popular. I personally really love this look. Rubber bracelets were also a big thing, a lot of these would be band bracelets that you could buy at the merch tables of the bands you saw, I have a few of these from bands like PATD. You could also find these with silly sayings like the iconic "I <3 Boobies" bracelets. Piercing jewelry wise having snake bites or some other form of multi piercing grouping with rings seemed to be the mutual first choice of most people who I see, that or having double piercings on one side of the lip and having silver bars through them and just chilling like that. Gauges were super popular, most dudes at the peak of emo had them, I love my gauges lots, and btw if you plan on stretching your ears please look into dead stretching before you start stretching with acrylic tapers. There was a pretty good mix of people using hollow gauges and having solid ones, they are usually pretty basic, I see a lot of people with white gauge jewelry which I think is pretty cool as it really pops. A fun neck addition that I think needs to come back is the bandana, wearing it around your neck loosely can add some great dimension to an outfit especially if you're wearing a solid color shirt. Jelly bands were also pretty sweet and you could link two of those bad boys together and make an even more epic bracelet. 

Shirts / Hoodies - This might just be my favorite part, I own a ridiculous amount of shirts. Band shirts were most common, another thing that was to be picked up at shows or at a music based store. Shirts with sarcastic sayings were also pretty common, those "I paused my game to be here" type shirts were really a hit lmao. When it comes to hoodies a classic striped grey and black hoodie or something of that sort seemed to be a core element in most peoples closets, it was overall just a trendy thing at the time, usually the hoodies would be bought in a size smaller than what would be considered normal, but this doesn't work for everyone whether that's because wearing clothing too small for you isn't flattering for each body type, or because it can simply be uncomfortable, shirts can be really hard for some folks because the style was very fitted at the time, the whole skinny agenda was really being pushed at the time, not much different to how its still being pushed, but men being super skinny without muscle wasn't, and still isn't, exactly the normal standard outside the emo and scene vibe. Lots of dudes wore women's shirts because that is what would give them the tight and shorter fit. Band hoodies and flannels were pretty popular as well, mfs didn't have hella money so everyone just went to the goodwill and picked up something that was vaguely okay looking haha. Pull over sweaters also got worn a good bit, same thing with hoodies and shirts, they were usually made by bands or some sort of skate brand or whatever looked cool. Grab yourself a few zip ups with some patterns on them and you'll be chillin.

Pants / Shorts - Skinny jeans ruled the world, both the men and woman shopped in the woman's jeans section, that or they were lucky to find mens jeans with a low enough rise that were also skinny enough lmao. Low to mid rises jeans were definitely the moves, and still are the moves, they showed off those hip bones and added to that slightly ill fitting look. Not everyone wore skinny jeans and just opted for a normal size jean, normally in black or some sort of grey or washed denim for all things above, adorned with a belt or two. As far as shorts go I honestly have no idea, I usually just suffer and deal with it or break out the jeans I cut into shorts if really necessary, but at that point I'm probably staying inside lmao. 

Shoes - There were like two breeds when it came to shoes, there were the people who wore chunky shoes like DC's and Osiris's and the types who wore vans and converse which were definitely falling apart at the seams, my favorite pair of vans was purchased at a goodwill for 5 dollars and there absolutely shredded but I'm emotionally attached so I refuse to get a new pair. Shoes would usually in black or some neutral color like that for the most part but sometimes you can catch some neons being worn by the emo kids even though it was much more popular with scene kids to wear the bright colors. 

I hope at least one of you find this at least somewhat helpful.