I recently started a new job, so that’s my excuse for overlooking the observance of World Goth Day on May 22nd. Heaven forbid I should miss an opportunity to celebrate the only holiday devoted to those of us who are pale, morbid, and favor the color black.
Yet despite our penchant for black clothing and Victorian melancholy, Goth culture isn’t just a manifestation of depression or a phase to grow out of. Indeed, it’s a healthily inclusive tribal movement that defies gender expectations and unrealistic physical ideals while promoting the joys of reading and quiet reflection. All reasons its adherents, predominantly middle class and white, deserve respect rather than ridicule.
Thanks to Goth icons like Goya, Edgar Allan Poe, Tim Burton, and Bauhaus, the world is full of wondrous Gothic art, literature, music, and film, not to mention home design and fashion.
Check out a brief history of all things Goth at the Independent!