wolfinthethorns:

lilibat:

deliriumcrow:

gothiccharmschool:

myfootyrthroat:

house-of-crows:

star-anise:

generalgrievousdatingsim:

being gay is just like. damn it tattoos are expensive. damn it piercings are expensive. damn it getting your hair dyed professionally is expensive. damn it combat boots are expensive. damn it therapy is

One of the weirdest things as a Millennial is explaining DIY to younger generations. Like, before we were couture, punk/alternative/goth/gay fashion was cheap and lowkey crappy. Army surplus boots and Doc Martens hurt to break in. Black was a popular hair colour because you didn’t have to bleach your hair first so you could do your own hair in the bathroom sink. You sewed patches onto a jean jacket because it was cheaper than buying a custom graphic t-shirt. If you wanted jeans ripped, you ripped them yourself. The point was fashion that was accessible to kids in Middle America.

But now the bar is so much higher and nobody gets Home Economics anymore. :/

tbh, this is something a lot of Alt kids need to learn, and need to learn NOW. 

Shit was cheap because that’s what we had access to. Cheap n dirty and now. 

You picked up jeans second third or even fourth hand and yea they had tears in them. Don’t know how to sew, that’s fine, use safety pins! We used waxed floss to sew on our patches because we knew it was stronger than thread but ALSO we had access to a random needle left lying around and the floss in the cabinet. 

It didn’t used to be High Fashion. It was us, in our basements and our friend’s rooms, doing things we saw other kids doing…. but ALSO, it was just… part of the lifestyle. We didn’t know leather care like we do now, but we know it NOW because of Gay Leatherfolk for the most part. We used red and black hair dye, yes, because we didn’t need to bleach it. We also used really dangerous methods to bleach our hair…. don’t do that. 

Learn from what’s available to  you now and be safer definitely, but don’t forget the DIY roots of the movement. You don’t need to be decked in Blackcraft and Dollskill to be cutting edge. You can paint your jacket yourself and use fabric modpodge to seal it, y’know? Then it’s truly one of a kind…. not the same jacket you’ll be seeing on a thousand other alt people at the next concert.

It’s crazy to me now seeing people get their green hair or whatever at a salon for like $100+. I remember in high school someone would get a bottle of developer and everyone would get whatever color they wanted, and we’d all do our hair in someone’s kitchen (whoever had the best sink sprayer, usually). Like, back then, if you wanted a COLOR you usually couldn’t get it at a salon. You had to buy the colored dye at the record store.

Are you part of an alternative community? Queer? Goth? Metal? Punk? Any sort of not-particularly mainstream? LEARN TO DIY.

When I was in school, we used Kool-Aid unsweetened packets to dye our hair. You can use it to dye wool yarn (an animal protein fiber) and it lasts forever, and hair is also an animal protein fiber, so it dyed us just as easily. If you wanted extra longevity, you mixed it with a little vinegar. Goth accessories didn’t appear in stores before Hot Topic, so we made our own with second hand clothes and scads of black lace.

Make Do and Mend, the subcultures edition.

If one did want to learn some DIY sewing skills, you coulkd try:

https://gothfashion.info

And honestly, DIY and thrifting are a lot of fun. Way more fun than scrolling through websites of things you can’t afford, anyway…

(Lilibat’s projects are an excellent way to learn to sew, can confirm, made a bunch of them back in The Day)