The Culture Clash, Merging Goth and Indie Fashions

After finishing off my friends article about Indie culture, I suddenly started to wonder whan the outcome would be of combining Indie with a culture thats a little darker/rebellious. The first culture i considered was goth, mostly the vintage side of things. Although they are very different cultures, with different interests and different music, quite a few clothing pieces/acessories can be found in both wardrobes, only presented differently. If i were to merge the two i would go about it by starting with vintage clothing. You often see vintage (even second hand) elements in both wardrobes, particularly dresses.

Today im going to use mostly black as my colour theme to demonstrate, although i think you could very well put a steampunk edge to indie, using tarnished jewellry and soft browns combined with rich/deep colours.  while the purpose of this article is to darken a " fashion friendly" (it is actually becoming quite mainstream right now) culture, we still need to keep elements which play huge factors in the culture such as colour (otherwise we are just ruining it altogether.) in order to darken the tones without damaging the look i strongly recomend you balance it out with brown, white or combine black and white with colours such as dark emerald green, maroon, peach, plum (if your game), dark or pastel blue. (pinks, purples and generally bright colours are simply to bold, subtracting from the age of your outfit.) Another idea is that you could make indie look more steampunk. ( both indie and steampunk use very old styled colour paletes.)You could use a knee-length/long golden brown skirt with a white blouse, matched up with brooches with old-english clocks/watches and pearls like the one i found google. (above)

As you can see these clothing pieces above are both very indie and could be turned quite goth to as well. The outfits above are also very versatile pieces that you can dress up or down,and before i forget, i think white lace doillys could look very nice (okay the truth is, that the possibilities are endless!) Perhaps matched with a nice simple belt would be quite touching.

If your looking to buy anything similar i recomend you visit a website called www.forever21.com it is for the most part indie i must admit, but if your willing to filter through all the things you probably wont wear, i think youll find some very good pieces! they are also quite affordable to, if you look in their sale section  you can buy dresses for $11.00! (US dollar) I found the skirt to the right on this site, in the contemporary section. (click brands, select contemporary, then on the left side it should categorize to skirts, dresses etc;)

Shoe wise, i think some popart heels are quite apropriate, infact theres a really cool pair in TUK shoes online with a recycled newspaper design (you probably already spotted the shoe on the left) you can visit them online @ (insertadress) if pop art shoes really dont phase you at all, TUK also has some very nice varitey of mary-janes and boots! you could also try lace up military boots (of the not bulky kind) and depending on what colour theme you have going, tan/skin coloured shoes will also match very well!

As for Acessories, i think this really makes the two cultures come together. Personally i think pearls, lace and ribbon work very well, so look for things such as your bangle sets, dark floral headpieces (even better with a little neting), old fashioned earings etc; (you can refer to the first picture i posted if your bothered) below ive posted a range of jewelry that is all avaliable from the online shop i previously recomended, forever 21. A little "boho" (bohemian style) wouldent go astray either. although i wouldent stress about it if you really dont know anything about it!!

As for hair/makeup, its probably preferable to keep it very simple, theres no "indie" hairstyle although many indie artists and many indie kids tend to have loose wispy hair (and dreadlocks), it goes along with the whole indie thing very well. If you dont like leaving your hair looking like its "untamed", loose ringlets look nice, especially in red and light brown/dark blonde hair, or perhaps you could try something more done up. Often tighty pulled back hair works, even if you choose to leave your fringe out! this is really the time to twist your hair into a tight neat bun, or a low pony tail. Its probaly best to keep your make-up simple, perhaps just mascara, eyeliner (no wings sorry!) and foundation. If you can control yourself, i dont see why you cant try shading your eyelids a little darker!

Well, its probably time to conclude this post, its certainly become much longer than i expected it to be!Overall, i think anyone who takes time to think this culture clash through properly can very sucessfully dress in a combination of both goth and indie, there are so many possibilities which are absolutely endless! Generally i tihnk the result its quite elegant, classy, mature, aged and very "fashion friendly." Depending on the kind of attire you usually wear, you may find you dont get as many haters! but of course, if you are imersed in any alternative culture you probably find your haters quite entertaining!