Mall goths (also known as spooky kids) [1] are a subculture that began in the late-1990s in the United States. Originating as a pejorative to describe people who dressed goth for the fashion rather than culture, it eventually developed its own culture centred around nu metal, industrial metal, emo and the Hot Topic store chain. It has variously been described as a part of the goth subculture, [2] [3] as well as a separate subculture simply influenced by goth. [4] [5]
"Mall goth" is derived from the words "mall" and "goth", referencing how many participants of the subculture would often spend time at shopping malls. In particular, it often references their buying of items from Hot Topic. The term began as pejorative, connoting solely being interested in goth for its fashion, rather than the subculture itself, similar to the use of poseur. [7] [8] Marilyn Manson and Amy Lee were influential upon the culture's development. [5] [9] [10] According to Adolescent writer Angelina Zaphyria, it began as a fusion of the cultures of the existing goth, third wave emo and nu metal movements, [4] however according to Fashion writer Isabel Slone, it "combined the hallmarks of punk, goth and metal subcultures". [11]
In an article for The A.V. Club, writer Sean O'Neal credited The Crow as one of the main reasons for the subculture's popularity. [12] At this time, mall goths often listened to nu metal bands like Korn, Slipknot, Kittie, and Mudvayne, [13] [14] and industrial metal bands like Rammstein, White Zombie and Marilyn Manson. [15] During this period, animosity between mall goths and traditional goths was common. The conflict between the two cultures arose through many traditional goths perceiving mall goths to be simply interested in the fashion, and having little interest in gothic rock and the bands that spawned the subculture. [16] Additionally, some goths considered mall goth to be a commercialisation of goth. [15] In the early 2000s, mall goth gained further notoriety in the mainstream, and became increasingly associated with the emo subculture, emo pop music and groups such as My Chemical Romance. [17] [18] [19] With the increased usage of the internet and social media, mall goths became frequent users of sites such as MySpace [20] and Pure Volume. [21]
Although, during its original popularity the subculture was mostly dominated by white people, the revival brought about an increased ethnic diversity, with people like Lil Uzi Vert and Aaron Philip becoming notable participants. To the extent that, in an article published on 22 May 2018 by Fashion, writer Isabel Slone cited Lil Uzi Vert's appearance at the 2018 Grammy Awards as "perhaps the most visible moment of the mall goth revival", through their wearing of bondage trousers and multiple wallet chains. [11] MetalHammer writer Alice Pattillo credited Instagram accounts such as @1990smallgoth as a key part of the continued popularity of the subculture. [22] During 2020, the subculture's popularity increased through trending videos on TikTok. [23]
Fashion items such as platform boots and oversized sweatshirts and trousers are common amongst mall goths, as well as striped and checkered prints. [24] They are often associated with wearing brands such as Lip Service, Tripp, [7] JNCO [25] and Demonia. [4] Chunky and platform sneakers were common, especially Buffalo. [26] In an article for Elle , one former mall goth described that they wore "ankh necklace, combat boots over striped tights and did my eyeliner in a style that could only be described as raccoon-esque". [27] Items such as pleather, chokers, creeper shoes and lip rings are all common. [28] W writer Katherine Cusumano described Kristen Stewart's outfit on September 22 2016, of "bold swipe of black liquid liner, the deep reddish magenta under-eye liner, the slightly yellowed bleach job, and the padlocked necklace" as notably mall goth. [29] In an article for Refinery29, Goth DJ and scholar Andi Harriman stated "Most Goths don't wear a lot of neon, face masks, or those over-the-knee stripy socks, basically anything Mall Goths wear". [30]
Mall goths' hair is often dyed, particularly using Manic Panic dye. [31] Sometimes hair is dyed two different colours. Some mall goths wear mullets. [32]
During the subculture's revival, it became common for mall goths to wear baggy trousers contrasted with small tops. This look capitalised upon the "big pants, little shirt" fashion trend that was popular in the late 2010s and early 2020s. [33]
According to an article by WM Magazine, mall goth fashion was an influence upon the popularity of the normcore and scumbro fashion styles that became popular in the 2010s. [31] Indie rock band Pale Waves' aesthetic is also influenced by mall goth. [34] [35]
In the mid-to-late 2010s, rappers such as Lil Peep [36] and Lil Uzi Vert [11] and singers Kim Petras [37] and Benee [38] began dressing in ways influenced by the fashion of mall goth. Additionally, a number of brands began creating fashion lines influenced by the subculture's fashion. In particular, Marc Jacobs' and Louis Vuitton's autumn 2016 collections, Dilara Findikoglu's collection from Spring 2018, Coach New York's pre-Autumn 2018 collection and Gypsy Sport's collection from autumn 2018, as well as a number of items from Open Ceremony from early 2018, all referenced the subculture. [11] Additionally, mainstream celebrities such as Kanye West, Lorde, Kylie Jenner and Bella Hadid were photographed in mall goth outfits. [39] [25]
Mall goth influenced the fashion of the e-girls and e-boys subculture in the late 2010s and early 2020s. [40] [41]
Goth is a subculture that began in the United Kingdom during the early 1980s. It was developed by fans of gothic rock, an offshoot of the post-punk music genre. Post-punk artists who anticipated the gothic rock genre and helped develop and shape the subculture include Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, the Cure and Joy Division.
Emo is a music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and post-hardcore from the mid-1980s Washington, D.C. hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands Rites of Spring and Embrace, among others, pioneered the genre. In the early-to-mid 1990s, emo was adopted and reinvented by alternative rock, indie rock, punk rock, and pop-punk bands, including Sunny Day Real Estate, Jawbreaker, Cap'n Jazz, and Jimmy Eat World. By the mid-1990s, Braid, the Promise Ring, and the Get Up Kids emerged from Midwest emo, and several independent record labels began to specialize in the genre. Meanwhile, screamo, a more aggressive style of emo using screamed vocals, also emerged, pioneered by the San Diego bands Heroin and Antioch Arrow. Screamo achieved mainstream success in the 2000s with bands like Hawthorne Heights, Silverstein, Story of the Year, Thursday, the Used, and Underoath.
Gothic fashion is a clothing style worn by members of the goth subculture. A dark, sometimes morbid, fashion and style of dress, typical gothic fashion includes black dyed hair and black clothes. Both male and female goths can wear dark eyeliner, dark nail polish and lipstick, and dramatic makeup. Styles are often borrowed from the Elizabethans and Victorians. BDSM imagery and paraphernalia are also common. Gothic fashion is sometimes confused with heavy metal fashion and emo fashion.
A rivethead or rivet head is a person associated with the industrial dance music scene. In stark contrast to the original industrial culture, whose performers and heterogeneous audience were sometimes referred to as "industrialists", the rivethead scene is a coherent youth culture closely linked to a discernible fashion style. The scene emerged in the late 1980s on the basis of electro-industrial, EBM, and industrial rock music. The associated dress style draws on military fashion and punk aesthetics with hints of fetish wear, mainly inspired by the scene's musical protagonists.
The 20th century saw the rise and fall of many subcultures.
Bondage pants or bondage trousers are trousers with zippers, straps, chains, rings and buckles, giving an appearance of a BDSM style. They come in a variety of colors and patterns; one of the most common patterns being tartan. Bondage pants also come in a variety of styles, including tight or baggy, long, short or Capri.
Emo, whose participants are called emo kids or emos, is a subculture which began in the United States in the 1990s. Based around emo music, the subculture formed in the genre's mid-1990s San Diego scene, where participants were derisively called Spock rock due to their distinctive straight, black haircuts. The subculture entered the mainstream consciousness in the 2000s, being associated with social networks including Myspace, Buzznet and hi5. During this time of popularity, it faced backlash, including violent attacks on emo teens in Mexico and Iraq, and proposed Russian laws targeting the subculture, due to views that it was dangerous and promoted anti-social behavior, depression and suicide. By 2009, this mainstream attention had largely declined as the subculture continued underground on websites including Tumblr and through emo revival groups.
Slim-fit pants or skinny jeans are tight trousers that have a snug fit through the legs and end in a small leg opening that can be anywhere from 9" to 20" in circumference, depending on size. Other names for this style include drainpipes, stovepipes, tight pants, cigarette pants, pencil pants, skinny pants, gas pipes, skinnies, and tight jeans.
Alternative fashion or alt fashion is fashion that stands apart from mainstream, commercial fashion. It includes both styles which do not conform to the mainstream fashion of their time and the styles of specific subcultures. Some alternative fashion styles are attention-grabbing and more artistic than practical, while some develop from anti-fashion sentiments that focus on simplicity and utilitarianism.
The Toronto goth scene, the cultural locus of the goth subculture in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and the associated music and fashion scene, has distinct origins from goth scenes of other goth subcultural centres, such as the UK or Germany. Originally known as the "Batcavers", the term "goth" appeared only after 1988, when it was applied to the pre-existent subculture. Distinctive features included internationally recognized gothic and vampiric fashion store 'Siren', a goth-industrial bar named 'Sanctuary: The Vampire Sex Bar', and Forever Knight, a television series about an 800-year-old vampire living in Toronto. In Toronto, the goths did not seek to reject mainstream status, and achieved partial acceptance throughout the mid to late 1990s.
The scene subculture is a youth subculture that emerged during the early 2000s in the United States from the pre-existing emo subculture. The subculture became popular with adolescents from the mid 2000s to the early 2010s. Members of the scene subculture are referred to as scene kids, trendies, or scenesters. Scene fashion consists of skinny jeans, bright-colored clothing, a signature hairstyle consisting of straight, flat hair with long fringes covering the forehead, and bright-colored hair dye. Music genres associated with the scene subculture include metalcore, crunkcore, deathcore, electronic music, and pop punk.
Suicide in music subcultures refers to the relationship between members of a subculture of music fans and the act of suicide. Researchers have examined the relationship between heavy metal subculture, goth subculture, emo subculture, and opera subculture and suicide.
Symere Bysil Woods, known professionally as Lil Uzi Vert, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, they gained initial recognition following the release of the commercial mixtape Luv Is Rage (2015), which led to a recording contract with Atlantic Records, to whom they signed under DJ Drama's Generation Now imprint.
"Bad and Boujee" is a song by American hip-hop group Migos featuring American rapper Lil Uzi Vert. Written alongside producer Metro Boomin and co-producer G Koop, it was originally released to the Quality Control Music YouTube channel on August 27, 2016 before being officially released on October 28 by Quality Control Music, 300 Entertainment, and Atlantic Records as the lead single from the group's second studio album Culture (2017).
Gustav Elijah Åhr, known professionally as Lil Peep, was an American rapper and singer-songwriter. He was a member of the emo rap collective GothBoiClique. Helping pioneer an emo revival-style of rap and rock music, Lil Peep has been credited as a leading figure of emo rap music and served as an inspiration to outcasts and youth subcultures.
Emo rap is a subgenre of hip hop with influence from emo. Originating from the SoundCloud rap scene in the mid-2010s, the genre fuses characteristics of hip hop music, such as trap-style beats with vocals that are usually sung. The most prominent artists in the genre were Lil Peep, XXXTentacion, and Juice Wrld.
EDM trap is a fusion genre of hip hop, rave music and EDM, that originated in the early 2010s on peaking popularity of big room house and hip hop trap genres. It blends elements of hip hop trap, which is an offshoot of Southern hip hop, with elements of EDM like build-ups, drops, dense production with rave music synthesizers, and breakdowns. As it was popularized, it increasingly began incorporating more pop elements.
E-kids, split by binary gender as e-girls and e-boys, are a youth subculture of Gen Z that emerged in the late 2010s, notably popularized by the video-sharing application TikTok. It is an evolution of emo, scene and mall goth fashion combined with Japanese and Korean street fashion.
Working on Dying is an American producer collective based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was formed in 2012 by American record producer Richard Ortiz, known professionally as F1lthy, and his younger brother, Jordan Ortiz, who is known professionally as Oogie Mane.
