A lot of people think that goths need to wear black.
What it really means to be a goth is it's a state of mind.
You appreciate the darker thoughts,
you appreciate the darker side of life.
The darkness is rising and goth is seeing a resurgence.
Jenna Ortega went viral with her iconic dance moves
in the hit Netflix series Wednesday.
The scene spawned many recreations of her moves and fashion style.
But what is Goth?
Its roots can be traced back to the early 1980s in the United Kingdom.
This dark aesthetic was inspired by post-punk
and gothic rock bands at the time, such as The Cure and Bauhaus.
Goths dressed primarily in black clothing
with heavy eyeliner and pale skin.
And back in the eighties,
goth involved and ozone layer-troubling amount of hairspray.
Whenever people are like,
“Oh, you listen to goth music? Like, isn't it metal?”
No, no, it's nothing like that.
It's like a more eighties sound, more like The Cure.
There's a lot more variants in goth music.
And the music is the kind of stuff that we really enjoy.
People like your Joy Division, Depeche Mode.
Like The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees.
Though they may be into dark and introspective music,
goths will have you know they are not depressed individuals.
Rather, it is about embracing a mindset
that goes against the mainstream.
Three misconceptions about Goth culture is that we all write poetry,
we all look the same way and we all hate life.
I can imagine people thinking, we hold
demonic rituals and things.
No, it's honestly
people who are in tune with their emotions, getting together,
chilling, having a good time.
I am Lissa. I'm 22. I identify as a goth.
My style tends to be what I would call a fashion-forward vampire.
So I like stuff that’s, you know – black, white.
I get inspired by historical styles and pieces quite a bit.
I think being goth is actually not entirely about the fashion.
It tends to be more about like the music and the mindset
or the spirit of
the community as a whole.
In a way, sense of cynicism or fascination with the macabre
or like this ennui that we have towards life.
Hi, I am Skye.
I'm a person of counterculture.
I've always been kind of gothic.
I started when was 13, I think.
as soon as I got to pick my own clothes.
People would stare at you on the street.
But, you know – you kind of relish in that,
saying that, hey, I am different.
I have something more to bring to the table and I am interesting.
I believe there needs to be a space for the youth to express themselves
in a different manner,
like explore
complex emotions,
explore alternative identities,
and the counterculture is a great place to do that.
In Singapore, the goth scene was most active in the mid-2000s,
at club events hosted by the Singapore Dark Alternative Movement.
After dying down around 2015, goth parties are making a comeback.
For us, at the Batcave Project,
doing small parties and music gatherings
like this is a good way to branch out,
to reach out to more people because most of the time,
the way they explore the goth aesthetic is through music
or literature or fashion.
We can do it like a monthly,
ongoing thing,
where people actually have a place to really feel at home in.
For the longest time,
the only other place I find goth is like on the Internet,
internationally over Discord.
But now that I've actually discovered the community in Singapore,
it's suddenly like being enveloped in a warm embrace
of people that oh,
you feel like you belong with.
And that’s hard to find in Singapore if you are different.