Quote Originally Posted by Lychee View Post
I feel like dressing goth is just fun to do, not even on halloween! (Short ramble discussion in a spoiler!)
Spoiler:
I have never made the connection between appropriating culture to appropriating EMO culture... or even thought of goth stuff like that either! Isn't emo a fashion and music subculture, rather than anything of national significance or used by minority groups? I mean, its primary icons seem to be mostly white and middle class. I feel like it's not something you need to think carefully about before doing- if real emos get upset, well, they are literally already upset! That's part of the deal, isnt it? They'll just call you "posers" and skulk away. I think its dumb when people gatekeep western fashions or subcultures of music.
The closest thing I experience to that is the lolita fashion style community, continuously trying to say to people "it's a fashion choice, not a costume! Im not dressed AS anyone, or for any event- this is just what I like to wear!" And in that case, it's not quite appropriation to wear lolita as a costume, it just makes the lolitas think you're trash and you don't understand, or you're a noob who doesnt get it.
All of these points are correct to varying degrees. The explanation we got was that "emo is an actual culture and people might take offense to you appropriating it". Even though we explicitly stated we were goth, again, too much to ask of people to do their research and realize they're not in fact the same thing. Punk, goth, emo, scene, etc. are all musical subcultures that descended from various types of music. You can typically identify them through how much color they use in their outfits (going from least to most color its goth, emo, punk, scene), their accessories (for example goths tend to wear a lot of silver jewelry), their hairstyles, etc. There can be some overlap, for example both goth and punk use fishnets, and it's common for people to confuse goth and emo because back when the subcultures first started, there was a lot of overlap and so emo fashion (as I understand it) was originally very similar to goth fashion, but has since developed into its own unique style. And while most of these cultures are predominantly white, I will say the African American goth fashion has seen an uptick recently and man can those folks work it. Their outfits are SO pretty.

But, as the sake of sounding cynical, it feels like you can't dress up as anything nowadays without being accused of appropriation. It's dumb, killed the vibe for all of us, and now our costumes don't match our label. I guess the one positive is, for folks who don't have a lot of black in their wardrobe like me, they can somewhat brighten up their outfit with splashes of color.

Quote Originally Posted by Lychee
I went to two halloween things so far!
A goth nightclub called COVEN which had a halloween theme this month, so I dressed up as a dark fey (maleficents most recent movie, anyone?) With light up wings and skirt and led earrings and glowsticks. Basically I was a huge blinkin beacon, making my way through the swathes of goths like some oversized purple plane with lights on its wingtips.


And then the next day I went to a lolita tea party and then a medieval & rogues masked ball, dressed as a lolita interpretation of captain barbossa. YARRR
It was great at the masked ball, nobody recognized me.
Both of these costumes are super cool. I especially like the dark fey one since I literally just saw the new Maleficent movie yesterday. Both costumes are awesome though. Did you purchase them or piece them together?