babybattips - Tumblr blog

[babybattips]

I have a written blog @archvampyr-txt if some mutuals would be interested 🥹

[babybattips]

Oldschool lolita and 80s goth were supreme when it comes to outfits, I miss the punkish experimental vibe of these subcultures. Like it's so cookie cutter now. Way too many goths look the same (don't come for me, I've been attending goth events for over a decade and the clones are cloning. It got so much worse, tumblr isn't free of goth clones either). Lolitas basically want to crucify people who are being experimental. Not all of them obviously, I feel like it's mostly beginners, but there's a lot of that happening anyways. It's all so matchy-matchy all the time, so BORING. Like do the Fruits magazine things, just do you! It's ok to be matchy-matchy sometimes, but don't put yourself into a box. The labels are making people so repetitive. Where's the creativity???

I'm not into the whole "DIY or die" goth mindset, but the subculture became very materialistic, even though so many goths say they're anti-capitalists. So which one is it? It's completely doable to be goth without DIY, but also without cookie cutter brands like Killstar. Having some pieces is obviously fine, but gigantic hauls aren't exactly post-punk. And again it's BORING. Just either thrift or even but fast fashion in small quantities, depends if your country has cheap thrift stores. In Poland, where I'm from, it's completely normal to find a 100% wool coat with 100% natural silk lining in a thrift shop for $2, but when I went thrifting in Germany it was kinda worse in comparison to h&m, so stick to what's comfortable financially to you, just don't overdo the shopping and buy responsibly. Also Germans fix your thrift stores. It's supposed to be affordable and sustainable and you're ruining it for profit.

[babybattips]

Actually I'll never forgive Punk Rave and Killstar and fast fashion brands for tricking people into thinking that being goth or punk or emo is expensive. Babygirl the only goth brand names you need to know are Rit, Good Will, Etsy, and Studs and Spikes, we used to shove safety pins through our ears and then they started selling earrings that look like safety pins for 15.99. We used to dye thrifted wedding dresses black and they started selling gothic gowns for 300 bucks. We used to put studs on boots we found in the back of the good will and they started making Demonias. DIY or die wasn't perfect it can be exclusionary to disabled people but whatever the fuck we've got going on right now is so much worse. It's not any more inclusive to the disabled and it is exclusionary to the people who made punk, to the people who made goth, to the people who made emo. If you've got the funds and you don't want to do diy pay someone else to do it for you but please let it be a small artist or a friend not some guy in a suit who's made it his business to gentrify punk. You can turn flats into platforms with flipflops, hotglue and gumption don't let anyone tell you different.

[babybattips]

(Rant) Criticisms of goth community, based on personal experiences

CW/TW: last paragraph touches on antisemitism and extreme right wing people, second last is about animal abuse.

I'm starting my 11th year in this subculture. English is not my first language. This post starts with unimportant pet peeves and ends on basically a hate crime :,)

This is a bit different to my usual tips posts. I was never too keen on dance parties in clubs, I mostly attended festivals or live shows when it comes to goth events. In September 2022 I wanted to change that. I'm in Lower Silesia / Southwestern Poland and most of these particular adventures happened in Wrocław or in the Lower Silesian voivodeship, but some of these things apply to the wider goth community I feel like.

First of all, this might piss people off, but of we look up a definition of a poser - most goths are posers. They don't pose as goths - that seems to be the no. 1 crime in this subculture, but I don't mean it in that way - they pose as these intellectual academics, "I'm smarter than you" people. (It's not like I'm not guilty of that myself, but I'm trying my best to not be a megalomaniac lol) To add some context, I work in a museum that is ran by one of Poland's biggest archival institutes - my specialty is culture and fashion of the Polish Sarmatian Nobility, but I also work with let's just say history of literature and culture in 19th century Poland. And holy shit for some reason goths LOVE to flex knowledge they just don't have - the Victorian era often being the main focus. The easiest example is Black Friday's "Historical Black & Red Fashion from Punk Rave" video, in which she says that massive puffy sleeves were a popular fashion choice in the "begginning of the Victorian Era, the early 1800s". The era started in 1837 and yes, you'd find some puffy sleeves in 1830s-40s, but the puff starts lower on the arm, not at the shoulder - Black Friday was complaining about the puffs on the shoulders and how they could potentially not fit her figure. She's referring to the 1890s dresses. Her mistake is just an example, she's not a historian and I generally like her, not trying to be mean here. She's just a massive public figure, and referring to some people with no internet presences who I've met at some point would make a shit example.

Other thing about posing is this whole "we're the aristocracy of the night" - no hun, you're a hoe for capitalism, wearing a polyester vampire dress from Party City Punk Rave, drinking goth club vodka and happily listening to insanely pretentious, fast food for the brain kinda songs, like "We're the Children of the Dark" (if you don't know that song, good, you're blessed). Obviously not all goths are like this, but my local community is packed with these folks. Before someone accuses me of anything related to finances when it comes to clothes - thrifting a silk, linen or wool in Poland requires literally $5 on the most expensive thrift store day, $1,50 on the cheapest. Punk Rave is so much more expensive than thrifting organic, very high end clothing. You know why people still buy these plastic garments? It's tacky, and they love it. The pseudo-brocade fabric with pseudo-baroque ornaments, neon purple prints slapped on a synthetic satin black dresses, it's just horrible, but it sells for some awful reason. (For context - I'm a design student, currently doing a master's degree, so at least I'd like to think this whole argument is not only based on my personal taste.) I'm not saying you can't enjoy these things, but enjoy them for what they are - and they're everything but high quality, aristocrat worthy pieces.

Now we're moving onto music yay! So, seems like every goth I meet is a metalhead who listens to one post punk song per 100 metal songs. And I'm not talking about babybats here! Not about casuals either, but about people who claim to be elders with massive knowledge. I've met a guy once (sadly) who claimed to be an elder goth at the very young age of 29. Sure. Did he have knowledge? Lol obviously he didn't. Not about goth music, but he was crazy about screamo. Nothing against screamo, but it's kinda *cough* cringe *cough* to claim yourself as a trad elder while you're not even 30 and don't really listen to goth stuff. Also he defended racist bands, so that's fun.

Another thing that I mentioned is the popularity of fast food songs as I call them. I'm not fully against that kind of music, but it bothers me when people only listen to that and act like it's peak music taste. Examples (please don't get upset if you like these artists or songs, I'm just some person on the internet after all) are, again, Children of the dark by Mono Inc ft. Chris Harms, Joachim Witt and Tilo Wolff, whatever tf Lacrimosa is doing these days, Lord of the Lost, Die Kreatur, Deathstars. But "Children..." is the worst offender, with such subtle, not at all middle school lyrics like:

"We're nothing like you A wall in black We're nothing like you And you don't get who we are, who we are"

or

"We're nothing like you, we're true and free We're nothing like you but you can't see We're nothing like you and all the rest We're nothing like you We're the children of the dark"

LIKE ARE WE ALL 12 YEARS OLD. TELL ME. This is so cringe in the worst way possible. It's so bad. How does this pass as something of value? My local community just adores this trash. And like what happened to Tilo's music? It used to be good, and now it's this edgelord shadow the hedgehog shit. Tbh I do history classes for 12 y.o. kids and they'd laugh at this. I can understand that this might be someone's guilty pleasure, but something you brag about? Even if you genuinely like songs like these (if they make you happy, don't stop listening to them! I might find it cringe, but like idk people may be drawn to these for a variety of reasons), I feel like it's important to anyone, goth or not, to consume high quality music from time to time, even to just learn about music in general.

Another thing is lack of originality. Goths often are like "normies all look the same haha". Honey goths look like clones. Don't come at me with these "there are victorian, trad and hippie and many other types of goths" argument, because it only means that people choose from 20 established looks. Trad goths look extremely similar to each other. Same with "victorian" goths. Same with hippie goths, romantic goths, vampire goths, whatever. I stopped wearing distinctly gothic outfits some time ago. I still dress in all black everyday, but the style of pieces is more, uhh, just 60s mod inspired? Or very formal. Just personal taste, it kinda happened by accident.

TW animal abuse

Last crime is a more significant one, very present in my local community, as well as uh, everywhere really - bigotry, ignorance, racism, sexism, lack of maturity. I have two very clear examples taken from my personal life. The first one happened on the last Castle Party - a dude had a pet owl and was smoking cigs, while the bird was on his shoulder, inhaling the smoke. Some girls tried to act up, but the dude refused to listen. One of them posted a photo of him with the owl to a facebook group, and the responses were mixed. Most women in the comments were rightfully infuriated, but most men (the whole comment section was weirdly divided by genders) only typed "poka sowe" (pol. show owl), a reference to a very stupid Polish meme rap songs about, well, pp. Because why care about animal abuse when you can be silly and goofy!

TW antisemitism

Another example is from Castle Party 2019, me and my friend had a very funky tent from the 80s, it looked like a small circus, but was difficult to put up. Some men in their 40s asked (very politely) if we need help, so we said yes and thanked them. They helped us with the tent... while shouting antisemitic slurs and statements such as "this party isn't for the lefties". The friend I was with is Jewish (she doesn't look Jewish tho, so they probably had no idea), so that was just. Yea. Sorry about this being so negative, but all of these experiences made me almost leave the subculture. At the end of the day, I'm a bit too attached to many parts of it, but the local community is not one of them. I'd rather just listen to my CDs by myself at this point.

[babybattips]

🖤 Non-obvious Goth festival etiquette and tips 🖤

Hi! I came back from a festival, it was amazing! And I wanted to maybe give some tips to younger people who want to go for the first time. My advice is based of the Castle Party Festival in Poland.

1. Know your limits. This doesn’t only apply to alcohol and god knows what types of drugs (just don’t do drugs, it’s 2022 and no one is going to be impressed), but to clothes, makeup, crowds and noise levels. Castle Party takes place in a medieval castle - Freya from the channel It’s Black Friday described it as WGT but with hills. Well, it’s not only hills, also medeival European pavements. How do people wear Demonias and Pleaser shoes, I legit have no idea - it’s hard to even walk in pikes on these stones. Obviously not every goth festival has medieval castles, but most if not all of them require a lot of walking and standing, so heels can be painful; you could also just sprain your ankle in both heels and high platforms, if you’re unlucky or just in a hurry. Lower platforms are ok, I had 5cm / 2 inches and was super comfy.

When it comes to clothes, check the weather forecasts and please oh my fucking god, take something rainproof  that isn’t an umbrella, so a raincoat or a foil cape. Umbrellas and parasols will cover the stage viev for other people. Also pack something that won’t be too awful in the heat, even if it’s not fancy and pretty. If the forecasts suggest cold weather, take a WOOL sweater or shawl with you - not acrylic, not velvet, wool. You can buy one second hand if you don’t support fast fashion or if you’re vegan (you won’t be supporting the wool industry that way). Don’t forget about high SPF sunscreen and a hat for sunny days.

Remember that concerts can be LOUD - especially goth shows with strong bass guitars, so definitely take earplugs if it’s your first time - you might end up not using them or they might save your ears.

2. If you’re a newbie, don’t try to seem experienced. Everyone’s gonna see through it. When I’m walking at a festival, I can clearly see who’s new - and it’s cool to be new. Goth needs new people and you’ll be just as appreciated as elders, if not more.

3. Don’t try to put a super fancy outfit together if you lack experience in the fashion part of goth. The entire style walks the line between beautiful and extremely tacky - if you can’t afford higher quality clothing from a store, go thrifting! Like I do! Don’t support Killstar or Punk Rave, they SCREAM polyester and other fabrics that start with poly- (all of these are plastic). I’m gonna be harsh here but it’s literally Pathetic with a big P to dress in an aristocrat inspired outfit if it’s not made of high quality materials. Silk, linen, cotton, wool, rayon and other natural fabrics are your friend. When choosing a goth outfit, look at the lace carefully - avoid nylon and raschel lace, go for cotton and embroidered tulle lace. Silk lace is also amazing, but hard to find.

It’s better to wear a simpler outfit than buy a “fancy” one on aliexpress - remember, most goth festivals have press reporters and there’s a huge chance of your pictures appearing on the internet. You don’t wanna be embarassed when you find them.

Here’s my outfit from this year, made of wool, linen and cotton + leather shoes. I also had an organza petticoat under my dress.

And under my capelet was this (sorry abt the thrift store tag):

Some older photos from ye olde days (from oldest to newest):

(these made me very nostalgic but also huh I had a glowup. Wouldn’t leave the house like this nowadays)

4. When watching the live shows, try not to bother other people in the crowd - for example, if you have a gigantic hat - take it off for the concerts (if it’s not too sunny - if you have a hat because it’s hot, that’s a different story - take care of yourself.) When you’re dancing, try not to bump into others too much if it’s possible. If you have to give up your spot to go to the bathroom for example - there’s a chance you’re not coming back, especially if it’s a famous band. It’s possible to go back to a spot just by the stage after leaving, but it’s difficult. Most of the time you either go pee or keep watching from your nice spot.

If I gave up my spot during She Past Away live show, there’s no way I’d get it back.

Basically have fun, avoid a heat stroke and don’t wear stilettos to a medieval castle.

[babybattips]

Wanted to put it on this blog too. Reseach music dear babybats, so you can go to a fastival and not grandly embarass yourself. Metal =/= goth.

if tiktok stopped contributing to mainstream fucks fetishising goth women… that would be fantastic

[babybattips]

“PiNk Isn’T gOtH” and other dumb shit kids on tiktok like to comment

Before we start - no I don’t have a tiktok account and I’m not raging about a kid commenting on me :,))) I have standards thanks

I went on youtube and saw a video by a youtuber called Drama Kween - she, as you can probably imagine, talks about drama. And also dressed very alternatively. I don’t know what she listens to exacly or if she’s goth or not - maybe she just got a comment and doesn’t identify as a goth at all - idk. But, back to the video - it’s simply called “you’re not goth if you wear pink” and is about the comments that Drama Kween recieved on her tiktok video in which she was wearing pink lipstick. That is... well. If you think that, there’s not a single drop of individuality in you, get out of the subculture. We don’t need toxic middle schoollers who run around screaming at people. I’m not gonna cover how stupid this way of thinking is - if you have a single braincell, there’s no need for me to explain it. I wanna talk about the response. Not exactly Drama Kween’s one, just overall - how people react to comments like this.

Let me get this straight - if you’re offended by “uR NOt GoTh” comments - you’re still a babybat. That’s not a bad thing - babybats are goths! It’s fine and I totally understand why younger or simply less experienced goths are upset by these comments - I’d definitely be back in the day. Don’t worry, it will go away as time passes by. You’ll learn more about goth stuff in general even by being on tumblr and finding new bands for example.

But... Responding to dickcock comments ON YOUTUBE, making a whole ass video, editing it and whining about a bunch of kids on the hellfire app... That totally screams self confidence, right? I mean, making a polished video takes time and effort... That you put in because an egirl kiddo told you a bad thing? It’s ok to question your knowledge - especially if you’re new - but don’t let these fucks have what they want. Don’t give them satisfaction, it’s actually a bit embarassing.

Story time! I once commented on some girl’s very nsfw picture, I said something like “there are minors here, can you please not show your whole vag to the internet and stop tagging these things as goth?”. (Spoiler - goth does have a crossover with the fetish / bdsm communtity, but fetish goth photoshoots have like... goth aesthetic in them for example? Do I really need to explain this...? Anyways the picture was just a full on normie and her vag) And OH MY was she enraged. She made like five accounts on ig and commented simply “not goth” on my 200+ photos, called me a nazi and made a gigantic angry post on her blog. Like... ok karen? Sorry I don’t have a manager. I just blocked her and had a blast with my friends. And honestly, that’s what you should do. Just don’t care about it, these people have no lives.

Remember - if someone posts a concrit comment underneath your post, maybe they actually have something to say. If the “that’s not goth” comment is polite and talks about music - if your knowledge isn’t exactly extensive, I’d look up whatever the commenter is talking about.

You know what really isn’t goth? Lil Peep. Baby Goth. Oh and lack of individuality. Right...

(Psst, you can listen to Lil Peep and Baby Goth tho. Remember. Individuality.)

[babybattips]

vampire with strega tendencies? dunno how i’d call my personal style

thrifting tip: if it’s not silk or wool don’t buy it <3

(I like to make these inspo boards or whatever they’re called if I have absolutely nothing to do)

[babybattips]

🖤 Non-obvious tips for babybats / new goths 🖤

Hello! My blog is a small one, but I still hope someone will find this helpful. So. There are plenty of “tips for babybats” videos on youtube and now probably tiktok, but they’re always basically the same things: research music, thrift, don’t be obnoxious, find a local scene. Easy. I’ve been a part of this goth thing since 2012 and observed some stuff. So here’s my little post about do-s and don’t-s. If you’re a new goth and don’t agree with me, that’s fine too.

Firstly, I don’t think babybats are really defined by “listening to Evanescence or Manson, shopping at Hot Topic and writing questionable poetry”; well, this is just one half of this group in my opinion. The second one is new goths who just learned what goth actually is and make it their entire personality, look, lifestyle, everything. I don’t think it’s good to just throw your non-goth hobbies and interests away for the sake of being ubergoth. In fact, most goths who have been in the community for a while will probably find it laughable, and nobody wants to be laughed at. I installed tiktok recently and EVERY goth video I’ve seen was either “hehe I’m so goth my fav band is mgła” or “Hey call me Siouxsie!!!”. Althrough I must admit I don’t spend a lot of time on tiktok. Anyways, if you like rap, don’t stop listening to rap; if your favorite color is lime green, add it to your outfits. It’s fine. Only people with no working braincells will have problems with that. And! Don’t shriek at e-girls, it’s so stupid and peak babybat.

Secondly, I often hear that babybats should “get familiar with goth subtypes, like victorian, perky or trad and pick one that suits them most”. Well, you can do that, if you want to be a super mainstream goth who defines their style by one thing only. (Goth has it’s own mainstream, yes. When I started it was focused on romantic and nu goth, now I feel like it’s trad and hippie goth.) Obviously you can take inspirations from major goth icons like Robert Smith, Rozz Williams, Siouxsie and Dave Vanian - they all have or had great styles - but don’t become an impersonator. I personally have been a fan of visual kei since forever and many of my style icons come from this scene, and also Japanese goth / post punk. If you’re dead set on trad goth, google pictures of batcave kids, they were really creative, and maybe pictures from the 80s scenes from around the globe, countries like Russia, Turkey and Japan had really big goth communities.

The third thing - goth is a communtiy of people, and it has seen better times. The scene has a little crisis and many clubs are closing (it was happening before covid too), so don’t gatekeep. Just don’t. It’s killing the scene. I’ve seen a drawing made by a teenage goth here on tumblr, depicting a trad “““grufti”“““ stabbing an e-girl with a knife. This is so embarassing, oh my god. I left a very very critical comment under that post. If you’re a new goth, don’t even try to “educate” e-girls, emos, whatever, because these people are not trying to “steal” goth or be a part of our community - they’re doing their own thing. If one of them actually wants to be a goth, they will get there by themselves, it’s one google search away from them, and after all, gatekeeping will stop newcomers from actively keeping the scene alive.

The fourth one - goth trends. They’re quite dumb. Don’t follow them, I would say. Goth influencers often participate in them, as they recieve PR from goth clothing companies, thus, they’re promoting them to their viewiers. Goth trends are based on mainstream trends - in 2015 there were cringey “witchy n bitchy” slogan tees and skinny jeans with studs, now we’re seeing a lot of layering, strega inspirations, techwear-ish items and Y2K influences. And it’s just not worth it. It’s so overpriced and after all, fast fashion, so it will be considered tacky (or fall apart) soon. (I owned a Punk Rave coat once, it was tragic.) It’s a different story if you really like a trend and maybe see yourself keeping the item regardless of what’s “in” - for me it’s wide leg pants and layered strega skirts. The swooshier, the better. From the 2010s, I still own a felt wide brim hat and a lot of maroon things. I love maroon and no one will disrespect my vampire red color in my house. (It’s so dumb, why is an entire color considered cheugy? Mainstream, you ok?) Also don’t buy polyester, it just looks sad. The wrong type of sad.

The final thing. Very, very important. Goth has a big crossover with the fetish and BDSM community, thus we see a lot of harnesses, latex clothing, ridiculous heels and also nudity. If you’re a babybat, you’re probably a minor, so please protect yourself, because this scene is sadly full of weird creeps. I’m not saying you should wear a black potato sack, but maybe don’t wear a latex lingerie set, fishnets and stripper heels to any events and don’t post riskey pictures of yourself. It’s not “empowerment”, it’s dangerous. If you want to be a sex worker, wait until your an adult and REALLY think about it before starting.

AND WEAR YOUR MASK.

Have fun and remember, babybat isn’t a bad word for more experienced goths. Just a part of the community, an incredibly important one. Don’t be offended if someone calls you a babybat or a newbie, it’s most likely not with bad intent.

[babybattips]

🖤 Non-obvious tips for babybats / new goths 🖤part 2

Hi! Seems like part 1 of this actually helped some people (here it is), so I want to add some more tips.

My academy is closed yet again due to the virus, so I had a bit more time to stay on social media and browse the goth hashtags and now I have some thoughts. Here they are.

1. I'm a big fan of tattoos, like many people are nowadays, obviously tattoo world has it's trends. There were tribals, geometric watercolor pastel wolves, occult motives, the infamous forest sleeve that "everyone has" (I literally never saw it on anyone irl), swallows, infinity signs, now we see a trend called ignorant tattoos, with it's often vulgar motives, dark humor and rather grungey aesthetic. I don't really have an opinion on these, some of them are dope, but I've read an interview with one of Poland's most famous ignorant tattoo artist, who said his main demographic are people from 18 to 25 years old. And sure, I'm in that age group myself - 22. My internet mate has one of these, depicting a can of her favourite beer.

My tip is simple: think before you get a tattoo. An ignorant one or not. Try to stay away from trends, choose an artist that you really like (AND HAS A LICENCE), talk to them about your idea and LISTEN TO THEM! They know their tattoos.

On the other hand, remember that not every tattoo has to have the most philosophical and intellectual meaning on planet Earth. Things that matter to you are the way to go, don't search for somenting that is "intellectual" if you don't connect with it. I have three tattoos, a simple kanji for Tsuki (Moon), after The Mortal's song Tsuki, a panel from Pet Shop of Horrors, because, well, it's been my favourite manga for like seven years, and a handpoked sword crossed with a leaf - simply because I liked the design and I like swords. They're cool.

Remember to take care of your tattoos and don't wear Killstar, Punk Rave etc. pieces for a while after getting one, they are mostly made of polyester (plastic) and won't let the skin breathe properly. Synthetic lace is also a no, as it's way too scratchy and can give you an awful rash.

I don't have any piercings but I can definitely say, choose a trusty piercer and don't get anything pierced with a gun!

2. Let's talk about expectations! Or the idea of them. Young goths like to prove themselves to the elders, or just more experienced people in the community. I was like that too, I really wanted to be percieved as the gothest goth on the facebook group - I teased my hair, always did the angular trad goth eyeliner, ripped my tights, bought winklepickers, you get it. I had this feeling that everyone in the subculture judged me and gave a score in their head - from one star, barely goth, to five, the ubergoth. But the thing is. No one cares. If they do, it's either because they're a scumbag elitist, not worth even looking at, or met too many people who posed as goths but really weren't - in that case, there's nothing to worry about, as long as you're actually interested in this subculture. There's no need to know everything after a month, no need to tease the hair if you don't want to. Actually, I think being honest with a possible lack of knowledge will be very benifitial, there's nothing more annoying than a teenager trying to convince you they know everything. Just tell the people that you don't know something - they will probably explain it to you and everyone will live happily ever after.

3. This one will be about social media and the disastrous trend of creating cringe compilations. Firstly, don't you dare to watch them and boost the activity. Why? Well, don't they often depict regular people just... enjoying things...? Exactly the way you do. They like ponies, you like Diva Destruction. Both are considered underground, both can be tossed into one of these awful compilations. It's so toxic and screams low self esteem. Lives of people behind the compilations accounts must be fucking miserable.

Think before you publish a photo, video, text post, whatever. Bullying is sadly a thing and can happen to anyone. Luckily I didn't have any serious cyberbullying episodes, buuut, there were no cringe compilations in the early 2010s, we were cringe and proud of it - and it was so cool! People were so geniuine on their blogs, youtube channels, ask.fm profiles... (I was kinda famous on ask.fm actually, it was really cool and I loved that platform a lot.) If you want to share the not so glamorous parts of your life online, create a profile, private it and don't let random people follow it, always look through the accounts. You can have two accounts, one main and one private, for friends.

4. Now to the topic of clubbing. I thought it's obvious but no, people are still people, doing dumb shit. If your country has a lot of covid cases DON'T FUCKING GO CLUBBING! I know we are all bored and wish for the pandemic to finally stop, but let me tell you, breaking all the rules because you desire a dance and low quality alcohol is really really fucking stupid. You're basically shooting yourself in the foot - you go to the rave, catch corona, spread corona, more people are sick, the pandemic goes on because of you, goth venues close one after another. Great job! You fucked all of us up.

God that type of behaviour really annoys me.

Btw feel free to dm me if you're a babybat trying to figure things out, I'm happy to help :)

[babybattips]

🖤 Goth and sustainability - a guide🖤

🖤 not only for babybats 🖤

(note: English isn’t my native language)

I really enjoy making these “babybat tips” text posts (although this one is for everyone who wants to spend less money and choose timeless pieces only). I wanted to make one about sustainable shopping for goths - based on my own mistakes from the past :,) Many people say that goth trends don’t pass by, they just kinda stay? But like. No. Fam. Nu goth?? Remember her? Remember the occult leggings and cringe Witchy n Bitchy jumpers? They’re not really a thing now (luckily). In the 2010s fast fashion had it’s hay day and goths sadly did conform - Just think about Killstar’s popularity. It made fast fashion goth, sold the same things that “normies” liked, but in black. (If you weren’t goth in around 2015 - check out ReeRee Phillips’ youtube channel. She doesn’t post anymore but her fashion videos are a good example of the perfect goth look at the time.) I personally didn’t buy from Killstar, because of the prices - it was expensive for the Americans, Germans, Scandinavians, so for me - a Polish teenager - basically impossible to get. And it saved my closet! I’m glad it’s not affordable! Less people will buy cheap shit marketed as “OcCuLt LuXuRy” (it’s literally the cheapest shit I’ve ever seen), if it has “luxurious” prices. Good. But I still shopped in chain stores like H&M. Aaand now I don’t really know what to do with these clothes - I take care of all my garments and they still look brand new, but… they are so cheap and just tasteless. Some of them I sold on vinted, but some are still haunting my closet.

Ok, so, how to shift from fast fashion to actually timeless and high quality pieces that won’t ruin your wallet? Depends on what you’re looking for. For me (my style is somewhere between trad and romantic, sometimes I just dress like a typical art hoe but in black - can’t really run around my art college building, linocut chisels in hand while wearing long dresses and fishnet tops) second hand stores work. Two days ago I found a maxi dress made of balck silk velvet and I loooveee itttttt. When searching for more specific pieces, I use vinted - it works like poshmark, but is more popular in my country. When looking for something VERY specific - like a historically accurate chevalier collar, maybe a corset - Etsy. Or really obscure local businesses. Items like that are more expensive, but will probably last a long time.

We know where to dig, but how to dig? Rule number one, if something is oversaturated in mainstream fashion, avoid it like the plague. Think of chunky plastic rings that were popular in 2020 and the beginning of 2021. I’ve seen more and more people hating them now. Money wasted, bravo you. Some of these things are so so popular, that we don’t really think of them as a trend, it’s just how things are. I felt like this about skinny jeans, even though In didn’t wear them that much. Yeah, avoid these items. Now it would be very wide jeans. Maybe choose something in between? Not skinny but not completely wide. (Must admit, I own wide pants but made of velvet - easy to make them look classically 1980s, just tuck them into pike boots.) 

If you don’t like trad goth and 80s fashion, you can choose from any other decade - ffs I take inspiration from 1630s sometimes. Just buy items from the decade! Bell bottoms from the 70s, tennis skirts from the 90s, you get it. (Yes I followed that rule with 1630s. It’s easy to find if you know what you’re looking for. Obviously you can’t really wear items that are centuries old, because of the fabric damage and the worth of the item alone, but you definitely can buy jewellery and things like lace trims from the era! If you want a full 1850s gown, look for the right person in the historical costuming communtiy and commission them!) What I’m trying to say is, avoid pieces that are younger than 20 years old. Shoes are an icky topic for me, because I really, really don’t wanna get a fungus - you never know who owned your boots before… Luckily, winklepickers are easy to find. Just invest money in your footwear and choose good quality.

Anyways, it’s good to choose items that are so far away from mainstream fashion, that normie people just don’t have an opinion on them. Not a strong one. In 2022 - wide pants good skinny pants bad. Pluderhosen? What are pluderhosen? They went out of fashion hundreds of years ago, probably won’t come back - most people don’t consider them a possibility. That’s good, there’s no chance of them becoming the no.1 cheugy thing. Even 1960s mod fashion fits into that box, it’s not something a normie would wear. Hell, 80s trad goth fits into that. It will not become fashionable in it’s original form, and that’s why it’s a good look if you wanna reduce spending and negative environmental impact.

Now materials! Basically just avoid polyester, I’d say viscose is shit too, it won’t last long and looks cheap. My go to-s are natural silk, wool, mohair, merino and cotton. You can get silk items for cheap - read fabric info tags on clothes in second hand shops and ask about materials when buying from poshmark / vinted / ebay / whatever sellers. Also. 5% silk 95% polyester is not a silk garment. The silk was probably added to it as a marketing stunt.

Last topic I wanna talk about - folk clothes. Remember that what we consider “folk” was often what poor people and peasants used to wear. I’ll use the example of Polish folk, because it’s the easiest for me to talk about, obviously. Kinda awful how our floral folk motives became so watered down by brands like folkstar. (why tf does it have an English name?! Folkowa Gwiazda I beg u!) It’s now mostly worn as a cheap accessory for weathy middle class people, because obviously… Most of them don’t even know the history of their own folklore. Please learn about what a garment represents before buying it. Kilts are probably the most popular native dress in the goth subculture - I wear them, and I’m not at all Scottish - but I learned the history of kilts and tartan. (Also please, when buying kilts make sure they are made in Scotland and at least 80% wool; closed with a system of leather straps and buckles, NOT A ZIPPER! Plaid skirt is not a kilt, it just looks sad.) I’m not at all qualified to talk about Black, Latina and Asian folklore and clothing, I’m literally from the most homogenous country in Europe.

I hope all of this is not too chaotic :,) I tried my best.

Also! 2014 me in fast fashion vs 2022 me (in a silk dress <3)!