Shantung black dress

This is my latest commissioned piece of work. A friend of mine asked me to make her a dress for a wedding. She gave a beautiful piece of black shantung with orange and coppery lines on it. So I decided to play with them. It's a plain "A" line maxi-dress, sleeveless with a lovely front piece on the chest, it also has a pleat in front of the chest, which I think is lovely and adds character to the top and it contributes to elongate it optically.
On the hole, I really like the overall folk look of this dress. It's very simple but it still looks sumptuous due to the brilliant combination of golds and black. I have to say that it's a very thin shantung, I don't like to work with it: it doesn´t drape, too heavy, it wrinkles amazingly easy! (although it´s very easy to iron) and makes anyone look middle-aged but in a bad way.

Cinema noir with gothic overtones

You might have realized by now that I'm very very into cinema noir but also Gothic.

You mix them both and get a collection inspired by such a femenine dark thing like a black widow

http://the-black-wardrobe.blogspot.com/search/label/black%20widow%20collection

OR, you get this: the Valentino campaign from a winter ago (I think). You get what you expect here: clever play of dark and shadows (a very characteristic feature of cinema noir), pale skin, bright red lips and very feminine but quite agressive females. They look like vampires! I´m particularly in love with the model of the second picture, look how cristaline her eyes are, she looks like a corpse.

Staples....Glamourous fetiche

I really like Viktor&Rolf, their collections are always classy, hiperfemenine but without getting to the borders of slut-ty edge (like Cavalli or Versace, as an example). It´s very difficult to create something that is wearable, femenine but at the same time, dramatic and theatrical and that´s something Goth fashion has yet to explore.

The last collection of these two dutch genius is called "No". Their key piece is the grey coat with a huge "No" formed on to the fabric, obviously, I´ve decided not to post it on this blog because that coat's pic is everywhere!

What really grabbed my attention, was a subtle "fetiche" detail that is adorning all seams: staples.
Something cheap, not beautiful, vulgar. Something you see in Home Bargains for about a £1 and in your office, every single day, in front of you....until you need them.
It seems an obvious alternative thing, however, I don't remember seeing it before. Except, in Batman....

As soon as I saw that corset with staples on it (second pic) it reminded me of Catwoman: hyper-feminine silouette, red wine lips, pallor, black smokey feline eyes and lots of character. Ironically, the collection is called "no" because the designers found it a sexy word/attitude. They worship a female figure that is strong, agressive but femenine and individual....like Catwoman! (I assume you got it but just to make sure, I mean Michelle Pfeiffer´s catwoman, not the other crappy one. What the hell where they thinking?)

I suddenly became a Goth.....part 3

Here´s the most surprising transformation so far: Peaches Geldof. Someone not related to Goth in any aspect whatsoever, so this might be the second and the last of her appeareances on this blog ever.

I would bet my arm that you must be wondering, what the hell dragged this woman to Goth or anything vaguely related to Dark fashion?!. Well, this little girl is going out with one of The Horrors. (Here´s a second example of "I-do-whatever-my-fella-is-doing").

Like Manson´s case, The Horrors have a classy and elegant gothic look, HOWEVER, their music -like Mr. Manson- IS NOT GOTHIC. People usually assume that your look will go along your work. It is not always the case.

As you can see in the pics, ms. Geldof has adopted a soft and dolly-type look which I really like as I´m tired of the Lolita look, sorry.

She´s kept her make-up down, with soft grey and pastel pinks (dark heavy make-up wouldn´t have suited her). But the most interesting bit of all -and that´s why she´s been featured on this blog- is because she hasn´t limited her wardrobe to just 100% black. She´s combined it with cream/beige (remember my tip?, pastel colours really accentuate your pallor in a sweet way), grey and my favourite, burgundy.

On top of that, she´s decided to dye her hair black or chestnut, which is a cliché but I still love it. Why? Because the cliché it would have been to straight down her hair raven-black-hair like some teenagers still do. Instead, she´s reshaped her dramatic now obscure hair with waves, which I think is sophisticated, glamourous and tones down the total look.

I suddenly became a Goth.....part 2

Here´s the second part of this mini-series. This second part is dedicated to one of my favourite gothic transformations: Eva Green.

Don´t get confused by the name, this actress is french and that is a detail that it shouldn´t be ignored. I don´t know if it is just me or is something that french women have inherited from their decadent historical french baggage...

French actresses have that "je ne sais quoi" very particular style, with the overall vintage feel.

They somehow manage to combine a very elegant style in a unconventional way.

They always play with those dichotomies: sexy-lolita (Brigitte Bardot), elegant-bitch (Émmanuelle Béart), romantic/bohemian-goth (Vanessa Paradise, Eva Green)....

My favourite one, Eva Green, is playing the romantic-goth look but is more vampish than the soft bohemian look of ms. Paradise.

I noticed the existence of this woman when I watched the Bond film. He was hot, but she was intriguing and sounded foreigner.....I did some research and aha! I found out she was french.

What I do love of her is that she always finishes her VERY dramatic looks with a romantic-soft hair-do (usually wavy and sleek).

She´s got a very sweet face, like most french women, so over-wearing makeup it wouldn´t go with her. She´s been very intelligent by playing with two main make-up looks that go very well with her fair and dolly face: soft grey smokey eyes and pastel colours or black eyeliner and red lips.

I suddenly became a goth.....Part 1

Suddenly, some people become goth from one night to another. Why? Well....I have to admit that having a partner/boyfriend/husband who is SO into something, soon or after you end up being "contaminated" by it, (I didn´t use to watch football matches before I met my boyfriend and He never wore black until he met me. Then he met me....I love seeing that pale skin and auburn hair "wrapped" in a wonderful black suit, it makes him look svelte and exquisitely well-groomed, like a perfect romantic gentleman). I can´t believe he didn´t see that before...

Going back to what I was talking about, I´ve seen several gothic "infections" this year, some deeper than others....and I´ve decided to recopilate a mini-series with the most interesting transformations. They could work as inspirational pics for all those corp. goths who are looking for ideas to update their daily black wardrobes or tame down the gothic frocks they already have.

The first chapter of this mini-series is going to be the most notorious one: the new mrs Manson. Just look at the picture and try to spot the difference between her and the ex mrs Manson, a.k.a. Dita V.T.

Gothic make-up tips: an alternative to raven-black hair

"Raven-black" hair has become an stereotype of the Goth look and now of the Emo look as well.... That's why it's not suitable for the office sometimes, specially with a very paled skin. It´s still considered a "teenage" feature and I know some Goths do want to stay away from Emos as much as they can....I still love the raven look, but that's my opinion.


If you have been told off by your boss or you just got tired of it, I've found some interesting other options, like chestnut or chocolate shades. They're not as boring as you might think (unless you´ve got dark-olive skin and brown eyes, just go to Spain and you,ll see what I mean...) as they still add drama to a fair skin but without making you look too "gothy" for the office. Because Chestnut is a very dark shade of brown, -which is a "warm" colour, unlike black- it brings a subtle golden/auburny shine to the face.




If I´m not wrong, Cameron Diaz was one of the first ones who started it, she went from blonde to chocolate, which gave a lot of sophistication to her look and then Lindsay Lohan changed her gorgeous ginger hair to slut-blonde first and then to chocolate. Obviously, because she´s a natural red-head, the chestnut colour really worked on her, it made her look sophisticated, grown-up and -if it wasn´t because of the bloody fake tan-dramatic but without being too "gothy".

gothic fashion tips: how to tame down a gorgeous black lace dress

I´m sure there´s no Goth or Goth-enthusiastic out there without a black lace dress inside their wardrobes. Waiting for "the chance" to be worn for......

Lace, as any other opulent fabric, is quite tricky to wear during day-light (specially if you are paled-skin and dark-raven hair....that easily screams out "goth") but I´ve found these pics that prove my point that everything can be tamed down and consequently, been adapted for any corporate Goth.

The key is, again, keep it simple. The fabric is already opulent and rich so it doesn´t need any help to claim any more attention than what it already does. That means: plain accesories (nothing outrageous, matt textures...) and not too edgy make up. Either dark lips and nude eyes (look at the Peaches Geldof pic, I wonder when this woman became been interested in the dark look) or (my favourite) soft smokey black eyes and nude lips. Take this Pearl Lowe´s pic as an example, she has combined a soft grey smokey eyes with soft pink lips. She has managed to smooth her look down with a doll-face make-up that doesn´t add anymore to her already "vamp-ish" outfit.

So you want smokey black eyes...

I been addicted to the smokey black eyes look since my teens. In fact, is the key feature of my look (I might wear a bit of blush, nude-tone lipstick...but always black eyes, like a panda!)

Well, I think it hasn´t hit the british stores yet, but while I was in Spain, I had the chance to see the Bourjois ad. Their new eye-shadow is meant to be "elastic", it doesn´t crack on your eyelids and is dead easy to apply. hmm...tempting and it was only 12euros! (£10 aprox.)

My huge dissappointment was to find out that the "jet-black" colour IS NOT black. It´s like a charcoal shade, quite dark but not proper jet-black. It was a shame...
I will have to go for M.A.C....My purse will never forgive me...

We are awaiting an indeed dark winter...

As usual, Black is coming back this winter (nothing new) however, this black has the darkest feel I've seen so far. Trapped in the middle of a crisis, fashion designers have created black collections which are surrounded by a dark and dejected mood. That's VERY good news for us, Corporate Goths! At last, a fashion that understands Goth. Dark and simple collections that don't try to over-do. Simple and austere pieces that complement paled and worried faces....

We don't know if we'll be able to pay our bills. Will there be any petrol left, the next time we go to the local petrol's station?

Every couple of seasons, I´ve noticed that some designers have tried to bring Goth to mainstream as a desperate try to claim some attention to themselves or, perhaps, as a desperate try to be "super-alternative". It hasn´t been necesary this time....The world is in a "ennui" mood. This time, Goth has crawled from the darkness on its own, from the dark depth of our worries to the catwalk. Will its fashion be adopted by this dark-mooded mainstream?

We hope not, as we hope this crisis will not last as long as some pessimistics are trying to convince us....