The rain was thrashing at the windows in the dead of night, and the sky was dark except for the occasional flash of lightening. Yes, Rumpsies, it was indeed a dark and stormy night…

Just kidding, that’s far too cliché.

Actually it was rather warm and sunny when I decided to go to Hot Topic on Thursday evening, which is what I am here to discuss.

There seems to be a unanimous distaste for Hot Topic within the gothic subculture, except for the brave (or often babygoth*) few who enjoy the ease with which we can find darker garments for our black-is-the-new-black closets. I understand, you are probably reading this and are thinking to yourselves, “But I always think of Hot Topic when I think of goths, am I wrong?” Well, my dearest Raven Rumps, you’re not incorrect, but you’re not 100% right either.

The major dislike of said chain store is simply for that reason: that it is a chain store. We goths pride ourselves on our unique senses of style and our ability to alter articles of clothing to be different from anyone else’s, and when a chain store comes in offering to sell ready-made goth kits fresh off the assembly line some of our more… how should I say it… uppity members get all befuddled and flustered. Now I do understand them, because I believe that goth is something that you grow into and you can’t make the transition overnight simply by buying black clothes, but at the same time they often don’t take into consideration the fledglings, who usually don’t know any better and think that Hot Topic is a magical place where they can enter, pick out a few new shirts and skirts, and pop out as the dark little individual snowflake they long to be. And they’re not wrong, because how else are the going to get started? Yes, I understand, a lot of phase goths come out of Hot Topic, but many also end up sticking with the subculture and being strong members by time they pass the babybat* stage.

Now let’s discuss the clothing that comes from Hot Topic. I honestly don’t understand why other goths don’t like something if it’s from Hot Topic, because odds are if they were to go out to a thrift store (Which is where a lot of us find some of our most unique wardrobe pieces) and found the same thing they would descend upon it like a babybat descends upon a box of Count Chocula cereal. After all, some of our favorite brands are retailed at Hot Topic, such as Hell Bunny, Tripp, Spin Doctor, and Royal Bones to name a few.

This also brings me to my next topic, which is the style of clothing that goths like and dislike, and why Hot Topic is infamous for the latter. You see, it is often seen as a cliché stereotype that all goths wear those giant, chain-ridden, black and red pants that look like they could frighten a small child (Or rather the small child’s parents, who most likely raised said child to be closed minded. Most children don’t care what you wear unless they are taught by their parents to hate what is different, but that’s not the main point of this post and I shall return to the original subject. End rant). These are commonly known as Tripp pants, seeing as they are made by the brand for which they are infamously named. Let me tell you something: Goths HATE to be stereotyped by this, but if you do see someone wearing a pair of these they are most likely part of the subculture. It’s an interesting and touchy subject, because many goths think that only phase goths wear these, and if you are goth and choose to wear them you have to be willing to deal with the heat from other members of the dark community.

Now, I could go on forever on this topic, but I feel as though this post is getting rather lengthy and I should probably stop before I get too carried away. There may be a part 2 at some point, so look for that in the future, my darling Ravensies. See you next week~

*Babygoth and Babybat are two separate entities which are often confused, but they are, in fact, very different. A Babygoth is a young fledgling who is just getting started in the subculture and may not know all the street smarts about the subculture that the elder goths know (The amount of eyeliner to use, how to apply whiteface foundation without looking ridiculous, what bands to listen to, etc.), whereas Babybats are simply younger goths who are too young to attend clubs and that sort of thing but are still upstanding members of the subculture and should be treated as such.