When real things happen to imaginary people

If Kerry points a camera at me, I throw the horns. It's almost an instinctual response at this point. After this photo, the StuntHusband turned to me and said, "Really? It's a thing with you, isn't it?"

( More photos under here )

The event was spectacular. Lady Raven does a wonderful job in organizing and creating the Vampire Masquerade Ball, and I'm very grateful she does. And yes, I've already started thinking about next year's outfit. What?

Over on Ye Olde Tumblr, I've been finding a lot of deathrock-y fashion photos. Which, of course, fills me with nostalgia and the mad urge to incorporate Olde Skool deathrock & batcave elements into my Cupcake Gothic Victorian wardrobe.

An example: hey ElderGoths! Remember when we used to all wear layers and layers of artfully shredded tights? http://gothiccharmschool.tumblr.com/post/1075695307/ill-have-you-know-it-takes-a-lot-of-work-to-get

Which got me thinking about the intersection of Olde Skool and new media, and about how the "edgier" side of the mainstream fashion industry has recently been all aflutter over deconstructed looks^*. This led to some googling, and hey, look what I found:

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/shredded-tights

Yes, a tutorial on how to artfully shred hosiery. I'll admit it, I read it, went "D'aaaaaaaw!", and then giggled. All right, and I spent part of last night attacking a pair of black stockings with some nail scissors, but I was going to be doing that ANYWAY.

It really does look like there's some sort of batcave revival going on, which just tickles me no end. Some Tumblr blogs of what I'm seeing:

http://gothfashion.tumblr.com/
http://welldressedfortheapocalypse.tumblr.com/
http://deathwaves.tumblr.com



^* If you listen closely, you can hear the Stroppy One and the Infamous BlueJay grinding their teeth. They both hate deconstructed fashion with a burning intensity. I think it can be done very well, especially for photo shoots, but that usually in real life, it looks less like a fashion statement and more like someone doesn't take very good care of themselves or their clothes.

Over the past few weeks, I've been looking at goth magazines from the 80s and 90s. The issues of Carpe Noctem that stroppy_baggage discovered in the basement, a stack of Propaganda issues that I bought off of eBay. (Stop looking at me like that, most of the issues have actual interviews and pictures of the bands and random club-goers, and very few 'anorexic boi in eyeliner and skimpy clothing and/or Nazi regailia' Fred Berger photo spreads.)

The upshot is, I'm all nostalgic about the pre-Internet goth culture^*, and I'm trying to figure out (1) what I'm feeling nostalgic for, and (2) if what I'm missing still exists in The Scene somewhere, just not in Seattle.

( Ponder, ponder, witter, witter )
My goodness, that was a long ramble, wasn't it? I'll be interested to see if anyone has any comments.