i want to be Gothic. I love the music, the hair, the make up and the color black=). If i bought clothes from Hot Topic would that be considered being Gothic? Where should I shop for the clothes if Hot Topic isn’t the option?

As I look through questions on Yahoo! Answers, I see a lot of questions involving the Gothic livestyle/musical genre. I’ve also been seeing a lot of negative comments, calling Goths "devil worshippers" and "unloved children". Why do so many people stereotype Gothic people as Satanists ready to open fire at their local high school? Whenever a school shooting or other violent crime occurs, fingers are always quick to point at the fact that the shooter was Gothic and it was only a matter of time until they committed a crime. Yet there’s little said when the blonde haired, blue eyed kid commits a violent crime.
Has "Gothic" become merely the scapegoat of our society?
For everyone who has called a Gothic peson "evil, Satanic, ect.", have you ever spoken with a true Goth, not some kid who just fell out of Hot Topic? Go find someone who listens to real Gothic music [mostly from the 80s] and see if they don’t offer you an intelligent conversation.
Black clothing does not a true Goth make.

Everyone seems to think so! I’ve never thought of myself as being one, but I guess others perceive me to be. I asked my best friend why she thought I was, and she basically gave me this check list of reasons:
-I’m pale (though I prefer to think of myself as fair)
-I have naturally dark straight hair that is currently almost to my waist
-I have a Nightmare Before Christmas Bedset (hey, it’s cute and I got it off eBay) and dark grey walls
-I don’t like to socialize and have few friends (by choice)
-I’m a writer, and love art and literature
-My favorite bands are Nine Inch Nails, Flyleaf, Evanescence, Korn and Seether. But I do listen to other stuff.
- and I love horror movies

I don’t dress goth though. Granted, I’ve been known to wear a few Hot Topic tees, but my style is actually pretty girly. And I don’t wear dark make-up! In fact, I wear like, no make-up.

Would you consider me Goth?

I’m looking for a photographer for senior pictures, and trying to figure out how to incorporate me in them. I dress sort of gothish-not Hot Topic goth. Here’s things I like if that helps:
Reading (classic lit, poems…)
Music
Violins and Cellos (I play the violin, but not often anymore)
Cats (None of my cats can be in cars.)
Moon and Stars
Classic Movies
Victorian and Elizabethan Era stuff
‘Typical’ Goth Stuff (heh. Bats, Spiders, Zombies, horror… no vamps)
Angel Wings
Comics
Art. I love art.

So, any tips? And please, don’t leave any answer if you’re just going to bash or insult me. If you have any questions, I could try and help you.
If it helps, I’m in the St. Louis area. In Belleville there are some Victorian houses, as well as some neighborhoods over in St. Louis (Lafayette Square, for example. Beautiful homes.)

Please give me a link other than hot topic as I have already checked there.
please convert to us dollars if not already..Thanks!!!

My mom thinks I’m some poser goth because I’m not this angsty teen who rebels, shops at Hot Topic, and worships Satan. How can I get her to understand that Gothic is a subculture and goths are intelligent people who like to embrace themselves through art? (I know it seems like I don’t know what goth is, but I do. I’ve just never been really good at explaining it.)
I want a better way to explain it, though.
Hot Topic is a poser goth store and I hate it with the passion! I can’t believe I’ve even step foot in there.

My mom thinks I’m some poser goth because I’m not this angsty teen who rebels, shops at Hot Topic, and worships Satan. How can I get her to understand that Gothic is a subculture and goths are intelligent people who like to embrace themselves through art? (I know it seems like I don’t know what goth is, but I do. I’ve just never been really good at explaining it.)
I’m not really into telling people I’m goth when they can just look at me and see it, but I’ll get questions, like, "Why are you goth?" and "What is goth?" So I wanted a better way of explaining it to people. Anyway, you helped a lot, and I appreciated your answer. Thanks!

I’m not gothic, but I love witches, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, skulls, black, crosses, metal music and the fashion. Anyway, I was wondering if there was any great gothic shops with awesome fashion that you know of?

Oh, and please don’t say Hot Topic. I went in there for the first time looking around, and it was cool, but I want something that is better!
Zumies? Zumies is skater, not gothic. But thanks, anyway!

My boyfriend, whom I have been dating for what will be two months come Thursday the 7th, is a 17-year old Goth kid. Since the regular sort of Valentine with the hearts and the pink and silly things like that would not exactly be catchy to him, what can I get besides CDs (his music collection can be described as a number that is ten less than infinity)?
For his birthday, I’d gotten him the novel Alice in Wonderland and a mixed CD of the 15 strangest songs I had that somehow managed to be previously outside of his possession.
Any suggestions would you appreciated; feel free to ask questions as I can answer via additional details. Valentine’s is a little over a week away!
We always go to Hot Topic together, so it wouldn’t be much of a surprise.
I think he already has eyeliner and black lipstick because he went as "more goth than usual" for Halloween.

Well, i already have the look, but it needs to be updated. In high school jeans and a band shirt and long hair was fine. I'm in 2nd year of college now, and might be cutting the hair to medium length soon anyway(it's a pain in the ass and falls out!). So…time to update the image.

Now, when i say gothic/vampire/rockstar, i don't mean super gothed out. But i can't pull off hollister and bright colors. It just looks akward on me.

I mean more like…cross between bam margera, mystery(pickup artist), and…the guy from queen of the damned, maybe? Perhaps some somewhat destroyed black jeans(not baggy but not skinny either), cool shirt…a black blazer that looks like it's 500 years old…necklace, bracelets…

I live in north jersey so the city is accessible. But what stores do i go to? Hot topic doesn't cut it.