Kilts as Goth wear.

[Mike n NC]

Every generation of kids wants to be different. In the 50s it was the greasers, in my own (the 60s) it was the hippies that stood out, missed most of the 70s (out of the country)but I do remember a lot of attention to the disco'ers, in the 80s it was the skaters, 90s it was the punkers, now the goths. Which were you a part of or wanted to be a part of?

A coffee shop that I stop at frequently has a goth group that comes in quite regular. Always polite, curious about the kilt at first, now they always stop by to chat for a few when I am there. A couple of them have benifited by being given SWKs web address and are now occasionally sporting black budget kilts.

Like the move of traditional celtic instruments into rock and popular music, if we want the younger folks to feel the attraction to kilts that we share, we best be prepared to see it go thru some changes.

Mike

[Freedomlover]

I know its just a passing phase.

I remember when a tight T-shirt with one sleeve rolled over a pack of weeds and a DA haircut was the height of fashion.

[Mike n NC]

I remember when a tight T-shirt with one sleeve rolled over a pack of weeds and a DA haircut was the height of fashion.

Don't forget the cap, the real bad boys wore the Brando style motorcycle caps. What was the movie, The Wild Bunch? LOL those were my heros.

Mike

[Iolaus]

Every generation of kids wants to be different. In the 50s it was the greasers, in my own (the 60s) it was the hippies that stood out, missed most of the 70s (out of the country)but I do remember a lot of attention to the disco'ers

NO!! We never existed!! We were just a figment of everyone's imagination!! Forget you ever heard the word "Disco."

It was just a collective nightmare... an urban myth that everyone bought into... they only existed in the movies... yeah, yeah, that's the ticket!

[Shotdir]

Not that I would ever know something like this,

But I bet



Iolaus still has some white square toed disco shoes with 2 inch heels in his closet!


Come on dude - fess up!


Me, I was into Hang Ten and OP - the first time around!

Seems like the Goth kids want to be different, but they end up looking like all the other goth kids....LOL

[Mike n NC]

NO!! We never existed!! We were just a figment of everyone's imagination!! Forget you ever heard the word "Disco."

It was just a collective nightmare... an urban myth that everyone bought into... they only existed in the movies... yeah, yeah, that's the ticket!

Mike

[Iolaus]

Not that I would ever know something like this,

But I bet



Iolaus still has some white square toed disco shoes with 2 inch heels in his closet!


Come on dude - fess up!

No shoes, but if I dug real deep, I might, might mind you, have a pair of Angelflights packed away in plastic somewhere... but I don't think so.

[Southern Breeze]

It sounds as though some of us have gone from leisure suit to leisure kilts. :smile:

[Rigged]

I have an online aquaintance who is a Goth. She tells me real Goths don't necessarily wear the typical (stereotypical?) Goth outfits. The real Goths call the dress-in-black-bought-it-at-Hot Topic, "Gophs".

According to her, most real Goths shop at thrift-stores and second-hand shops where they can find unique items.

[motorman4life]

I found this on-line and thought it seemed to be "on-topic." I pared it down some and edited it a bit. It is a bit long, but I agree with the overall premise and think it is worth the read. I just thought I'd share this for those that may not have thought about it...

Political correctness in America has caused "masculinity" to become an anachronistic idea, almost lowered it to a dinosaur or mythical status. By and large, where clothing is concerned, quality, workmanship, attention to function and detail were infinitely more important in the past than now. The reasons are myriad and, placed in current perspective, very discouraging.

From the Great Depression until the 1960's people were grateful for gainful employment and self-motivated to do a good job. Employment was a privilege. Now it seems to be a right -- and we have Homer Simpson at the Springfield Nuclear Plant -- D'ohhhh!

First and second generation Americans of European extraction principally constituted the old garment work force, working for factory owners of similar cultural and religious backgrounds, so there were shared goals, experiences and assumptions. By necessity having often made and mended their own clothing, workers routinely applied their skills, hoping to make a durable, quality product, knowing no other way.

Until the late 1950’s “fashion” was the concern only of a small rich elite viewed in movies and newspapers. Daddy Warbucks-types, Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton ("The Poor Little Rich Girl") and other socialites or headline hunters. The rest of America sought durability; one couldn't easily afford to replace worn or damaged clothing until the two decades of runaway prosperity following the end of WWII. Quality -- construction integrity and functionality -- was the given, not, as today, the rarest exception. Clothing was property, not fashion, except for the fortunate few who could spend without regard to price or functionality.

Specialist apparel like leather motorcycle jackets, outdoor gear and rugged wear was clothing to do things in, to perform tasks in, not the fashion statement of a leisured middle class. Similarly, the offspring of the leisure class -- today's so-called Generation X, Y, Z, whatever -- are, chillingly, absorbed with making a fashion statement -- i.e. all surface, no substance. They are two-dimensional beings, lacking depth, lacking souls, that is, the knowledge of Good and Evil -- they will follow any order and believe what they are told by celebrities. See how they demonstrate on the side of terrorists and murderers? Cultures without books implode. Cultures without books live in a perpetual present, ignorant of the past, blind to the future, chained to an unholy trinity of eating, defecating and breeding, nothing higher.

Alas, suicidal infantilism has mortally stricken America: now everything must be pre-chewed, pre-washed. In the same way, politically correct language is sanitized pre-thought. Authenticity and usefulness is the criterion of value and of beauty too. In things and in people. Value and beauty are interchangeable. Inauthentic people have no value. And are the majority. Scary. Deadly. But true. True quality is unique, incalculable. People of quality aren't equal but single gems incapable of duplication. They indicate the richness, the variety, not the sameness.

Real leather jackets are made to routinely protect riders from serious injuries during accidents. A flimsy and often not inexpensive import will not hold itself together, let alone protect the rider. Original motorcycle gear and outdoor clothing expressed FUNCTION. THE WILD ONE (1954) with Marlon Brando became the popular culture watershed linking motorcycle gear to the attitudes of a young middle class then prosperous enough to be disenchanted: the juvenile delinquent phenomenon.

America today is only about image -- social decadance -- the ability to afford an image, a label -- rather than true substance. Life-As-Acting-Class -- a definition of current America. “Carapace Culture.” Look it up.

Compare, similarly, old and new Levis blue jeans-- in the 1950s the concept of pre-washed, pre-broken in jeans would've been ludicrous, outside the cultural mindset. Remnants of the old pioneer ethic, though fast disappearing, still existed: you broke in work clothing like your forebears had broken horses and the soil. Jeans were still work clothing (and the clothing of the working class). But when people ceased to make and grow things and began service economy jobs, they adopted, as psychological compensation, jeans as the middle class uniform, as if unconsciously to assert they were still linked to the soil. But they weren't and they're not.

People now, aren't linked to anything but chronic consumerism, identifying themselves by the labels and logos they covet. The closest any Soccer Mom's 4x4 Range Rover or Hummer H3 gets to off-road -- the Costco parking lot. Consider too how "collectors" spend thousands on original 1800’s era to pre-1940’s era Levis: this defines irrational consumption, i.e. decadence, yet not classical decadence as literary or epater le bourgeoisie, rather purely as ethical and cultural decay expressed in patent wannabeism.