Gothic hairstyles, does curly hair need to be dark?

A comment by one of my readers, Sexy Sadie, made me think. In response to the post Gothic hairstyles, can curly hair look good with your gothic outfit? She commented: "I think curly hair can be gothic, but it has to be dark hair".

Well, not necessarily. As with any other "look", it is the combination of elements (makeup, hair, accessories, clothing -including colours, textures and shapes-) what defines the overlook of it or the "theme". Someone completely dressed in black doesn't always look "gothic", so curly or wavy hair doesn't always need to have that romantic and sweet flair into it either....

Obviously, black or dark colour hair would make the overall dramatic effect come across easier, especially to someone who has a very sterotypical view about Gothic fashion, however, I still believe and I have already expressed this in my post, black raven hair (straight!) it can be too tiring!!!

As another reader pointed out, the character of Lestat the Vampire (played by Tom Cruise) is blonde and with curly hair. Does that make him look less "gothic" or sinister?

Take as an example the first picture, is from Aquascutum ( a fashion label with no relation or interest whatsover into dark or gothic themes). The model looks very dramatic. Why?
Well defined eyes in a very dark and smokey dark eye-shadow, sharp wine coloured lips, well defined figure thanks to a very beautifully tailored outfit, in this case a coat. The hair is curly! And is not either black raven or vamp red, is a brown golden dark colour and she still looks beautifully dramatic!

Let's take another example: bright blonde hair. The most difficult case, in my opinion.
Here is a picture of Jean Paul Gaultier's Winter collection for 2006. It is very phantasmagoric, I have to say, but I like because they didn't stick into black hair in order to create that romantic dark look. There is no need to say that it works because of the make-up and the clothes!

Retro is back!

After having apeek to the last catwalks, I'm so thrilled for this winter to come! (I've never been a summer person ayway....maybe 'cause I'm spanish and sunlight is not a big deal to me).

Anyway, after last winter's doom and gloom we will still expect more drama but this time with a stronger vintage "allure". As I said in my previous post, the current crisis shares too many similarities with the Great Depression (hence the strong 1930s influences in next winter's collections). If you look carefully at some collections the silouettes, textures and colours are very depression like. Even so more than the characteristic opulent Old Hollywood style of the same era. If you don't know what 1930s fashion is exactly, I will explain it in my next post.

For the moment, enjoy this very 1930s-Film Noir dramatic picture on the left.

(picture of the gorgeous burlesque performance Lydia LoveLace, photographed by Nik Pickard). (Hope they don't mind that I use this stunning picture)

I suddenly became a Goth.....part 5

Remember my "suddenly became a Goth" series"? Well, I didn't know I would find more "chapters" to add to the series :)
I don't really know if this chapter is legitimate but I just can't help thinking that the new look is dark enough to fall into not the proper goth but at least "dark" category.

I-ve always been a fan of Scarlett Johansson-s look. I love retro (1930s-1940s plus victoriana) and her looks are never too much colorful, au contraire, she usually plays with pastels (that-s why I-m not a big fan of the 50s although I can say that I still like it...).
Miss Johansson has paired her stylist (whoever he/she is, is doing a very good job) with D&G and you can see the result: strange, well, quite unusual. It is femenine, it is glamorous, it is rich and voluptous but very very dark indeed.
Why did this happen to....her?
Well, Gothic or dark will still be a big thing for next winter (due to the gloomy economical situation) but also retro, 1930s retro, to be precise due to the similiarities of this recession with the one from 1929. So I think that-s why miss Johansson's stylist has decided to embrace the dark side of retro.

You might still be wondering why Johansson looks "dark"? Well, here are some clues:

Firstly, the hair: that beautiful ginger/auburny colour is very very dramatic enough. It is one of the right shades to emphasize the already pale skin and accentuate her facial features. (Remember my post: Gothic make-up tips: an alternative to raven-black hair?). IF you have pale skin, any dark shade of hair will do the same job so, there is no need to go the raven hair to get that goth look.

Secondly, the makeup: those feline eyes, those bright red lips that look as she just had a glass of blood....It is retro makeup indeed. However, combining retro make-up plus pale skin tend to result to be a certain look:VAMP. And what is a vamp? A mix between a dominatrix and a vampire, a femme fatale! Which is the whole concept behind the female goth look.

Thirdly and last: black lace! There no need to say more. She couldn't have gone any more stereotypical. That stunning hugging figure outfit it only helps her to look even more vamp than what she already looks.
And she looks gorgeous....