Circa 1997
was my bigest goth year, but the year before was a bit more amateur.

I had convinced a friend of mine to drive from Swansea (where I was at Uni) to Cardiff so I could buy myself a big, frilly, white shirt (interview with a vampire style).
So then came the next big goth night out... The shirt was ready to go, but I took the advice of a few goth ladyfriends of mine. Trousers.
"What do you suggest?" I asked.
"Do you have any leggings?" They replied.
Thinking about it, I had some I used for mountain biking in the winter. So big frilly shirt leading down to black SKINtight leggings over big muscular legs (I mentioned the mountain biking earlier), tucked into black Doc Martin boots as they were the closest I had to Army boots or New Rocks at the time.

Now if this wasn't bad enough, I let the aforementioned goth girls do my makeup.
I was looking for the pale face, sunken eye, vampire/ghost look that was in fashion in goth clubs at the time.
They, for some reason only known to them, gave me the pale, adam ant minus the stripes look with added blusher.
I looked like a 17th century transexual lost in the 80s, but didn't know better.


Now I'm into electro-industrial and know I look cool in my combats, new rocks and t-shirts with UV circuit boards/manga/etc
( Weetobix, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 15:36, Reply)

accessories
is what fashion is all about.

like the stuffed toy parrot i attempted to sew onto my shirt shoulder as a child in order to gain extra pirate respect points off my friends.

needless to say i now have no friends.
(davidblunkettsdogblankets, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 15:35, Reply)

what I'm currently wearing.
big brown 'trainspotter' style hooded jacket - left in my room by the previous occupant.

shirt - one of a load of old clothes my friend was going to give me, but I made him take a token amount of money for.

pants - corduroys; the house brand of K-Mart. I have 3 identical pairs.

also, haircut - grown-out from a crew-cut I gave myself, with clippers that were left by another ex-occupant.

Please form an orderly queue, ladies.
(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 15:31, Reply)

Shawls
I used to nick my Grandma's crazily bright pink and purple shawls and pretended to be a harem girl. When I was 3.
( Kittenpants, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 15:30, Reply)

weekendsession - i too have suffered
me and little kaptin had the matching sailor suits, and unfortunately, mummy kaptin has photos to prove it - drags them out at the slightest opportunity. If the girls didn't go all gooey at the sight of them, I would have them destroyed
(we even had little whistles around our necks - god help me)
(kaptinkurtz, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 15:29, Reply)

'corset'
Translation: lots and lots of black gaffa tape.

Had not thought through to conclusion. :-( Ouch.
( Captain Wow currently being a cunt in Infamous, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 15:29, Reply)

Ripped Jeans
Remember Bros? I wish I didn't. Their "I'm really not gay, honest" fashion inspired me to create a pair of ripped jeans myself. In the absence of any cool shops, I took my scissors to a pair of skin-tight bleached jeans. Not realising that a) freshly cut jean looks crap, and b) inch-apart cuts all the way down boths sides of both legs just made me look like a sausage with a defective skin - flabby bits poking out all over!

I think I may have even worn American Tan tights underneath them too. Quick! Call the fashion police!
(ten_ton_truck of stuff, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 15:25, Reply)

Punk or Fairy
It was 1995, my uni halls of residence was holding a "Punk or Fairy" fancy dress party. I decided to be oh-so-wacky and went as a punk fairy (i'm a straight male BTW).

I made my face totally white with make-up, put on bright red lipstick, heavy black eye-makeup, put my (then) long hair in pigtails, made a fairy skirt out of bubble-wrap & finished it off with a rough denim jacket. Oh, I also made myself a wand. This took ages but I had help from the girls on my corridor and by the end of it I think I looked like the best punk fairy in the world.

I then proceeded down to the bar to get the rapturous applause & admiration for the best costume and to be crowned the most wacky-crazy-raaaandom student in the world. Ever.

Nobody had dressed up. Nobody. Not one fucking bastard. Oh wait, I lie, a rugby player I knew had dressed up as a punk and proceeded to pretend rape me on the pool table. At least I think it was pretend (11 years of mental blockage does odd things to ones memory).

They even nicked my fucking wand and broke it. Cunts.
( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 15:23, Reply)

Gah!
A cheesecloth shirt, maroon waistcoat, baggy MC Hammer trousers tucked into massive Caterpillar boots and photochromatic aviator-style glasses.

Is it any wonder I was a "late starter" with the ladies?
(Scoobs, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 15:20, Reply)

hankoelspanko, i also come from nottingham
And along with the groups of chavs wearing tracksuits tucked into socks (one leg only though! important note!) stupid baseball caps literally perched on their heads and the aforementioned golf gloves, there is the other end of the spectrum, mainly goths who sit in the square aaaaaaallll day moping about complaining about sh!t. They have an interesting collection of clothing. I once caught my brother down there by chance wearing MY, thats MY demin jacket with the biggest safety pins through it, acompanied by a fluffy pink bag. I gave him the hiding of a lifetime.

The sight of my semi gothic (he was confused and 14) brother being chased by an 18 year old kinda smart 6"3' bloke shouting come back here you cnut with my bastard jacket will live in the memory forever.

Peace out.

EDIT: and I am faster than him. once de-robed he probably went back with the fluffy pink bag (not mine, nor his) and complained with his grebby gothic cronies until he grew out of it. I like to think of myself as his life advisor, only he has to learn the hard way.
(stevio is on the prowl for a girlfriend!, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 15:20, Reply)

I went to a "masked ball" fancy dress party once;
It was basically so that the girls could wear little masquarade-style feathery mask things and try to look classy. The blokes didn't see it the same way. I recall one mate going as an otter and another going as bin laden.

...and mine?

I printed and backed a FUCKING HUGE photo of Cliff Richard's big, gay, christian face, cut out the eyes, added string and wore it with pride.

I swear, it was the fucking scariest thing you will ever see. Because his face was slightly smaller than my own, the eyes were closer together than mine, and thus I had to tilt my head to the side slightly to be able to see through. The result? Even fucking scarier.

Later on, whilst enjoying a special cigarette outside with Michelangelo's David and an otter, I ended up dropping the mask on the wet grass, which caused the glue to show through the paper, and made our cliff look like he was covered in the jism of a thousand gays.

Result: Fucking terrifying.
( Naive Amoeba Bored Cig, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 15:19, Reply)

Bin Bags
Not so much fashion as a poor man's Halloween.

My mother somehow managed to make costumes out of black bin bags for my brother and I for many years. Such costumes ranged from Frankenstein to one year... a liquorice allsort.

Much more fun than the rich kids with their expensive costumes AND we probably got more sweets because they felt sorry for us.
(cool dry place, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 15:17, Reply)

To be honest most of the 'styles' i've been known to wear
I now look back on and cringe at.

just a small selection of a much larger horror that is my past wardrobe:
1) white jeans - should never be done
2) shiny, silver, mesh shirt - no no no
3) combat trousers 6 sizes too big - oh I looked sooo cool!!
4) a knitted jumper with Yogi Bear on it (ok I was 6 and dressed by my mother but still)
5) thats little sailors outfit that I had (my brother had the matching one - thinking about it tho it did get us attention from all the women in the room - We were babies - they were 40...)
( weekendsession, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 15:11, Reply)

Golf Gloves
Anyone from Nottingham knows that usually down at market square there is a mixture of social cliques hanging around and doing the usual teenage thing. Some of the fashion ideas displayed are quite entertaining, but none more so than the group of charvers who decided that they would pre-empt the next fashion trend by wearing one golf glove on their left hands.
(hankoelspanko, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 15:03, Reply)

Who says kids shouldn't play with plastic bags?
Only vaguely do I remember poking holes in the bottom corners of a carrier bag and sticking my legs through, then pulling the handles over my shoulders to form a rather snazzy set of Presto or co-op dungarees. I also remember that next time I tried I was too big.
Christ I must've been young (I was never a small child)
Oddly kinky behaviour for a toddler methinks?
(Greencloud Wanted to go fishing on, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 15:00, Reply)

more metal than metal
just getting really acquainted with ultra grind death doom black speed mentalness at the grand old age of 15 or so, and i bought a load of chain from the local diy shop and fashioned it into a forearm chainmail thing with lengths hanging down. At the time I thought I looked rock, the reality is i looked like a twat
Also used to wear a mummified chicken head as an earring, that was a definite winner with the girls (maybe i made that bit up) Theres loads, but they will come in flashes of divine inspiration as i dredge through some of my sillier metal goth club prep jazz drunk moments.
Woot
(kaptinkurtz, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 14:58, Reply)

Hat
I used to drive an old Volvo estate, and always tried to wear an old 'flowerpot' hat when driving it.

You have to look the part!
(Che Grimsdale Best before:, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 14:57, Reply)

Socks
Chavs who tuck their tracky bottoms into their socks.. what are they thinking! muppets.

I think the word *quim* is funny.
(Fishbone-didi, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 14:52, Reply)

food colouring will not dye your hair.

But it will dye your pillow.

And your actual head.
(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 14:52, Reply)

Gnarley, dude!
When I was a young skaterboy, I wanted a lovely pair of baggy shorts, but I couldn’t afford them. So instead of saving up my money and buying a pair, I borrowed a pair of my dad’s tan, 46” waist, corduroy plus fours he wore for shooting small animals.
They were so big I had to sew myself into them. I thought I was the bee’s knees at the time, but looking back I was probably just into bondage and looked like a twat.
( gadjie, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 14:48, Reply)

Cod-Pieces Are The Future
.
.
I know because at the last works Christmas party (before I was cruelly sacked for calling someone an incompetent fuckwit) we had a medieval night and I went wearing one of the worlds most unfeasibly large cod-pieces.

I've never had my knackers grabbed or been felt-up so many times in one night. And, if you ask nicely, I'll edit this post to show a pic of me in all my glory.

And Fuckwit? - You're still a fuckwit you know.......

Cheers

Legless
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 14:46, Reply)

Chav
I have ophotos of me from when I was around 10, and liked sportswear. This was before 'townies' and later 'chavs', but looking back I could easily have passed for one. I'm so glad my mum insisted I started to wear jeans...
(insert username here, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 14:41, Reply)

um 1st.............................. page?
using bogroll to immitate The Mummy's thousand year old bandages and then going on a halloween pub crawl in ipswich is, for future reference, not a good idea.

a: it was raining
b: the inbred tractor boys set me alight.
(altho the sodden mass my 'costume' had become saved me from a trip to ipswich casualty)

i do these things so you dont have to.
(magictorch, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 14:40, Reply)

Thermal Vest Fashion
When I was small I had some thermal undershirts.
I thought they were really fashionable as they were cream coloured and had lacy bits on.
And so I wore it out of the house as a normal top. At the time I thought I was really very cool.
Now, I realise I was just wearing a thermal vest.
( CaroWallis, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 14:39, Reply)

Damn you, Legless!
Anyway, not really fashion in the true sense - last Christmas I made the mistake of making my own fancy dress costume for the office party (I fucking hate fancy dress, so I was determined not to spend precious beer money on it).

Little hint, folks... don't do it. There are no bonus points on offer, you just look like a twunt - unless you know what you're doing, which (sadly for me) I didn't.

After all that, there was a free bar, so I could have spent my beer money on not looking like one of the "special people" :(

Well, here comes the obligatory bit:

1) *pop*
2) Generic massive cock gag goes here
(son_of_grumpy Last temper tantrum at, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 14:35, Reply)

woo!
4th. im cool
(stevio is on the prowl for a girlfriend!, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 14:32, Reply)

When early gangsta hip hop hit the UK...
...I was still at primary school, listening to The Beatles and The Doors because they had catchy melodies.

Within a month, I had persuaded my mum to buy me argyle socks and I started wearing trainers to school. With one leg of my school trousers tucked into my sock a la plus fours and a bandana round my neck, I was the don. I got called into the heads office on a unrelated matter where i can remember him commenting "You look like a farmer.".

It all went downhill from there as my life became one chavvy rollercoaster of a ride - spurned by agricultural colleges and death row records alike, no one would have me...
( prem1um is full of life, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 14:31, Reply)

Second!
And I have never worn paper trousers or a plastic bag for a hat.
( Normanator Bad case of trapped wind since, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 14:30, Reply)

Deely-Boppers
I once managed to aquire a few thousand Deely-Booppers - those crap spings that fit on your head with a couple of spangly stars on them.

Having no idea how the what the hell I was going to do with them, I took a load down my local heavy-rock nightclub - the Swinging Sporran in Manchester if anyone remembers that).

So there we had it. A couple of hundred pissed-up Hells Angel's (Satans Slaves) headbanging away wearing Delly-Boppers.

You can't make this shit up.....

Cheers
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Thu 24 Aug 2006, 14:27, Reply)