Cat of the Nine

Call me Cat!, They/Them ☥20☥ Gothic blog, Slunkeygirl on RYM

[catofthenine]

Hey currently nobody!

I figured I'd make a first post to make sure I actually start the blog I've been talking about starting for a few months!

I've been wanting to start a goth-snob-blog for quite some time now, as last year I attempted a historical research project on the gothic subculture, how things came to be, the changes overtime, etc.

Unfortunately, I ended up falling near deathly ill with Mono and was unable to complete it. HOWEVER! Don't fret! I still have my timeline, books, and etc! So maybe I'll finish it in the future?

A little introduction: Hi! I'm Cat, I use they/them pronouns, and I am on the autism spectrum! My special interests are college, cats, and the gothic subculture! I also love Stardew Valley, media analysis, and poetry! My favorite goth bands are Voodoo Church, Sisters of Mercy, and 45 Grave!

Anyways, I was thinking that every post, I'd cover something I'd seen, either on the online communities (positive or negative) and link some song recommendations. I also have a few playlists that I could post here too...

Song Recommendation: Cat of The Nine by The Naked and The Dead

-Cat (Catofthenine)

[catofthenine]

Big things coming....

Hey Ghouls!

I'll soon be able to blog a whole lot more as I'm nearing the end of my semester! I'm doing a "thesis" on the anthropology of labor soon, and I think that a lot of the research has been very much tying into a lot of information about this subculture.

I'm totally procrastinating right now, but I've been meaning to post recently, and I need a little notepad space on this account to remind me what I want to do in a few weeks.

I'm also doing a lot of exploration into gothic alternative rock and I've been going crazy about Messer Chups- I want to see them when they come to America, but I likely won't be able to.

I'm hoping to cover some of these topics once I have the time!

Nosferatu (2024)

Digital Colonialism: How Manifest Destiny is Still Alive Today

A Dive into understanding the rise of microtrends: Specifically how the gothic community has arisen in the past five years and what this could mean in the context of leftist radicalization.

Any of the garbage horror movies that I've been binge watching in the background of my finals !

How identity labels (Like Corp Goth vs Clean Goth vs Romantic Goth vs Gothic vs Goth) enforce & normalize consumerist behavior & how these concepts were invented within the past 150 years.

As always, here's my music recommendation for this blogpost <34

Mors Syphilitica - Spinning on Ribbon

As far as I know (& according to Lisa Hammer), Primrose is not available on Spotify. It's a really good album from what I've heard so far!

Thank you for reading!

-Cat (Catofthenine)

[gaywebcorenostalgia]

Welcome To Countess Vanessa's Castle, 1998

[catofthenine]

(x)

Hey Ghouls!

Tonight, I'd like to cover The Vampira Show! This was a late night "horror movie" show hosted by Vampira; a character created by and played by Maila Nurmi. Stated as the "Original Glamour Ghoul" by IMDB, I think Vampira will be a good beginning to a potential gothic pop-culture analysis and history series!

In the future I want to talk about many pieces of media and important people withing gothic history, such as but not limited to Dracula and Bela Lugosi, The Elvira Show and Elvira/Cassandra Peterson, The Addams Family and cast, and many more!

The Vampira Show aired exclusively in Los Angeles on KABC-TV from 1954-1955, and the episodes are considered pieces of lost media. I was able to get a hold of clips of Vampira on Vimeo, and I totally recommend checking those out if you can!

Each episode featured what I can only assume to be low-brow horror movies, which were introduced by Vampira. 50 episodes in total were aired on The Vampira Show.

The Vampira character, was a slender, sexy vampyress, with and iconic gothic style; black hair, tight dress, the works. Nurmi achieved her exaggerated figure by using a tight corset underneath her dress, which gave her a near-death look. The character had the classic 1950s charm, fitting for the time period, but took on a spooky, horror-loving personality.

Vampira also was featured alongside Bela Lugosi in Plan 9 From Outer Space (1957) and made a reappearance alongside Lugosi again in an episode of The Red Skeleton Show, in an episode called Dial 'B' for Brush (1958), where she played "Professor Lugosi's Sister".

Both of these are available on Amazon Video for like 99 cents, or on Freevee for, well free.

IMDB has the trailer for Plan 9 From Outerspace, and I urge anyone interested to check it out! I haven't seen it yet, but I hope to soon!

Vampira is an iconic piece of goth history, and is the predecessor to the beloved Elvira, played by Cassandra Peterson. Nurmi attempted to sue KABC for piracy over the new character host:

" 'There is no Elvira. There’s only a pirated Vampira,' she said. 'Cassandra Peterson slavishly copied my product and made a fortune. America has been duped.' " (Adelman).

Whether you agree with this accusation or not, it doesn't demote Vampira from being a huge influence for future gothic media.

"The First Goth"

Song Recommendation: Vampira's Curse by the Guitaraculas

Thanks for reading!!

-Cat

(Catofthenine)

[catofthenine]

it's Vampira (Maila Nurmi)'s birthday today !! literal goth legend

[vampiricvenus]

Today in some more inflammatory goth opinions nobody asked for:

The "trad" goth look that's currently popular in social media has nearly nothing to do with actual 80s goth looks. ESPECIALLY in terms of the makeup.

[vampiricvenus]

Like, it's not a "bad" look but it's about as accurate to 80s goth looks as Bridgerton is accurate regency fashion, maybe even less. Probably the only aspect of it that's fittingly accurate is the teased hair. And that's it.

Actual 80s goth looks were closer to Jem and the Holograms with added black (and not even all the time!) than to whatever you'll see on TikTok's #tradgoth hashtag.

Actually a lot of modern "trad" goth looks have way more 90s elements to them than 80s ones. I see sooooo many layered maxi skirts with underbusts and bell sleeves. Monochrome black and white makeup was also not all that common in 80s goth, they loved some color.

They contoured with electric blue, bright purples, oranges, etc. It was the era of the new romantics.

[vampiricvenus]

Part 2 of inflammatory goth opinions; there's no standard romantic goth makeup and I'm extremely confused as to how did people decide that there was.

There's definitely a relatively defined romantic goth fashion style; usually inspired by historical Western fashion, whether there's a serious attempt at authenticity or not at all, lots of lace, velvet, frills, long skirts for feminine goths, not a lot of leather or BDSM elements though they can be present, not a lot of the punk or New Romantic elements that were extremely common in authentic trad goth fashion.

But makeup was far from set in stone and as someone who currently dons that look more often than not, the makeup tends to be the most boring aspect of it. Again, not always! But often plenty of romantic goths who wear makeup pretty much wear regular normie makeup but in dark colors.

Our idea of what romantic goth looks like was developed in the 90s, and compared to other decades makeup in the 90s was much more minimalist (alternative people as a whole would usually stick to dark smokey eyes and dark berry lips). So, honestly while many did keep the adventurous and experimental looks up, plenty of 90s goth makeup was very plain and subdued.

Faces painted clown-white are very uncommon in this style, I've seen plenty of romantic goth feminine people who pretty much only wear red lips and nothing much else, and masculine romantic goths who only wear a thin black eyeliner and that's it. A lot of the time, romantic goth makeup is a fine balance between simply looking pretty and how extravagantly gothic does it need to be in relation to the rest of the outfit (this be to gothify an otherwise not-that-goth an outfit or to keep up with how goth an outfit already is, if the person feels the need to do either).

Romantic goth as a fashion style is extremely diverse in general, unlike actual trad goth and ESPECIALLY unlike current/revival "trad" goth. There's no one definitive makeup style for romantic goth.

The last two are actual 90s romantic goths. The one in the off-shoulders dress with bell sleeves right above those two is a goth model whose featured picture wasn't taken in the actual 90s, but who has been a goth since the 90s and became somewhat famous online in the late 00s.

[cipheramnesia]

This is how I can wear a bright pink satin dress to goth night and still win.

[darkenchantressofallthee]

[mourntomidnight]

Me, at younger punks and goths:

YOUR FASHION CAME FROM SEX WORKERS AND THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW YOUR MUSIC IS LITERALLY YOUR FAVS RIPPING OFF BLACK AND BROWN MUSIC THE OG PUNKS OF THE 70S CREATED PUNK TO DELIBERATELY GO AGAINST THE HYPER CONSUMERIST MAINSTREAM EXCESSES OF 70S CULTURE AND THAT IS INHERENTLY POLITICAL WHETHER THE YT PUNKS REALIZED IT OR NOT!!!!!!!

[devdandburied]

Voodoo church

[3m0-b1tchhh]

[dollotronz-deactivated20240516]

death of subcultures and death of third places are directly connected and you can’t convince me otherwise

[gothiccharmschool]

You're absolutely right. Gone are the days that you can hang out in weird tiny coffee shops and find others of

[catofthenine]

no this is exactly right because subcultures (that exist outside of the internet) rely on these places for their community to form. like these days its impossible without spending 10 dollars or having friends strong enough to hop the cemetary gate past hours. totally related to the fact these subcultures are often based in counterculture, "weirdness", and anticapitalist, leftist and/or activist

[yu-mei-00]

"Vampires" by Takato Yamamoto

[blood-bloom-art]

Untitled, Shanice Bloodbloom

collage

9″x12″, 2016

[publicpreference]

[z-kitsch]

[ankhfiend]

𓉸 𝔰𝔢𝔞𝔫 𝔟𝔯𝔢𝔫𝔫𝔞𝔫 - 𝔩𝔬𝔫𝔡𝔬𝔫 𝔞𝔣𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔪𝔦𝔡𝔫𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱 .ᐟ

[babes-from-hell]

[ankhfiend]

𝔰𝔦𝔯𝔢𝔫 𝔰𝔲𝔪𝔪𝔢𝔯