The Gothic Romance
Since the days of Count Dracula and Uldolpho, we have courted with the crimson lips, ghostly skin and dark velvets of the Gothic wardrobe. And in Autumn/Winter we’re set to have the most passionate romance yet with that tall dark stranger of fashion.
By Lauren Claire Mulvee.
Peep behind the red vale and you will see a room rippling in dark beauty. There will be widows, weeping in black wedding dresses and tulle veils. There will be sylph-like virgins, trembling in billowing night dresses. There will be sucubuses encased in emerald corsets, sipping blood from crystal flutes. The room will be strewn in spectral mists and rotting rose petals, lit gently by dripping candles. Welcome to the secret, bejewelled vault of fashion: backstage at the Autumn/Winter fashion shows, 2005, Paris.
Well that’s how I like to imagine the dressing rooms anyway. Unfortnately I wasn’t there. Obviously, my Victor and Rolf invitation- those decorated with looping italics and given to all the people that matter-got lost in the post. However I can still assure you that along the Parisian catwalks the ghost of gothic glamour is back, with crackled cameos, frayed ribbon bows and dark gems in tow.
Of course this is not the first time that the vogue pack have embraced what is, in sartorial terms, fashion’s creepy sister. Back in the 1980s, through the throngs of bat wing dresses and lillac leisure-wear, The New Romantics entwined romantic lace ( see Princess Diana’s wedding dress) lavish chiffons, cascading silks and runched fabrics into the mix. All were redolent of the chaste heroine’s attire. After Vivienne Westwood dressed Adam Ant in breaches, an army jacket and ruffled shirt, Soho’s New Romantic Clubs, St. Moritz and Blitz were heaving with handsome rakes, mis-matching Regency debonair with ragged pirate shirts and smudged make-up.
Only 4 years ago, with the help of Baz Lurman’s film, Moulin Rouge, gothic glamour, once more, glimered from clothes rails the country over. Make-up was gaudy ( daubed cheeks and rouged lips). And the staple evening garment- the silk bodice, dripping in loops of pearls, dark crystals in flower patterns and peacock feathers- was clearly unearthed from the the darkest and most gothic Burlesque shows of Victorian Soho.
Originally, however, the term Gothic had nothing to do with fashion. It was an architectural adjective, coined to describe a type of Renaissance Cathederal design ( think carved gargoyles, majestic dagger pinions and shadowy arch-ways). Its sense was firmly pejorative: critics viewed Gothic designs as the barbrous sacrilege of classical architecture. Likewise in the realm of fashion, the Gothic influence was thought to have a crude and deforming effect on the classical lines of the Victorian gown. In 1811, seamstresses incorporated Elizabethan sartorial details in their dresses, such as broader shoulder lines, polanaise bustles and curaisse bodices ( those that dip to the groin) This formed a style of dress that was looser and more comfortable, but at the same time oozed flamboyance and curved the body in a voluptuous, sensual way.
Clearly only very tenous connections can be made between this definition of Gothic and its current senses:firstly, post-rock, preoccupied with death and secondly, teenagers with a penchant for seething nu-metal. The black lipstick and pallid skin of today’s Goths certainly thread and make links with the contents of the Victorian gothic novel: corpses and coffins. However this season’s take on the Gothic has nothing to do wih Marilyn Manson and ghoulish face-paint. It eschews the obvious and gaudy, for the more elegant and haunting elements of gothic design, inspired by the novels of Shelly, Radcliff and Stoker. These elements can be spotted in a number of personalities, particularly musicians, already. Consider the dapper garments sported by Hot Hot Heat in their new video, Maximo Park’s singer, Paul Smith, The Dresden Dolls and Rufus Wainwright.
At this season’s shows Nicole Fahri, Lagerfield Gallery and Louis Vitton set the austere lines for Autumn, with black mourning gowns and starched ruffles. Burberry dealt with shoes, choosing to show round toe lace-ups in dusty reds, blues and purples. Very White Chapel whore. Victor and Rolf made their influences clear. In a decrepid Parisian theatre, models with crimson-stained lips sleep-walked, wearing pillow head-dresses. Presumably to enhance the succulence of their young necks. Comme des Garcons, Rochas and Chole’s models fluttered like nubile ghosts in etheral night dresses and floating veils. Jewel and exotic fruit hues, as well as peaches and dusky pinks formed a colour spectrum that will certainly help liven up grey autumn skin. The puffed sleeve shirts on show will also be very slimming and should go particularly well with denim mini-skirts and lace-up boots. However the high neck-lines that prevailed in all the collections may be a problem for those larger than a 34 A. Square necklines may be more flattering for the curvaceous figure. They go really well with 1950s prom-skirts too. For men everywhere, it was tuxedos, capes and Dorian Gray-style silk dressing gowns. Always accesorised with Byronic simmering, of course. Mix with Phillip Larkin glasses and jeans for a contemporary edge.
The Gothic style- from its roots in Renaissance architecture, through to Victorian couture and the New Romantics period-crossing- has always had a strange and dark majesty to it. However, as the designs on show in Paris prove, it also has an opulence and romance that glitters and thrills, timelessly, through the gloom.
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