Gothic Horror: The Gothic On The Catwalk

The gothic era has acted as inspiration and influence in modern day life and I wanted to research and explore its influence on the catwalk. The Gothic looks seen on the catwalk usually combine dark colours, heavy fabrics and often references to the skeletal structure. The collections I have seen usually combine strong make up and expressive hair which combine to create a style of excesses. Gothic horror has inspired many designers including John Galliano, the Mulleavy Sisters and Karl Lagarfeld for Chanel. On the blog 'Drapers' it says, 'John Galliano has had a life long love affair with the Gothic Girl, the edgy, cool, vampish and mysterious women who is fascinated by the erotic and the blackness of the night'. This can be seen in many of his collections. The website 'Dazed' talks about the love that the Maleavy sisters have of horror films and how it was inevitable that this love would make it into their collections. I think that the use of Gothic as a style inspiration is very interesting as it can make for very beautiful, expressive and moody pieces. I think that the decadence that can be achieved, without looking over the top, is also very easy to capture using gothic as inspiration. These images below are some of my favourite looks from the catwalk. The Chanel Spring Summer 2003 look reminded me of how I imagined Miss Havisham's wedding dress to look like.

Sources:

http://www.drapersonline.com/gothic-the-fashion-inspiration-that-never-dies/1889012.blog

http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/17663/1/ten-collections-that-horrified-the-runway