goth

Versace Medusa Doctor Bag, Handbag of the Day

Filed under: Handbags

The Versace Medusa Doctor Bag is a gothic masterpiece.

This black Italian leather bag is lined in emo purple and adorned with a sculpted head of Medusa (Versace's signature icon). The goldtone studs provide a luxe contrast to the raised black dots which cover the surface. The metal closure at the top helps it keep its smart shape, even at 18½"W X 12½"H X 6¼"D.

This is one of those rare pieces which encapsulates the gothic look without being over-the-top. The prim look of a doctor bag, with its clean lines and classic appeal, is easy to carry with almost anything, and won't make you look like a disgruntled teenager.

We'd love to spot this on a well-to-do woman -- just a flash of her dark side.

The Versace Medusa Doctor Bag is available from Saks Fifth Avenue for $2,175.00.

Tags: clack leather, doctors bag, goth, gothic, handbag, handbag of the day, versace

Inside The Great Frog, Jeweler to Harry Potter and Aerosmith

by Annie Scott (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry, Luxury Travel & Hotels

The Great Frog has been making jewelry in London's ever-chic Carnaby area since 1972. They are probably best known for their immaculately gothic, daring bespoke pieces for the fashion and music industry -- as well as creating all the jewelry for the Harry Potter movies. I was lucky enough to visit their legendary Ganton Street location and get a peek into the magic lair where the sometimes sweet, sometimes scary pieces are created (aka the basement).

The Great Frog's showroom is designed to look like a French funeral parlor, a darkly appropriate choice for the originators of The Skull Ring. The workshop, however, is appropriately non-designed, with graffiti on the walls and ceiling, an enormous music closet, and cluttered work desks which look like they belong in the props trailer for the Puppet Master series. We're talking creepy dolls and skulls in beer cases.

It's fun to imagine the legends that have browsed in the shop and dictated their jewelry desires to talented, biker-chic staff. Get a look at the charmingly grungy room where the magic happens below, and check out more of their client list, including Harry Potter, Aerosmith, Metallica and Iron Maiden, (and do a little online shopping) here.

Gallery: Peek Inside The Great Frog

This trip was paid for by VisitBritain, but the ideas and opinions expressed in the article above are 100% my own.

Tags: aerosmith, goth, gothic, harry potter, Iron Maiden, IronMaiden, jewelry, london, Metallica, the great frog

You've Never Seen Tights Like These

by Annie Scott (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Apparel

After years and years of crazy tights designs, some fabulous, some hideous, and some just plain weird, someone has finally reinvented the art of legwear: Les Queues Des Sardines.

These French tights go beyond "quirky" (crazy colors and strange designs are so last season) and bring a beautiful fresh perspective to legs. The art on these tights is statement making and memorable, and unmistakably chic in a gothic meets Harajuku way. From elegantly-drawn cartoon mouths below the knees to sewn-up wounds, you've never seen tights like these.

The only English-speaking stores stocking these innovative narrative tights are Fortnum and Mason in London and Art Therapi in Balmain, Australia. Get out your credit card with the lowest foreign transaction fee and order yourself a pair (or five) of Les Queues Des Sardines from UpFactory.com, SuicidalShop.fr or Greenky.fr. Everyone will be dying to know where you got them.

Check out some of our favorite designs from Spring/Summer 09 and Autumn/Winter 09/10 below.

Gallery: Les Queues Des Sardines

Tags: cryptic, fashion, France, French, goth, gothic, Harajuku, Les Queues Des Sardines, LesQueuesDesSardines, tights

The Fashion Statement: In Goth We Trust

by Kristin Young (RSS feed) —

Filed under: The Fashion Statement

I was at the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, Turkey, last week soaking it all in. This was the site where the sultans displayed decapitated heads on stakes to discourage bad behavior among their subjects. Probably the most famous of these heads was Dracula's (Vlad, the Impaler) which had been preserved in honey. Not a bad piece of ghoulish history to come across to get in the spirit of Halloween.

Probably the closest thing you can get to horror in the fashion world is goth. At its worst, goth is all about death, rot and decay. At its best, goth is erotic even a romantic period style of dress. Typically, goth is all about dark colors-blacked out eyes, whitened skin, black hair and a plethora of body piercings.

Most people think goth fashion came out the post punk scene that rose up out of the United Kingdom in the '80s. In fact, goth origins are ancient and appears to be the result of a combination of influences from random events that occurred over the centuries.

One of the best books I've ever come across on the subject is Gothic: Dark Glamour by Valerie Steele. The stunning coffee table book, first published a year ago, traces goth from its Eastern Germanic tribal roots to modern-day black-clad teenagers and sexually-charged vampire fiction.

Steele, chief curator at The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, takes the magnifying glass to haute goth as seen through the eyes of designers John Galliano, Rick Owens and Alexander McQueen. It's a fascinating, visual journey through the aesthetics of the macabre.

Some of you might recall, the original Goths were warmongers who tried to take down the Roman Empire in Istanbul, thousands of years before Dracula lost his head to the sultans. I find it particularly interesting that today's goths have nominated Dracula as their token villain. At least at Topkapi Palace, there's a connection. A column commemorates the Roman victory over the Goths.

In fashion, goth is still one of the most effective ways to communicate rebellion and subculture. It's shocking. Unsettling. The fashion equivalent of a good scare on Halloween. Just the kind of buttons, designers like to push. Take London designer Gareth Pugh's spring 2010 collection, pictured above.

Tags: Alexander McQueen, AlexanderMcqueen, Goth, Gothic: Dark Glamour, Gothic:DarkGlamour, John Galliano, JohnGalliano, Rick Owens, RickOwens

Assouline Skull Notebook

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

If you flip through the pages of just about any fall style magazine, you'll see skulls. Skulls, as a print or fashion accessory, have rapidly grown in popularity over the past year and now appear in any number of incarnations. If you don't want to wrap a skull scarf around your neck but still want to get in touch with the trend, try Assouline's Skull Notebook. The notebook is 96 pages and is bound in either black or white leather with silver edges. The notebooks will ship next month. Price: $125.

Source

Tags: assouline, book, goth, notebook, skull, skulls, writing