No one's innocent in crime town

Ruth (aka Red), 33, she/her, Scotland. Everything fine to reblog unless otherwise stated. I don't reliably tag triggers or spoilers because I forget, so if that's an issue for you, be careful/avoid. Bi, cis, VERY white, sorta disabled, polyamorous, illustrator (art @ongoingart), Quaker, lifelong dork. My first word was 'Zaphod'. According to my dear friend Kofi, "a notable wit and raconteur." Probably NOT an octopus, several cats and a large snake in a human suit, but it's best not to check.

[felp0n]

The Bastard Prince

Teenage fitz bc i get withdrawals if I don't draw him often enough

[thedreadvampy]

now it's been more than half a decade since they made music together can I just say that Sirens and Lucky Sevens are some of the best Mechanisms tracks purely because Frank's voice is transcendentally, unfairly gorgeous?

like the mechs have all got their strengths as vocalists but Frank might be one of my all time favourite singers. not in the mechs but like full stop.

and I 100% understand why they haven't put out music since but holy shit the points in mechs songs where their voice takes centre stage are Fucking Magic. they're just so good.

[hinoneko]

*sigh* fine, fine, i'll be the new doctor who showrunner. bring me two twinks, britain's tallest woman, and 1000 pounds worth of alumininamian foil

[thedreadvampy]

all I do these days is cough up sputum and complain about coughing up sputum

[thedreadvampy]

ordered Nigerian

Nigerian place cancelled cause they were out of domoda

ok so I went somewhere else and ordered Nepalese

order status switched to 'delivered' while both the doorbell and my phone were rung by Absolutely Nobody. and you can't really do anything about that with justeat cause the restaurant doesn't employ the delivery drivers so who can you even call?

so now I'm on attempt 3 to get Some Kind Of Food, it is 20:45 and I am going to c r y

[thedreadvampy]

fortunately food arrived

unfortunately food was Just Ok which was not all I wanted from life

[thedreadvampy]

ordered Nigerian

Nigerian place cancelled cause they were out of domoda

ok so I went somewhere else and ordered Nepalese

order status switched to 'delivered' while both the doorbell and my phone were rung by Absolutely Nobody. and you can't really do anything about that with justeat cause the restaurant doesn't employ the delivery drivers so who can you even call?

so now I'm on attempt 3 to get Some Kind Of Food, it is 20:45 and I am going to c r y

[thedreadvampy]

I Have Been Trying To Order Food Since 7:30

[thedreadvampy]

ordered Nigerian

Nigerian place cancelled cause they were out of domoda

ok so I went somewhere else and ordered Nepalese

order status switched to 'delivered' while both the doorbell and my phone were rung by Absolutely Nobody. and you can't really do anything about that with justeat cause the restaurant doesn't employ the delivery drivers so who can you even call?

so now I'm on attempt 3 to get Some Kind Of Food, it is 20:45 and I am going to c r y

[thedreadvampy]

re prev post I am a bitch but can I just say as someone who's been hanging around the goth scene for nearly 20 years atp: what the fuck are the 'goth values and approach' and why does it sound so corporate?

cause people seem to keep saying both 'it's not about the music' and 'it's not about the clothes or looks' and I get the desire to move away from the pressure to perform Goth Aesthetic 100% at all times but also

what are the Goth Values And Approach? I guess nihilism, alienation, a sort of joyous morbidity, nonconformity...idk I just don't feel there's as much as a clear core philosophy to goth as there is to some other subcultures like punks or skins or hippies or ravers. there maybe was at one time but it's spread into being a bit of an umbrella term for 'alternative' imo.

[homunculus-argument]

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.

[gromqueer]

sweatpants?

[homunculus-argument]

Do you have tips on how to style sweatpants in a dressy, goth way?

[vinylcatlocket]

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

[homunculus-argument]

The problem is the first sentence: there is no known overlap between "looks good" and "comfy".

[caffeinatedpunk]

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!!!

[homunculus-argument]

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.

[nurmilintunen]

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.

[homunculus-argument]

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.

[theonyxstate]

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?

[homunculus-argument]

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! :)"

[stagalactic]

Not sure if this still fits in the range of gothy, but would you consider things like these to be sweatpants? To me these look like normal pants but I don't know if a European would see this as too sweatpants-like.

The only other suggestion I would have would be like.. Tripp pants 🤷

[homunculus-argument]

Would I be able to sit like this in them?

[thedreadvampy]

This whole thread is exhausting tbh but combat trousers are my choice for Comfy Goth. You can OCCASIONALLY find them in light fabrics and if they're light and fairly loose they're ready to move in, sit weird in and lie down in, at least in my experience. the downside is the light ones I have are a very crinkly synthetic fabric which is less comfy so my plan this summer is either to find some loose linen trousers with an elastic waist and add eyelets/pockets/etc or just get some lightweight black fabric and copy a pattern off some Tripp-style trousers.

I am not super masc but this is a huge and frustrating hole in the goth clothing market and I don't know why it's so hard to find easy-to-move-in trousers. sometimes goths are lazy.

I have solutions but they're all homemade and so far I haven't 100% cracked it. Loose combat trousers with an elastic waist are the closest I've come though.

[thedreadvampy]

my GP has noticed that I've not updated my address even though I moved over 2 years ago and they're kicking me off the list even though they're the Only Functioning GP In Edinburgh and all the other ones are like 'call us at 8am for the possibility of a doctor calling you today at a random time'

[thedreadvampy]

anyway that's why this, if you're in Edinburgh

[thedreadvampy]

made the mistake once again of knowing what's happening around me. hey totally cool and chill fascist pogroms we got going on here. d'ye see they're burning down black people's houses in Belfast yesterday and tonight? great fine chill and normal times. don't worry if you want to turn away from that hideous spate of racist violence there's always the EHRC guidance entering law soon!!! it's fine! it's all fine! happy pride month! the country's full of racist cunts and it's illegal to piss or go online!!!!

[quelmdn]

"I long to be that complete"

[thedreadvampy]

the book I'm reading now might be suffering for me reading it right after one of my favourite books I've read in ages (which dealt with several similar themes) but I'm just gonna say

lads if you decide your book is going to be an epistolary novel where the reader slowly unpacks a story over the course of seemingly unrelated ephemera

you have to commit to doing that. you can't just explain the whole story in the first 25 pages in an amount of specific detail that really doesn't make sense in the obituary or definition or news article you're posing it as

cause not only does it totally undercut the concept of the book (it is Very Hard For Me to suspend disbelief when a bunch of the content is totally unmotivated by the medium you're imitating!!! Obituaries very rarely take a sidebar to explain what someone's friend was up to 20 years ago or pontificate on the deceased's emotional state at a specific random-but-plot-relevant moment in their life!)

but also you seem to have forgotten to include any tension. I think the author expects the tension and desire to keep reading to come from wanting to puzzle out the plot, but the thing is, because it keeps sidebarring to explicitly make it clear what is happening, why, and how, I truly don't know what puzzle is meant to be motivating me to continue.

[thedreadvampy]

cough fucking me up so much I keep having to check I'm not spitting up blood

[hyenaswine]

i think people are starting to confuse class analysis with bioessentialism. like... no not all men do this, but Men as a constructed social class do do this. that's still okay to say. that is regular material analysis of the world around us.

[razzmothazz]

still caring about internet friends you lost touch with years ago is so embarrassing. yeah i had a deam we met up irl recently. the last time we spoke was maybe 7-8 years ago. i still wear the laces we randomly decided was a sign of our friendship. i dont know what any of your socials are or if youre even active on any. sometimes i see someones art resemble yours and i wonder for hours. do you still go by that name you chose? whenever i see it i wonder if its you. we couldve passed each other in this vastness a thousand times and not have a clue.

[razzmothazz]

we were lonely kids having fun together. do you remember?