Teen Gothic

Hello, I am 15 years old and want to become a goth and want advice. This is because I've listened to some of the music and liked it, I like the aesthetic, and found myself agreeing with some of the ideologies. Also, the history behind it, of what I've seen, is pretty interesting. Any advice for me?

As the title says, I've recently gotten super into gothic fashion after admiring it for most of my life, and I finally built up the confidence to start buying and creating outfits from a local alternative fashion store in the past few months. I absolutely love how it looks on me and already have amassed quite a wardrobe of goth wear, from dresses to corsets to pentagram skirts, and have even started learning new makeup skills to match.

Through this I've ended up reconnecting with an old friend from back in school who has been wearing goth fashion for years and whose fashion sense really inspired me back in the day. Today I sent her a text with pics of some of my new outfits and was excited to want to talk with her again; however the response she had confused me.

She essentially told me while goth fashion is fun, "just don't forget to educate yourself on all the goth subculture too." I feel this is phrased weirdly as if it was more of a warning rather than an invitation to learn more about what being goth meant as I assumed at first.

This has left me a bit confused, and I can't tell if she's supportive of my new style or slightly gatekeep-y. Is she saying I can't wear gothic fashion if I don't understand the intricacies of goth subculture? Is this a suggestion that how I've gone about wearing goth fashion is wrong and that I need to educate myself on how to wear it properly? Or is it simply a friendly suggestion to look into the subculture that could help me improve wearing gothic attire?

Would anyone have some idea of what this could mean and how important educating yourself on the goth subculture is? Thank you in advance!

Hi. I'm 17 years old and for a few years I have been strongly admiring goth fashion. When it comes to goth music, I grew up listening to Marilyn Manson. But, strangely, the same people who took me to a Marilyn Manson concert when I was 13 really don't want me to have anything to do with goth or emo (in their minds goth and emo are close to the same) anything. Naturally, this has just made my fascination stronger. I'm a pretty good kid. Only thing I've done that seriously pissed my parents off was being trans. Maybe it's because in less than a year I'll be an adult, but I kinda feel like my teenage years would be a bit wasted if I didn't at least be a bit rebellious. So, exposition aside, give me some recommendations. Goth music, goth youtubers, some places to get goth fashion besides Hot Topic. And before anyone says anything, this isn't just an act of rebellion that I'm doing just to piss off my parents. It's something I've been thinking about for a few years but I'd be lying if I said that annoying my parents isn't a bonus.

mine was Lucretia My Reflection, and I know this song might be overplayed and probably “been there done that” but for real this song is fuckin’ amazing especially for someone new to the music. the Sisters did a good job making sure I’m in it for the long haul.

what was yours?