The development of Gothic Culture
The Gothic Culture was first developed in a style of medieval art and architecture that started in the 12th century. It was born in France but it spread all around Europe. It never got further away from Europe until the XX’s Century but in a form of popular culture that was mainly demonstrated in makeup and fashion.
Gothic paintings, sculptures, and churches weren’t created in the style that we might currently imagine. Our perception of Gothic has changed and shifted massively since then. The Gothic art was characterized by having plenty of details and elements that were oftentimes very close to one another, this is because the medievals applied something called “horror vacui”, which could be translated into something like fear of the empty spaces.
Most of the Gothic works of art were overly dramatic and detailed. They narrated and demonstrated biblical moments that were translated into small figures that you can find in sculptures and buildings such as the representation of the twelve apostles, or just specific bible passages.
You can easily learn to recognize works of art that are from the Gothic period which started in the 12th century and ended in the 16th century. The Gothic culture lead and inspired the Renaissance style to be born. One of the most popular and recognizable Gothic creations is The Western Portal at Charles Cathedral or Notre Dame, located in Paris.
After the 16th Century, it seemed like people had forgotten about the Gothic Culture, as what was popular after that was the Renaissance style, which was a much more classical style, inspired by the royalty. It was a polished style that seemed to be more attractive to the overall population.
The first “Gothic” novel was written in the 18th century, but it wasn’t considered to be that genre back then. In reality, the Romantic movement was born in the 19th century. Romanticism is an extension of Gothic culture, but it occurred much later than the Gothic Medieval movement that we now know. Romanticism novels became very popular, but then they transformed once again, and starting from the 20th century the new novels are now considered to be “Gothic Horror”. Some of the most popular novels of these genres are Dracula, Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, etc.
The Gothic Fashion
The Gothic movement expanded onto the fashion field as well. Gothic Fashion has been extremely popular since the moment that it came out to the public eye.
Gothic Fashion was first implemented in 1910, it wasn’t popular back then, so it really wasn’t a trend or anything like that. Theda Bara began to utilize dark eyeshadow in a moment in history when what was very popular was to wear natural makeup and having a very soft and delicate look, in order to appear younger and more innocent.
There wasn’t really a lot of Gothic action going on after that in the 20th century, of course, nothing could evolve because of all the deadly wars that were occurring all around the world. The next move that lead to the adaptation of Gothic culture into our modern world was in the ’80s.
People saw an opportunity to start wearing wicked-looking clothes as well as implementing the dark eyeshadow. They did it in a way that really embraced the Rock Culture, it wasn’t really intended to make a tribute to the Gothic Culture or anything like that.
The Gothic style
The Gothic Style in Fashion was actually implemented as a whole in the ’90s, that is when some designers began to specialize in Gothic Fashion and moved to the US to keep on creating these interesting attires that looked so different from what everyone was so used to seeing throughout the last decades, some of these popular designers are: Kambriel and Rose Mortem.
Women Gothic Clothing is definitely very popular nowadays and has been since the ’90s. Currently, there are already some variations to it, but they all come from Gothic inspiration, some of these styles are Grunge, E-Girls, Emo, Lolita, Steampunk, etc.
The Gothic Fashion is best known for its exaggerated makeup, crazy hairstyles inspired by the aristocrats of the 17th century, long and dark dresses that have interesting patterns to them, and the overall sensation that you’ve arrived from a funeral but in a very romanticized and fashionable manner.
This fashion movement has also extended to the ceremony field. Nowadays there are a lot of people that choose to get married in gothic wedding dresses. Goth Wedding Dresses tend to be black, long, and very elegant. They are usually formed by a black lace corset or black lace top, they usually have long gloves and they tend to be very voluptuous and heavy.
The Gothic style has even managed to be applied to certain areas that we didn’t even know it was because of the Goth culture. Applying eyeshadow in a way that is Smoky is also inspired by the Goths, but not only that, there are plenty of brands such as Dollskill that apply this style to all of their clothes in order for people to feel dark and gothic.
The Gothic style is definitely a way of feeling empowered and special. It isn’t easy to obtain Goth-inspired clothing, as the pieces for the clothes are usually very unique, and you can’t find them almost anywhere.
It is still a great moment to start dressing as a goth or maybe just as some of the sub-cultures that Goth fashion has. The movement is going to be always a classic, so it’ll never go out of style. If you want to look different from the rest of the people this is a simple way of doing it, just think about it, not a lot of people are going to get married in a beautiful gothic black dress.