A friend of mine just told me that Goths are extreme Emos. SHOCKING, ain’t it? Let me clear this out:
The Goth fashion in one phrase is Morticia Adams. Black hair, pale skin ~ though not necessary, black eyeliners, black nails. The dressing style is highly inspired by the Elizabethan and Victorian fashion, spefically black in color, very morbid, very highly erotic even when usually a Gothic dress covers more than it shows.
The Gothic look has obviously been inspired by the 30s and 40s silent horror movies when the make-up and costume had to speak more about the characters. And synonymous with the stereotypical Gothic look is, of course, Vlad Tepes himself, that is to say, the potrayal of Dracula in most movies.
Male Gothic clothing involves usuall, though not limited to, black trenchcoats. Robes and highly fashionable and extravagant suit is also not uncommon. Apparently one unspoken rule of the male Gothic fashion, they show minimal skin ~ Sleeves are never short.
Goth jewelry, if any, often revolves around heavily decorated crucifixes and simple ankhs. They’re always silver, though.
Personality-wise, Goths, while not extrovert, are generally friendly, try to bring about a mysterious air about them and quite laid back, letting their presentation tell of their Gothic inclination. Though mostly populated by white people, Black, Asian and even Arab Goths are commonplace.
Emo on the other hand:
They started in the mid 80s with the emocore post-punk music scene. Followers then often tend to overpierce and borrowed the eyeliners and black theme from the Goths while retaining most of the punk fashion. These hardcore rockers died in the mid 90s. Unfortunately, a bunch of kids in the early 2000s googled emocore and said, “Hey, I’m emo, too!”
According to the wise men on the Mountain of Wikipedia, Emo fashion nowadays constitutes of “tight jeans on males and females alike, long fringe (bangs) brushed to one side of the face or over one or both eyes, dyed black, straight hair, tight t-shirts (sometimes short sleeved) which often bear the names of emo bands (or other designer shirts), studded belts, belt buckles, canvas sneakers or skate shoes or other black shoes (often old and beaten up) and thick, black horn-rimmed glasses.” The bangs are 100% wajib – without them, you ain’t no Emo, no matter how white you are. Being not so hardcore like their predecessors, Emos have only one or two piercings. Scroll down below for a pic of an Emocore – not Emo.
Emos also dominate almost 50% of the blogosphere – the other 50% being camwhores and very small traces of we others.
As a stereotype, Emos are often assosciated with introvertness, depression, self-injury and suicide. One should not forget that Emos are also assosciated with whinings and groups of people who hates the whining. They’re also predominantly white. Take it from Sustagenius! if you aren’t as white as a Ku Klux Klan bedsheet, do not attempt to be Emo.
As visual aid, here are some pictures for reference:-
Gothic Man
Gothic Eroticism
Goth Couple Playing into the Male Domination Stereotype
Emo Uniform
Emo Clique
Egad, run! It's Emo camwhores!
Emocore NOT Emo
