Celebrating World Goth Day

Bela Lugosi may be dead, but goth subculture is alive and well

Bauhaus by Pedro Figueiredo is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

The ’80s were a wonderfully weird time.

The same decade that gave us synth-pop, stonewashed denim, high-top sneakers, and badly teased-up, sky-high hair, also birthed the polar opposite of those things, namely, goth subculture which has come to be officially celebrated annually on May 22, known worldwide as World Goth Day.

Beginning in the UK in the early ’80s, the subculture which would become known simply as “goth” arose from London’s post-punk music scene, fronted by bands like Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, and Joy Division. These bands stood apart from other post-punk acts in many ways, not least of which was their embrace of macabre aesthetics, dark arrangements, and dramatic, melancholic melodies and lyrics.

Aesthetically, goth fashion draws on punk and new wave styles, but is broadly influenced by the fashion of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Goth style typically includes predominantly black clothing, bla…