Romantic Goth

Hello, thank you for choosing to read my blog. I wanted to start putting my fashion research out on the web for other people to read and enjoy. I try my best to really dig into each style that I research and get the most accurate information possible for myself and now for those of you reading this! I do get some help from my best friend so go check out her spacehey profile too at digital_haze she makes all of the collages that you're going to see in my blogs and also helps me find reference images to include here. If you want to know more about me or my personal style you can check out my Instagram via the link on my profile, feel free to reach out as well with questions. <3 I hope you enjoy and learn something from my blog.

8/14/2024

Romantic Goth

  The romantic goth style is heavily influenced by the romantic era of the 1800s to the 1850s as well as classic gothic literature such as works by Edgar Allen Poe, Ann Radcliffe, Mary Shelley, and so many more authors. You can find a short list of some more specific gothic romantic literature later in this blog. As I'm sure you can assume from the name, romantic goth is a sub-culture of the goth style and generally associated with dark romance and vampires. This style was more so born out of the 90s, with the Adams family, and more specifically, Morticia Adams, gaining popularity. She is one of the key media figures that embodies the gothic romance look and is a key inspiration for the style. Her look is kind of minimalized since a lot of gothic looks, in general, are pretty maximalist or at least leaning that way in what I've seen personally. Of course, any style is not defined by a set definition, there can be so many different subcultures of subcultures so don't worry if you can't figure out a specific style that seems to suit you.

Let's dive into some other aspects of the aesthetic, clothing. Here I will be going over colors, textures, and styles of clothing that are most associated with romantic goth. 

Colors: red, burgundy, purple, dark teals, dark blues, black, and generally dark colors.

Textures: velvet and lace are the biggest ones but not necessary, I am aware that some people love these textures and others can’t stand them.

Styles: corsets, tights, long skirts, everything flowy, puffy long sleeves, mock neck tops, button up tops, layers. Please be mindful and do your research when wearing a corset, it is best to wait until you are 18 or older for that because they aren't the safest fashion choice even though they are so beautiful. Please do you own research on this but some basics on corset wearing, don't wear them for over 8 hours, if anything hurts, please take it off or at least loosen it and do your best to listen to your body when corseting, if something doesn't feel right, do not leave it on.

If you're into patterns and imagery, romantic goth is all about seeing the beauty and romance in the dark things of life like crows, ravens, graveyards, dead roses, dark florals in general are very popular and make for beautiful patterns.

Images were sourced from pinterest and the collage was formatted by digital_haze, pictured above is a depiction of romantic goth that we came up with while doing research.

Specific Gothic Reads

• “Dracula” written in 1897, by Bram Stoker. I'm sure most of you have heard about this one since it is such a classic. I've only skimmed through the novel as I feel is only fair since I’m recommending it, there are of course vampire aspects, love, and terror all wrapped into this one classic, gothic read.

• “The Scarlet Letter” published in 1850 and written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This one I have read and it's actually a really good novel. There is a focus on societal judgment, one of the main characters is forced to wear an embroidered “A” on her clothing as punishment and from there you will have to read the novel itself to see where things go.

• “Frankenstein” 1818, written by Mary Shelley. This one, though not a favorite of mine, has some really good themes and is a signature novel of gothic romance keying in on humanity's ability to both create and destroy. It's also fun to make jokes about with other people that have read the novel so, out of these recommendations, this is the one that I think is the best.

Stores

• Berserk, they are kind of pricey and there's not a lot about their shop online in general but what I could find said that they were ok. They are based in Australia and their sizes range from XS to 4X. They have all sorts of things from cosmetics and home wear to dresses and shoes. Definitely a shop to keep in mind for all sorts of alternative fashion.

• Midnight Hour, this shop leans towards being more affordable, sizes again ranging from XS to 4X. There is a whole section for romantic goth clothing, I just provided the link to their general website. In their search bar, type in “romantic goth” and once you hit enter you can shop that style. They have good reviews and kind of remind me of Hot Topic.

• FOXBLOOD, I have personally shopped their items and absolutely love them. They have gorgeous gothic dresses, bags and shoes. They also have some official retailers so check them out too. Decent prices and great quality items. They have the most stunning capes and mesh covers. Sizes range from XS to 4X which seems to be the size range on a lot of these sites. I have their Harlow Maxi Dress and a mesh top that I can't find anymore, so sorry.

Disclaimer: not at all sponsored and please do your own research before shopping online

Thank you so much for reading my fashion blog, I hope to get more of these out to you guys soon! Let me know what other styles you're interested in, and I'll see you again in my next blog.