In the 90s, the shining decade of nostalgia, gothic culture dominated to the point of infiltrating even the most ubiquitous part of American culture: the suburban mall. Mall goth, with its food court sulking, CD hoarding, and Hot Topic shoplifting was born. In the modern era, malls are dying, and this image of gothic culture whispers where it used to scream. When the biggest box stores are struggling to survive, and there’s another bankruptcy every few months, it’s hard to imagine local businesses are doing much better.
Where do young alternative people go when our community spaces are shuttered? To the (empty) clubs? The streets, the graveyards? It’s all the above, but overall, the internet. Where, sadly, actual people become distorted and commodified in the echo chambers. In an era where everything is beige and automated, the handmade, messy feel of 90s goth is desperately needed back in the physical space. More than the music, and especially more than fitting a narrow aesthetic, goth is about the community. Only now, it’s starting to feel impossible to build one. Or if you do, find quite literally anywhere to go.
To be goth is to be part of something, a network of understanding. Not to own all the right clothes and listen to all the right music, but the fashion and art that makes you feel in tune with yourself; it’s to feel seen and make others feel seen. Being open with people and unapologetic about who you are is what will save Gothic culture from a fast fashion TikTok-shop grave. Though getting community spaces back in their prime would admittedly also be nice.
I don’t have a neat and tidy answer on how to make that happen, but the jumping-off point is talk to people! Please look up from your Pinterest feed, take out your wired earbuds, and compliment the stranger in line; ask about their music taste. Connection is the first step to a more artistic, interconnected, and understanding world.
Creative Direction and Words by Colette Barnhart
Photography by Shelby Burzumato
Hair/Makeup and Talent by Izzy Helfrich, Beka Gomez De Leon, Anu Sanders, Ava Wooley