2020 Gothic Clothing Splurge – purchases & review

Welcome back! I put up new content every Wednesday, based on whatever nonsense I’m interested in at the time.

This week I wanted to take you through some of my horrendous splurging on clothes. What’s the point of enjoying fashion if you aren’t going to show it off?

In the last year or so, I’ve been taking a new direction with my fashion choices and actually getting excited about clothes again. I’ve been veering back to my black velvet roots, especially in light of the first series of The Witcher. Yennefer has long been a style icon from the games, but the TV show put me in desperate need for a knee-high pair of lace-up boots like yesterday. Come to think of it, I get a lot of my style from film and TV.

My love of all things gothic has never, ever left me – The Addams Family and all the other spooky shows (The Worst Witch, Grizzly Tales, Are you Afraid of the Dark) imprinted on me too much as a child for that. I love all things spooky and I believe, where my heart should be, there is a little hanging bat.

Lately I’ve gone back to my love of romantic gothic clothing. I’m talking velvet and witchy sleeves paired with lace-up boots or shiny Dr Martens (like an evil pixie; everyone loves the evil pixie look), dramatic faux fur collars, long Morticia hair. I’ve gone back to a style of dress I loved years ago, back before we had quite the number of amazing gothic brands we have now. Gothic fashion has never been so accessible and I for one felt incredibly inspired to re-vamp (ha ha) my tired grunge wardrobe. I’m ready to be ~ pretty ~ now.

So what did I splurge on?

This is where I shamelessly show off my new clothes. I’m so excited about these dresses that I can’t even. Some of these have already arrived and already been gratefully worn, but others are in the mail, waiting, waiting…

Anyway, these are my main clothes purchases over the last couple of months. Enjoy!

Kate’s Clothing/Dark in Love Haul

Dark in Love Anastasia dress: Arrived last month (Dec). Fits beautifully, couldn’t be more pleased with it. Fits rather differently than the model; I am a UK size 16 and I have 36E/34F bust, so the shape is rather different on me!

Dark in Love Lucy Black dress: Arrived last month (Dec) Again, I loved this one. Fits beautifully, though slightly tighter on the bust. The length of the arms means I’d probably wear this to an occasion, meal out, or anywhere I could show it offer properly instead of under a coat. These sleeves ain’t work-safe either!

Dark in Love Carina Dress: This one is in the post. I just fell in love with the fairy-witchyness of it and I am a sucker for crushed velvet and floaty sleeves. The collar topped it off for me – it’s those little details.

Dark in Love Amara Dress: This is still to arrive. I loved this casual style with the interesting design around the chest and neck. This one could easily be worn to work, though of course it depends how low the neckline drops. I’d wear this with flats and leggings to tone it down a little and boots for a night out.

Dark in Love Chloe Dress: Again, in the post (I bought the 3 together). I love these huge floaty sleeves! So much freedom, and yet so much elegance. The scoop in the bust concerns me regarding how potentially work-safe this dress would be, but providing I can use a modesty panel, it should be just fine.

Kinky Angel boots

Demonia Glam 240: Oh god, I adore these. The lace-up front panel makes them fully adjustable, which is essential for me. I have thick calves and after putting on weight over the last couple of years, it’s hard for me to fit into boots. Kinky Angel Clothing were immensely helpful when I had to swap another pair for these, and they even helped me pick these ones.
The lolita skull bow brings out the child in me. Subtle enough to be worn anywhere, with practically anything, but glam enough to be dressed up.

Ebay budget beauties

Killstar Under Your Spell Maiden Dress: This Ebay purchase cost a mere £24 compared to (I believe) about £40 brand new. The dress does not fit me tightly like the model – in fact, it was a size too big. The neck was therefore a little oversized and droopy, but I fixed that with a ram skull brooch and now I love it even more. Floaty, elegant, loose – a perfect dress.

Faux fur poncho: This beauty cost me a mere £4.50 on Ebay. The seller sent it so fast that it arrived just a day or two later. Both snug and glam, this cape/poncho feels like a great quality faux and has a secure braided hook at the breast to keep it closed. So snuggly.

Faux fur collar/scarf: I love these things! You can pop them on over a casual jacket and instantly feel more glamorous. £6.50 on Ebay, brand new in its packaging.

What do you think of my purchases over the last couple of months? I’ve fallen in love with clothes again and I couldn’t be happier with the appearance of my wardrobe right now. I recently turfed out all my unwanted clothes for the charity shops, so I certainly felt like I deserved an overhaul. Clothes and shoes are a vice of mine, but in this day and age, I think it’s everyone’s vice.

We all want to be pretty, and that’s okay.

I’ll leave you for now until next time – but if you’d like to hear about the other styles I’ve tried and various fads I’ve gone through over the years, read below. Did you ever go through any weird phases when you were trying out new things?

In my experience, the old styles are the best, and I think we all gravitate back to what we know and love eventually.

Best wishes,
Ashleigh

My bizarre style timeline

I love trying out new styles and, much like my music tastes, my styles have been an eclectic mix over the years. To be otherwise, to me, is dead-boring, dull, pointless – what’s the point of it all if you can’t experiment?

My music tastes vary between gothic rock, post-punk, darkwave, punk, cheesey 80s pop, techno, heavy metal, black metal, classic rock, industrial heavy metal, 90s rave, 90s pop, 50s, 60s, 70s pop for that matter, synth, country, disco, funk, grunge, reggae.

I merrily skip from The Slits to Joy Division to Siouxsie and the Banshees to Type O Negative to Placebo to Metallica to Children of Bodom to Rammstein to Prodigy to Faith No More to Jimmy Cliff. Recently I discovered Molchat Doma and I am loving that goth-darkwave mood, especially as the band themselves look like tech geeks.

I think there’s obviously a strong correlation between our musical tastes and our clothing (particularly if you consider yourself part of a subculture) but it needn’t be so strict. Even when I was experimenting with more hippy-dippy styles years ago, I still listened to my heavy metal and the like.

I like to believe I’m a subculture of one, and I magpie my tastes from everywhere. As I result, I often find I belong anywhere…and nowhere. But so be it!

Below is a timeline of my style progression/regression over the last decade and beyond. Enjoy!

Grunge/casual goth (2017-2019)

I’ve always loved experimenting with new styles – sometimes successfully, and sometimes with disastrous results. My look over the last couple of years has been a sort oafish, grunge, casual-goth look. Imagine Wednesday Addams crossed with Courtney Love (or even Kurt Cobain actually) and I don’t think you could go far wrong with my look. I wore black Dr Marten Chelsea Boots, slonky leggings, tights, long-sleeve black dresses (usually bell-sleeved, as it’s my favourite), and massive grunge cardigans. Big jewelry, bright lipstick, big earrings – think Brick Lane.

I loved this look and it’s actually helped me through a difficult few years, because at times I felt like I’d given up on my appearance. The whole grunge look made it look just a teency-bit-more deliberate. When you’ve given up, this is your go-to look.

But still, try not to give up – or if you do, get back up again.

Corporate Tart Look (2015-2017)

Before that, I had a boring corporate look (around the time I started getting serious about starting a proper career path), where I wore 40s style dresses and pencil skirts, Vivienne Westwood/Melissa heels (Ebay is your friend), and wouldn’t dream of going out under-dressed. This was largely because I worked in large open-plan offices and felt pressured. My style icons at the time were the entire cast of MadMen, so forgive me – but it was an awesome look.

It was also because I was trying to pretend I was someone else.

Hippy-dippy (2010 – 2015)

Before that, around the time I became a vegetarian (though now-days I’m trying out fish, so I suppose I’m currently a pescetarian – it’s a long story, but when you’re anemic you’ll understand) I discovered reggae-punk bands like The Slits and started watching Six Feet Under, a show I fell in love with (pre-Sopranos).

The character Claire resonated with me so much that I had a sort of pseudo-hippy vibe going on for years. I grew out my long reddish-brown hair and wore a shocking amount of harem pants.

The platform goth years ( – 2010)

These were my teen years, where I did a lot of experimentation with my appearance. I did the whole dreadlocks/velvet/platforms/black hair ubergoth image, and listened to a lot of black metal, heavy metal, industrial, darkwave, gothic rock – my image was a jumble of all of this, but a wonderful jumble of the kind that only a teenager could get away with. I look fondly back on those years.

I even still have my platform New Rock Boots with the springs; maybe one day I’ll pass them on to my own little goth children, or if nothing else, give them a relic to look in awe at. Who knows, I may even wear them again – though being an adult with a job (and lots of stairs to climb) mightn’t make that quite so practical.

I’d love to know about your styles over the years. Let me know!

Best wishes,
Ashleigh

Snag Tights Review

Good day to you! Happy New Year and welcome to my weekly blog, where I talk about literally anything I happen to be into at the time. I put up new content every Wednesday.

The following post is not sponsored. I just really wanted to review these tights!

Featured: Raspberry Pie (no filter!!)

What I hoped for

Now, I’ve been seeing these amazing adverts for Snag Tights for a long while now, and the reason they peaked my interest is because they looked *so* inclusive. Their models looked like quirky eclectic people I’d be mates with and they were anywhere from diddy to (frankly) very large, and all shapes and sizes. Their ads included men in tights (sadly, no Robin Hood) and people in wheelchairs, on crutches, or otherwise differently abled – in other words, real people you would live and work with. Which means I could RELATE to these people and I thought: “Ah! This product must be aimed at me!”

What’s more, they all looked really, really cool in these gorgeous brightly-coloured opaque tights – every one of them. The quality did not change between sizes in the photos, and the brand purportedly prided itself on this. This was their whole selling point: everyone can wear gorgeous tights.

The ads and the website assured me that I would no longer be hoiking them up, tearing the crotch, or feeling them digging painfully into the tops of my thighs. I wouldn’t even need to wear a second pair of knickers over the top, because they wouldn’t slide down.

Well, I thought: that’s a bold claim indeed! Since childhood (and certainly in my fishnet teen years) tights had been the bane of my life for those very reasons. Tights were awful. They ripped, got twisted, laddered, and rolled down to the point of abject discomfort. So I abandoned tights and resigned myself to a life of Primani leggings, even though I wanted tights.

That is, until now…👻

What I received

“Raspberry Pie”, “Beach Bum”, and “Suffragette” (no filter, but poor lighting)

I ordered 3 pairs, judging purely by the photos on the website which were, as before, all inclusive and depicted genuine people who loved wearing these cool tights. I chose Raspberry Pie (bright pink), Beach Bum (teal), and Suffragette (purple). These were £6.99 each, but with a 3+ purchase discount, they wound up costing about £21.00 including postage (so free postage, basically). I believe I got these in an ‘E’, or whatever a size 16 was. I’ve got chunky legs, but I was confident these would fit beautifully.

The tights arrived within a few days of ordering and were packaged delightfully in vintage-style paper sweetie bags. I love these touches and felt like I was unwrapping candy. I couldn’t wait to get ’em on.

Snag Tights’ Big Day Out

My tights having a ride on the train to work (NO FILTER!)

I put my brand new tights on at about 7.30am. They went on – no joke – like leggings. As easy as that – they just slipped on. They were thin and yet felt incredibly durable and stretchy, but unlike most stretchy fabrics, they did not feel even remotely too tight, or loose for that matter. The colour was freakin’ amazing – you need no filters with these tights! They look ace with a dress and DMs, which is my standard wardrobe combination on the daily, if I do say so myself.

Now granted, I don’t have an active job. I sit on my bum at my desk. However, I went from the train, over a bridge, a short walk to work, an 8 hour day, a run to my train and a walk to my car, and I didn’t have to hoik them up ONCE! Even before and after trips to the loo, they just resumed the position. No twisting, overstretching, tearing. No effort. I kept going to hoik them only to find that no hoiking was required!

These tights fit my shape seamlessly and felt like they were working with me, not against me – like these tights have your back. I’m serious here – you might have to name them, because they’re your friends.

The fabric is breathable and flexible and I never once felt hot or uncomfortable the way I do with standard tights.

I’m honestly in shock, because this never, ever happens. In my experience, tights are an irritant which get laddered and chucked within days of purchase. Snag Tights have upped the game, I’ll tell you that.

Final verdict

Applause, applause. Gold star for you, Snag Tights.

No matter where you work or how active your job is, you can absolutely where these stretchy, comfy, gorgeous tights all day long and you will be so, so comfortable.

Granted, I have only tried one pair for a day so far, but I’ll be wearing the others tomorrow and I can bet I will have the same experience.

I’m just going to say: I f-ing loved these tights and I’m not about to wear any others. Not only do I love the brand’s ethos, practice, and their look, but their product is second to none.

Seriously, do not waste your money on fast-fashion tearable, tight, itchy, awkward tights that don’t fit anymore. For £6.99 a pair, I genuinely think these are an absolute bargain, because there’s no reason these shouldn’t last ages and ages if you look after them – and even then, I get the impression these can take a battering and still look amazing. You will not even know you’re wearing these tights, but everyone else will.

Snag Tights: I love this product and you have yourself a fan. Oh, and If you find yourself in want of another model, I’m totally volunteering. 🙋‍♀️ (and how lovely to know you could, without having to be a 6 foot 6 size zero, eh?)

Best wishes,
Ashleigh