Making Preparations for Whitby

[John]

Sue and I went to Affleck's Palace today and there is one shop at least that does interesting Goth-type dresses. A bit disappointing as a complex overall, but there's something worth seeing.

Sue has also been searching the internet and has found some hopeful sites, so if you're interested you should ask her.

[Brian]

John your about 20 years too late ... After the MadChester uprising in the 90's Afflecks went more retro/vintage .... if you want goth stuff you really should have been there in the late 80's early 90's ...

Your best bet is the fancy dress shop on the top floor .. they do hire clothing ... Soho on the second floor do do some good stuff, as does the shop on the first floor (sorry i cant remember their name but you get there by going in the arcade entrance next to CyberDog, up the stairs, when you get to the first floor you turn left, through the door, then immediately right, the shop in question is there in front of you ) .. You also have to understand that what you see at WGW will be their "Sunday best" and affleck will sell more everyday stuff (band t-shirts, black jean's etc) they need to make money and as such they will sell what will sell and sell in bucketloads, not something that will sell once every blue moon but dresses and frock coats are on sale there .

Afflecks is a good place to pick up accessories, Grin and Extreme Largeness on the ground floor, the above mentioned shop on the first floor (and the shop next to it that sells some really nice jewelry and pocket watches at stupid cheep prices), Soho and Tokyo Royalle on the second floor among others .... If you want to get full blown mourning dresses or the like you may have to look on line (as it has always been the case, Or go down to Camden for a weekend). Attitude Clothing - http://www.attitudeclothing.co.uk/, Heavy red - http://heavyred.com/, Plastic Wrap - http://www.plastikwrap.com/ (more the industrial/cyber goth look but may give ideas) are good places to look for really good OTT goth look. But you would be doing yourself a favour if you kept your eye on the likes of Gothic Beauty Magazine - http://www.gothicbeauty.com/, Auxilliary Magazine - http://auxiliarymagazine.com/ (And free to download the pdf ), Devolution - http://www.devolutionmagazine.co.uk/ (New webbie coming soon so bear with them) or Alt Fashion - http://www.altfashion.co.uk/ .. All of these cover the culture, music etc (some like Devo and Aux also cover the likes of models, photographers and make up artists, Aux will have a section in each issue that covers a "Style" to give you an idea to make up one set dress type of thing, it also covers make up ideas from time to time) alt fashion can seem a little Scene/Emo at times (the type of guys you see hanging out round the back of Urbis in Manchester as opposed to "True" goths LOL) but give it a look.

Recent years the goth/industrial scene has migrated eastwards with more gothy stuff over the border in the wilds of Yorkshire (as well as most of the bands going to play that side of the Pennines ) this side went more Brit Pop, Rave and rock and the goth scene sorta died over here there are a few shops around .. Crimson Kasket in Conway, There is a shop (or was) in Ashburner street market in Bolton, there is supposed to be a good one in Preston (I will ask Kat to see if she can find out its name and get back to you), Not sure about the likes of Liverpool but I know Chester has a branch of SoHo's, the same as Afflecks. I shall keep a look out for you ... Oh and dont over look smaller shops .. Morgana Clothing in Wakefield - http://www.morganadesigns.co.uk/General/News.html will do custom, made to measure, waist coats and some really nice stuff .. I was thinking of getting one to go with the long black coat I have but never got round to it.


If you would like to borrow an issue or 2 of Devo, Unscene (More music than fashion), Alt Fashion or Gothic Beauty let me know and I will bring some issues in for you to borrow for a mooch .. but really take a look around .. Aux site will have links to fashion houses (Like HeavyRed) as will Gothic Beauty, mooch round Attitude and you will see brand names .. if you punch the names into Google then you will end up on other sites with other "houses" you have not seen and your adventure will go on.

Oh and as your post was on a Sunday I assume you went that morning, if so you will only find the ground floor open on a Sunday .. you should go on a saturday the whole place is open .. I could meet you and give you a guided if you should see fit

[Brian]

Just done a quick search

The shop in Prestion seems to be called Pumpkin Head, its on Friarsgate, but they don't seem to have their own web site .. will keep looking

[Brian]

Obviously a shopping trip to Whitby before the next WGW would be a good idea too

[Brian]

And Alt-Fashions webbie does a handy "Alt-Guide to ... " Here is Liverpool so there are places - http://www.altfashion.co.uk/alternative ... rpool.html

Sorry for the spam John :S LOL

But don't Diss the Afflecks dude

[Brian]

Also dont forget the DIY route.

Simplicity does some cool steampunky dress patterns - http://www.simplicity.com/p-5900-misses ... stume.aspx that can be "blacked out" and adapted to make your dress, or even pirate or gypsy look .. Goth is more than just Looking like Wayne Hussey or Robert Smith. Look around on Simplicity's site as they do some patterns that with a bit of constuctive thought can easily be made into passable goth with a twist Steampunk came from a role playing background only to be embraced by goth culture .. how about dark 30's Dieselpunk or Electro-swing speak easy's or 50's schlock rockabilly that is in vogue ?

As I was saying to Sue Boon recently its not cheap to go out and get a full "costume", a decent pair of boot's can cost you 50 quid upwards (my new rock cowboy boots were 170 and imported from Spain :S) ... best thing to do is research, save some pics from google and other sites and then "buy to build", buy a corset here and a blouse there, boots then a skirt, looking around for some decent tights can really make a "costume" and dont just stick with the cliched fishnet's (obviously for Sue unless your not telling us something John ). Once you have a few bits to get you out there you can build up and get more, and dare i say it, the expensive items .. Frock coats can cost in excess of £100 and thats a big outlay for one item .. but a waistcoat and then a ruff shirt (also known as poet shirts I think) may get you up and running for the same price, then you can get the frock coat or replace bits for more desirable items.

Don't over look Live Role Playing stores .. my highway mans coat came from a larp mail order website - http://www.lrpstore.com/ - and if your selective you can get some good stuff there that you can pay double via goth fashion sites... You can mix up Georgian or Victorian these days. (you may notice that the girls dresses usually have a leaning towards the Victorian mourning dresses where as mens fashion has a leaning towards more Georgian with its frock coats etc)

Looking around at movies like Bram Stokers Dracula, Shellys Frankenstein, Dorian Grey or even the likes of Sherlock Holmes can give you some ideas to look at .. Hell don't turn your nose up at Pirates of the Carribean even they can all give you ideas.

OK I have waffled on again and think I need to do some work .. I will obviously be at the club on Thursday and if you have any questions or like I said before, you have an interest in any of the magazines I have, just give me a poke and I will do what I can to help, advise etc ... maybe if John can post the links to the web sites he and Sue have found it could help other club members with their ideas either for a "costume" or for a club shoot and styling ... I will post what I can when I am in a better position to go goth hunting and not in work

Hope my waffling so far has been of some assistance to anyone interested

[John]

Thanks brian, that's very helpful. I'll ask Sue to post links to the sites she's found.

[Sue]

Here are the links to the sites I have found so far.

http://www.milanoo.com/producttags/V-victorian-dress
http://www.kinkyangel.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index
http://shop.stylefavs.co.uk/edwardian+d ... an+dresses
http://www.retroscopefashions.com/ladies1.html
http://www.gentlemansemporium.com/gentl ... =100434718

I have also found some on Amazon, but you have to look through a lot of pages.

Hope this helps, the more the merrier.

[Brian]

One thing I has noticed over the years is that some times you are gonna have to search a bit further a field for some accessories, Obviously gloves and the like can be aquired from the likes of Extreme Largeness in Afflecks but if you wanna go for the obligatory lace parasol or even if you decide to go for an edwardian one :-

http://www.the-gothic-shop.co.uk/dark-d ... -5091.html
http://www.the1foru.co.uk/parasols--fans-66-c.asp
http://www.theweddingparty.co.uk/Umbrel ... an-Parasol
http://www.roullierwhite.com/edwardian- ... -378-c.asp

A find posted by Kat a few weeks ago .. I know its a general hosiary site but there are some bits you can work into a style :-

http://www.nylonjournal.com/socks-legwe ... kings.html

Other bits
http://www.the-gothic-shop.co.uk

Like I said .. its not a case of a one stop shop and I also think people think there is a "Style" that you have to work too and if you dont do it right then you will fail ... Hey as long as you dont mix Cyber with Medieval I think you will generally be ok .. you have to experiment with what you like and think works at the end of the day someone once had to bring this all to the front and "define" goth or Steampunk etc whats to say you are not going to be the next breakthroug in style ?

http://www.blackwaterfall.com/about.php