gothic imaging center: industrialism

You have a dark, cold heart shackled within a moribund, gaunt corperal vessel.
And you have nothing to wear!
Decide what shade of colorless you are and we'll talk. Or enjoy the silence.

These are bygone eras. They are ashes rightly heaped into the collective urn of youth pop history.
That said, no one likes to be a spitting image of the past unless your aim is to jump into the costume vortex of unchanging fashion. This is so important to remember especially while drawing inspiration from the recent past. These styles are now released out of the vault and into vintage boutiques because of the golden 20-year-cycle. If you're old enough to have lived through the moment, don't overdo it!

Here's the beginning on a four part study on dark fashion moments and their new relevance.

Part One: Industrial / Rivet

• most identifiable moment: rivethead and cyberpunk subcultures of 1990s: cultural hybridization spurred from crude information technology, originated in late '70s warehouse clubs.
Hackers, 1995
• main articles: metal hardware, BDSM & general fetishism, BDU-style belts, steel toe boots, industrial-grade repurposed materials.
• chronological definitive musical icons: early Throbbing Gristle, Caberet Voltaire, Chemlab

Chemlab - Filament, 1990

Cosey Fanni Tutti of Throbbing Gristle. ca. 1981

• why to work it in: as a nod to when the Net wasn't a marketing target machine that you willingly live in, but a way to bring down financial institutions and spur a hack war. Oh wait!
• how to work it in: non typical leather accessories for women: black leather backpacks, leather cuffs. Doc Martin's, nuts and bolts as fasteners, rivets, heavy canvas, re-constructed plastic and poly materials, metallics,  circular frames.

I'm not that big of a fan of this aesthetic in its original context. My purpose here is to explore industrialism's resurgence and interpretation in today's zeitgeist.  Send your hate mail to goodstyleshop@gmail.com!

Next Week: New Romanticism / Blitz Kid