The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

I’m just going to put this out there... not all of us had the luxury of “becoming goth” through aesthetic freedom.
Some of us grew up without supportive parents or financial stability. Some weren’t allowed jobs because we were forced into caretaking roles for younger siblings, expected to parent children who weren’t ours, while our own dreams.. for education, for self-expression, for a sense of identity, were quietly starved.

For many of us, access to clothing and self-expression was a privilege we never had. We wore what we could find:
a black graphic tee faded from years of wear, cheap makeup borrowed or stolen from a parent’s dresser, and jeans salvaged from Goodwill. For those of us who grew up this way were, and are, just as goth as the ones who could afford corsets, lace gloves, or imported platform boots.

The goth subculture was never meant to be about money or privilege. Its roots, born in the late 1970s and early 1980s from the post-punk and deathrock movements, were about rebellion, introspection, and beauty in decay. The early goths made their own clothes, thrifted, reworked, and reclaimed. “DIY” wasn’t a style... it was survival.

Today, the community seems to have forgotten this. Too many judge based on appearance rather than spirit. Too many assume that access to “authentic” fashion defines authenticity itself, but that’s not goth... that’s consumerism wearing our eyeliner.

Goth has never been one face. There are over a hundred substyles within the culture: from traditional goth to romantic, pastel, cyber, nu-goth, health goth, boho goth, horror goth, vampire, and more. Each one reflects a different heart, a different trauma, a different kind of beauty.

As someone who was raised in a basement with dirt floors and leaky walls, with bugs crawling over the cold and no space to dream... I know firsthand that darkness is not an aesthetic. It’s a birthplace. My family could afford luxuries for themselves, crab legs and name brands.. while I lived on cereal, bread, and whatever school provided. I only learned to cook “real meals” when guests came over, or when I was trying to prove I deserved to be treated like I mattered.

So when I see people dismiss others for not dressing “goth enough,” I see how far we’ve strayed. Goth was meant to be a refuge for the outcast, not a fashion contest. Our darkness is internal, not something that needs designer validation.

The next time you see someone in thrift-store black denim and hand-me-down boots, remember: "They might be more goth in spirit than anyone else in the room."