“I mean, it’s an entirely new community and they all inspire one another.” E says through inky plum-stained lips, a cigarette dangling from her long fingers.
“Yeah, totally. Most of them have never even met before, they just know each other through Tumblr,” J adds, his thick dark creepers weigh down his feet as he fights gravity to cross one leg over the other. He jokes about not getting into a club on account of wearing a long piece of draped black fabric as a dress. His eyes open a little wider. I laugh in a very am-I-doing-this-properly way.
They all laugh, studs dangling from the collars of well-pressed shirts and black stones flickering fluorescent light from chokers. The smoke burns my eyes and I blink hard, realizing just how out of place I am. My black jeans, well-worn and dusty with age, suddenly feel outdated and safe– two traits that pretty much describe my entire wardrobe. I own a lot of linen. In an attempt to mask my sore thumb appearance, I light a cigarette and close my eyes, extinguishing the burning cinders.
***
The Tumblr community is a platform where you’re more likely to find a “Comme des Fuck Down” t-shirt than a head-to-toe Comme des Garçons ensemble gifted from Rei Kawakubo herself. It acts as an opportunity for everyday people, with realistic budgets and keen eyes, to turn the ordinary into invocations of beauty and style. In this way, Tumblr users parallel the early days of fashion blogs. Before Rumi Neely of fashiontoast.com wrote posts for Maybelline, before The Man Repeller sat beside Anna Wintour at Fashion Week, and before Chiara of The Blonde Salad posted pictures of Prada totes with captions like “Richi knows my taste well :D,” they were just like us.
Unfortunately, they act like they still are. Personally, “Richi” does not know of my existence, nevermind my taste in bags. Maybelline has yet to contact me about an endorsement. This phenomenon, coupled with the notion of dressing up purely for a blog post, is new– and it works. Isabel Slone wrote a piece on the subject of bloggermania and how it’s transformed into something entirely unexpected. You should read the essay, as her articulation far surpasses my own.
I don’t think any less of these bloggers who’ve supposedly ‘made it’ in the fashion world. It’s worth acknowledging that everyone has to pay their rent at the end of each month and, like Chiara of The Blonde Salad, I wouldn’t turn down a free Prada bag either. However, the initial appeal of fashion blogs as accessible street style montages has evaporated.
In many ways, the ‘big blogs’ have become assembly lines with machine-like tendencies, churning out commercial products: “I paired my gifted Michael Kors watch with a billowy white blouse (thanks Michael!)” or, “Stopped at my favorite juice bar on Sunset. Top: Marni, Bag: Celine, Shoes: Isabel Marant” to name a few. They’ve found a different purpose than the initial dose of accessible, everyday fashion they once served to us with a side of H&M. Their blogs now serve as portals into their glamorous lives. Our eyes devour their posts, their Instagram photos, and their tweets like we’ll never see again.
Recently, a different breed of trendsetters has started purring over the steady hums of the Blogosphere. Their sounds are loud and full of brio. Their posts employ everything from professional photographs to webcam shots and animated GIFS. They wear black, leather, studs, winged eyeliner, creepers, chokers, and piles of denim. Peppered through their bold and original photographs are the hilarious dregs of the internet: Pink monogramed Louis Vuitton motorcycles, MEMEs, and statements like “it’s almost december have u done all your yolo stuff cause we dying soon.” They’re not only unique and hilarious, but entirely relatable.
I’m talking about the surge of goth style, sweeping over Tumblr with confidence and poise. Some of these Tumblr posts get tens of thousands of “notes” (the equivalent of a comment or “like”). Like all good artists, their posts are funny, daring and, at times, thoroughly moving. With a knack for using un-photoshopped images, the messages they convey translate as being real. These messages, in a fashion world often populated with recycled statements (florals popping up for spring), and hauntingly photoshopped images, serve as refreshing doses of air.
These cheeky, and often dark, portals are the resurrection of the original fashion blog. Here’s an introductory sampling of the best.
Scary Mansion is an amalgam of global art gallery displays, webcam shots and behind-the-scenes fashion photos. The pages ooze with gothic sophistication and imagery, establishing it as a pit stop for bone-chilling ideas.
Cr1me‘s bold style is paired with an unwavering eye for the best and worst of the internet, making her blog a satisfying mix of mind bending inspiration and laughter. She has become part of the Vice Blogging Network.
Elegiac Circus drenches traditional goth style in highly saturated color. It reads as a product of true originality. She is based in London, England and her images have been featured on websites such as weheartit.com.
Laid Bare is a collective effort to bring together the best of art, culture, and fashion in Toronto. The blog serves as a mosaic of creativity. Many of the photographs are grainy, dark and raw– capturing the true essence of goth style.
***
“I love Crime, she’s my favorite,” says E as she lifts her wine to her lips and sips with precision.
“I don’t even have an account,” J adds. “I’m just happy that there are people out there who are standing for something original and something real.”
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Claudia McNeilly is an editorial intern at the Toronto Standard. You can follow her on twitter at @claudiamcneilly
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