As a lovely surprise, my dearest husband suggested we go dancing in January 2003 (yeah, I don't get out much these days). This gave me an excuse to dress up, something I always love. So I wore a black rubber studded top I bought in Amsterdam's Red Light District about four years earlier. It was one of those crazy items that only fit in the store, but looked like crap at home. At least till now! Paired with a black pleated miniskirt , fishnets, and platform boots, it made a good, gothy clubgirl outfit.

For another page of gothy garb, check out this red PVC outfit from sometime in 2003.

At Convergence 5 in New Orleans, 1999, I gave my one and only shot at the whole goth-anime fake hair thing. Wearing Tart Blossom< falls that matched my fabulous corset by Sheri Jurnecka, I was a club-goin' cartoon babe. It was cute for the night, but, boy, is that hair heavy! And it got in my way more than any hoop skirt or bustle ever has. Fun, but not really my style, and I never wore these falls again. These days, I'm rather sick of seeing so many girls with giant silly lumps of fake hair on their heads. Only a few can really pull it off well, IMO.

Head full o' goth. On the left is a bad picture of one of my best hairstyles ever. At C5, I had long, curly, seriously red hair. About six months earlier, I'd had a stylist professionally bleach and dye my hair the lightest red she thought my hair could go (and not be horrifically damaged and fall out of my head). After the natural red faded, I dyed it with a super-bright Special FX red temporary dye, shown in the right picture from 2001. I love how my hair looked then! *sigh* But it's just too high-maintenance for my life today. I don't have the time to keep re-dyeing the red anymore, it fades too fast. Still, it was grand at the time.

Here's some tips for fab-u-lous club-going hair of your own, even without fakes or dyes. First, add things into your hair for height and drama. In the left pic, I'm wearing both a tiara and a pouf of ostrich feathers that's glued to a circle of buckram that has a barrette on it. Next, try glitter! You don't need expensive glitter hairspray either. Style your hair like you want it, then spritz with hairspray. Immediately toss craft glitter into your hair. Then spritz liberally with hairspray again to fix it. Ta-da! Instant glam hair!

Here's is a random picture of my feet. I just thought the stripey tights looked nifty with those strappy shoes and the handkerchief-hem skirt.

This isn't gothic, per se. It's just a dark outfit I wore to a BayCon some time back, probably around '93 or '94. Still, it's got many of the prerequisites of gothic fashion -- burgundy satin full skirt (for the VictorianGoth touch), black velvet strapless bustier (goths gotta show some skin), big spiked black leather collar (oh so goth-punk), black satin opera-length gloves (dressy often equals gothy), and a big black feather boa (a classic PerkyGoth thang).

There's also the obligatory dyed-black hair and dark makeup. What can I say, sometimes it's just easier to go with the obvious ;-)

Here's one from the vaults. This is me in college, around 1989ish, with my motorcycle jacket, lace scarves through the belt loops, some kind of military hat, spiked and chain belts, thigh-high gartered stockings, and about six tons of jewelry.

My roommate at the time was a mod (in the '60s style), so sometimes when I'd go with her to mod and ska shows, I'd purposefully dress more like a rocker for a little friendly Quadrophenia action. But really, I'm not a mod or a rocker -- I'm a mocker.

I really don't have that many pictures of me gothed up. This is about it (which is surely a blessing -- it's not like my sites aren't self-absorbed enough ;-). One thing all these pictures show is that I should remember to take off my glasses for photos! Pity I can't wear contact lenses.