Degenerotika Clothing is a new alt fashion label by Slovenian artist/videographer/designer Tea Bauer. The clothing is gothic for sure, but there’s nothing pensive or frou-frou about it: the sharp, angular, textured garments look like they’re designed for dangerous people, people with unnatural reflexes and ambiguous morals. I can see Aeon Flux wearing this for a violent date with Trevor Goodchild, or Molly Millions donning this for a rare night out dancing on the Killing Floor.

The Degenerotika portfolio can be here, and I’ve included my favorite pieces after the jump. I’ll admit that some of the pieces are hit-or-miss for me, but when it’s a hit, it’s a stab straight to the heart. Tea has a clear voice and a unique perspective on alternative fashion. Definitely one to watch.

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Rhythmic gymnastics, as I’ve suddenly come realize, are possibly the ultimate hotness in sports, though I’d prefer it without the ribbon. But that’s not all! I see club hit potential – just look at those dramatic flowing gestures, practically reaching for a smoky club ceiling, interspersed with industrial-ish angular sharp movements. I’d like to have seen Ukrainian gymnast Natalia break these moves out at Perversion back when it was still bumpin’ – she could have been an instant superstar.

Also see: Is Ukraine prime minister secretly a goth? 

Back in July, the American “underground/alternative” mall chain Hot Topic announced that it was rebranding, abandoning The Dark Path for a brighter, more inclusive ambiance. CNN Money covered a consumer conference where Hot Topic CEO James McGinty had the following to say:

“Based on feedback from our customers and changes in the [apparel] industry, we’re changing the look of our stores… people were telling us that the stores were too dark, gothic and intimidating to the average customer.”

The big question is this: what is this a sign of? Should we mourn the old, dark Hot Topic or piss on its grave?

“They call their series Exactitudes: a contraction of exact and attitude. By registering their subjects in an identical framework, with similar poses and a strictly observed dress code, Versluis and Uyttenbroek provide an almost scientific, anthropological record of people’s attempts to distinguish themselves from others by assuming a group identity. ” – Exactitudes Website

These pictures go a long way to remind me that no matter how individualistic people think they are with their clothes and makeup, in the end we are all divided into relatively homogeneous tribes. These dress codes, both on the street and on MySpace, make it easy to find new friends – or at least they used to. When I was younger, if I saw green-haired girl with weird jewelry on the train, I could easily strike up a conversation on basis of common interests. I’ve met a lot of friends that way. These days, that’s not the case. I’ve met freaky-looking people who had nothing in common with me, and I’ve met people dress completely “normal” who turned to be some of the most unique individuals I’ve ever known. People dress a certain way in order to send social cues to each other about common interests, but now with the Avril Lavigne generation, “alternative” cues that used to mean a lot don’t mean nearly quite as much.

It’s still possible to meet new friends in cities while simply walking down the street, but it’s a lot more tricky than it was when I was 15. Either I’ve changed, or social norms have changed, or both. Now, I pay attention more to what people are holding in their hands, what type of facial expression they have, what they’re reading, rather than their hair color or makeup. How do you find friends in the crowd?

Dame Shirely Bassey of James Bond music theme fame recently put out an ubergoth video to promote her cover of Pink’s “Get the Party Started.” I showed this to an extremely talented musician friend who shall remain nameless, prompting a hilarious knee-jerk reaction that I did not expect. There were some choice words for this, let me tell you. My friend was like, “it’s the cheese knob being cranked to 11! Combined with out-of-her-prime show tune hag in bad frame composites and uber tacky goth trappings! It’s phantom of the opera meets a Calvin Klein perfume ad! Meets Liza Minelli’s fat ass! Terrible, sterile video and the insincere bellowing of a woman who forgot to take her menopause meds.”

Oh man, harsh! I don’t have my friend’s fine-tuned ear for music, so the horror of the singing did not penetrate me quite the same way. Also, I have bad taste. I’ll be the first to admit this. I kinda like the pretty goth dresses! However, even I’ll concede that the masks are kind of questionable. However, I can watch this video again and again. I now share this bad taste with all of you. Video and stills, behind the jump. Enjoy!

Hey guys, it’s the future! Motorola uses the image above to announce their new RAZR2 phone, partying like it’s cybergoth circa 1999 and brandishing a phone that looks it doubles as a light saber dildo. There’s a kind of sadness to this campaign, an aching desperation to make you feel the cutting edge of what’s basically just another souped-up fliphone, aged forever by the likes of OpenMoko and the iPhone.

Apparently, in Motorola’s perfect future, ladies will have disproportionate mutant man-hands. Or maybe it’s just an old trick for making cell phones in pictures appear more sleek and thin. In the future, the clothes get shinier, the cheap tactics stay the same.

Three Graces with a Knife by Natalie Shau

23-year-old Lithuanian digital artist Natalie Shau has created a new set of images influenced by Greek Mythology.

This piece above is called “Three Graces with a Knife.” According to Shau, illness the women in the image are Alecto the Implacable, advice Megaera The Jealous One and Tisiphone, tadalafil the avenger Murder. In Greek Mythology, these three sisters were known as Erinyes (or in Roman, the Furies), and they were the female personification of vengeance.

The cross makes me think of death, but the ivy is life. Sort of the tragic and hopeful, you know.

Ah, Poison Ivy. It had it all – big hair, teen lesbian lust, daddy complexes, public sex, irreparable emotional trauma and even death.

The players
Sylvie Cooper: A pre-Goth introverted high school student [Sarah Gilbert ]
Ivy: miniskirt-wearing, tattooed, broken doll-faced Lolita of a girl [Drew Barrymore]
Darryl Cooper: Sylvie ‘s father, a wealthy lonely man [Tom Skerritt] with a wilted rose as his dying wife [Cheryl Ladd]

The plot
Sylvie meets & swoons over wild Ivy and invites her into her home along with disaster. She can only look on in horror and confusion as Ivy slowly takes over her life.

What reads like a recipe for generic Hollywood fodder, instead focuses on acute loneliness, obsession and despair as much as on Barrymore’s physique and is actually a strangely moving and beautiful film. The acting is just ok, but Barrymore’s portrayal of a love starved teenage desperado is involving and bouncy, and the cinematography is great, with most of the particularly dramatic moments are shot in twilight rain. This movie probably did some goth-o-fying to herds of restless teenage girls in the 90s. Shakespearean high drama, Freudian tension and Fellinian perversion – I can’t help but love it all!

Vogue Italia October 2007
Photo: Richard Burbidge
Model: Alana Zimmer
See the rest on: foto_decadent

I used to get furious when I saw gothic-inspired shoots in magazines like Vogue. In my mind, the designers were capitalizing on a scene that was not theirs to own, tauntingly improving on certain fronts with their $70-a-yard fabric while raking in the cash for their soulless, safe interpretations while the real designers starved. Of course you had your occasional unique voice such as Vivienne Westwood, but for the most part what I saw looked like pure thievery. These days, I can enjoy an image like this without such malice. In today’s high-visibility networking culture, the most talented alt designers are fully capable of producing such high-fashion images on their own and getting published; just check out these impressive press pages from alt designers Atsuko Kudo and Cyberoptix.

And the ripoff factor? Well, there are a lot of anecdotes about how Jean-Paul Gaultier used to frequent London’s fetish clubs and stalk around Camden Market to subsequently fill the runway with directly-inspired, uncredited designs in the 90s. But when he turns around and comes up with something like this or this, is all not forgiven? A whole new generation of alt designers now finds inspiration in Gaultier’s work, completing the cycle. It’s a symbiotic relationship, one that’s healthier today then it’s ever been.

Previously:

• W Magazine Goth Spread
• More High Goth in the Mainstream Fashion Press

Tokyo’s theme restaurants have been attracting tourists and locals for quite some time. There’s a selection suitable for every mood, kink and outfit – just take a look at this partial list!

• The Vampire Cafe
• Alice in Wonderland
• Christon Cafe – yes, it’s Jesus-themed
• Princess Heart – Snow White + Cinderella theme
• Opera – Phantom of the Opera
• The LockUp

Naturally, on our Japan-o-dventure our curiosity and appetites were piqued so we paid some of these fantasy eateries a visit.

The Vampire Cafe is a maze of red velvet and layers of candle wax. Waitresses in tarted up maid uniforms solemnly lead patrons trough crimson corridors across a blood red floor, literally. This floor, likely my favorite part of the decor, is composed of glowing backlit tiles depicting enlarged photographs of blood cells. Customers can choose a banquet table or private curtained booths, maid bells provided. I tried to wish myself back there yesterday – it would be stupendous for a Halloween dinner; appetizers arranged into the shape of crucifixes, rose petals sprinkled across plates, the main course served in, yes, a tiny black casket. And all this triumphantly crowned with a chocolate skull inside my parfait, no less.