There has to be a way to dress gothy and masc in a way that's also comfy. Like "clothes that could also double as pyjamas" level of comfy wear.
sweatpants?
Do you have tips on how to style sweatpants in a dressy, goth way?
pick a pair of pants at the thrift store that you think are nice looking and comfy. then pair it with a t-shirt from the menswear section. make sure it calls to you. personalise it if you feel like changing anything about it. you have to dress like who you are authentically.
if your most authentic self is goth, and the way you sourced the clothes is more faithful to goth values, then it's going to be a super comfy goth outfit.
remember, goth is not a look, so much as it is a lifestyle. you have to have the values and practices and the aesthetic will follow
The problem is the first sentence: there is no known overlap between "looks good" and "comfy".
I have a few ideas but depends on how much effort you want to put on it. Diy is not only a punk feature, goths have always diy'd their clothes. I am more punk than goth but the two are not that far! They are like alt cousins :)
Quickest and easiest way to make a pair of sweatpants look goth is to bleach them. You could either dilute it and spray it on the pants or put a bit of bleach in a container, take a brush and just splash it on the pants. Leave them outside in the sun for a bit and wash them (do not put them with other clothes just to be sure you are not ruining anything). I'll say one hour and you have your personal pair of goth sweatpants.
Another thing you could do is to put holes in them. Take a pair of scissor, cut a small hole and then bush a razor on it to give it a more ripped look.
If you have more time, a bit of money and you want to try something more complicated, you can sew patches, paint them, add some metal eyelets (idk if that's how they are called in english. The metal things in the shoe where you put your laces in), chains, etc.
As for the top, band shirts!! Black shirts!! Black tank tops!! Halloween themed stuff!! You can also find them already goth enough or add patches, pins, laces, etc etc. Same goes for sweatshirts! Be creative! And also accessories!! Spike bracelets, necklaces, etc can change the look and make it more goth even if you are just wearing a pajamas.
Definitely look at old goths looks. They can be the source of great inspiration for diys. You do not need any fancy or expensive equipment or that much experience to make cool things. And remember that all of these subcultures are about breaking societal norms and expectations. So honestly going around in your pjs sounds very goth!!!
I think people misunderstood what I meant with the sweatpants: I do not want to be seen in public in sweatpants. I would rather just go with no pants at all than have to wear those in public, but unfortunately that attracts unwanted attention.
When I said "I don't want to look like I'm wearing sweatpants", I did not mean "if only there was a way for me to wear sweatpants", I meant "I do not want to be a person who wears sweatpants in public".
If I said "I hate lemons so much that I'd rather eat human shit than touch a lemon", that does not mean that I am looking for suggestions on how to safely consume feces. This is not directed at you personally, I always get misunderstood in ways like this and I don't know how to make it stop happening every time I open my mouth.
You could try being more specific from the beginning. People are not gonna be able to guess that "clothes that could also double as pyjamas" and "gothy and masc" also mean that you absolutely do not want to be seen wearing sweatpants in public, since you also asked for further tips to make sweatpants look less casual. They will assume you want something comfortable and casual (because you said pyjamas) and since you were curious about how to style sweatpants in a goth, dressy way they're going to go down that road. You did say dressy, but that one word will not communicate that sweatpants are off the list.
You said there's no way to make something comfy and look good, but people don't innately know "what looking good" to you means, and it can't be sweatpants at all and you would not want to even be seen in public in them. If you want to find tips to feel comfortable in dressy clothing you have to say that from the beginning as well.
It's like you're setting invisible tripwires for people by assuming there's more meaning to your words than you're actually communicating with them. Of course people are gonna trip.
And showing more appreciation when people take their time to give you advice, even if they misunderstand would be good. Now you're just rewarding them with a slap on the face by always emphasizing how little they understood you - that can make people feel dumb and embarassed for trying to help at all.
I definitely fucked the dog with the way I put myself in words again. I regret doing that and will unfortunately do it again, because if I knew how to stop doing that, I would. I should have been more clear at the start about trying to find something that FEELS COMFORTABLE but simultaneously DOES NOT LOOK CASUAL. No streetwear, no sportswear, no underwear, no camping gear. I had not really clarified the requirements to myself before posting.
It's much less intentionally setting tripwires and more like forgetting to tell people that there's no floor in the kitchen. And neither side understands why we're not in the same room anymore.
sounds like it might be an america-raised vs europe-raised thing? as an eastern european i instantly knew what op meant and maybe its just that "looking good" here is not something youd do by wearing sweatpants?
If you walk up to someone here who's wearing sweatpants and say "I like your outfit!" you're going to get a nose-breaking headbutt, because that can only be taken as sarcasm, and interpreted as you saying "I notice that you're in a bad place in your life right now, and I want you to know that it shows! :)"
If you look up "stretch work pants," they are becoming more of a thing. Something I might recommend is looking at the tags of your comfiest home pants to see what their composition is (percentage of cotton, spandex, etc). Then look for "professional" or formal garments with similar fabric compositions. If you want to get really nerdy about it you can look at the fabric weave and try to match those, too. It's not a guarantee—every fabric is different—but it's nice if you can correlate what you find comfortable with the kind of stuff they have on product listings.
