Today is World Gothic Day! I hope you wear black

rejoices! May 22 World Goth Day!

You understand what that means: “A day for the goth scene to celebrate its own existence, and a chance to make its presence known to the rest of the world” – the day the goth scene celebrates itself.

OK, to the point “goth”. The name refers not to the East Germanic people of the migration era, but is derived from the term Gothic literature – the so-called Gothic literature, which reigned supreme in England in the early 19th century.

The genre quickly found its way onto the vaudeville variety stages. Here is a scene from the English theater ballad “Death and the Lady”, 1906:

The eerie aesthetic was of course also adopted by the fledgling film industry of the 20th century – for example, with film adaptations of Gothic literature classics such as Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”. Here actor Max Schreck in “Nosferatu, a symphony of horror” from 1922:

And logically, Bram Stoker’s vampire classic has been cinematically reinterpreted in a number of adaptations. Here, for example, with Christopher Lee and Veronica Carlson in 1958’s “Dracula Has Risen from the Grave”, one of the many horror films from the British production studio Hammer movies:

By the way: Christopher Lee’s opponent in the Hammer horror films was mainly Peter Cushing in the role of Dr. Van Helsing:

Cushing played Governor Grand Morf Tarkin in “Star Wars IV” (1977).

… while Christopher Lee played the Sith Lord Count Dooku in “Star Wars II” (2002) …

…but we digress. It’s finally World Goth Dayand not the fourth of May. For this reason:

More photos of the association bubble of the goth subculture! Let’s start with The Cure singer Robert Smith in 1985:

And there he is again (2nd from left) with the newly formed The Cure in the late 1970s.

Well, the style wasn’t quite mature back then.

The Uber Icon: Ian Curtis of Joy Division, 1979.

The Cult in 1985 (after shortening their original band name – Southern Death Cult):

Siouxsie Sioux from The Banshees, 1981:

Peter Murphy of Bauhaus, 1980:

Matching: Bela Lugosi in the mask. A little more makeup and he’s transformed into Dracula:

Here he sinks his teeth into Vampira in the early 1950s:

Okay – a brief digression on the subject of vampires: her real name was Maila Nurmi, she was originally from Finland and had great success in Hollywood in the 1950s as a TV presenter with her own scary movie show:

Nurmi was also always on the road in private as her Vampira alter ego. Here she is with fans on Hollywood Boulevard:

And here she is at home in Beverly Hills, 1955:

Vampira’s style was so iconic (oh yes, here’s the digression even deeper into the pop culture roots of the goth subculture) that she served as a model for…

… uh, no, wrong family! This is «The Munsters», seen on TV in 1964-66!

was meant this Family here – «The Addams Family» (also seen on TV from 1964 to -66):

And family patriarch Morticia Addams (played by Carolyn Jones) has borrowed a lot from the Vampira look, don’t you think?

As a result of which, Actually Maila Nurmi copied her Vampira look from the original Morticia from illustrator Charles Addams’ cartoons in “New Yorker Magazine”:

Either way, Morticia Addams’ character has a surprisingly long life as a goth icon. Here she is played by Angelica Huston in Addams Family Values ​​(1993):

Christina Ricci played the adorable daughter of Wednesday Addams in the above movie. Here she does screenwriter Paul Rudnick’s hair on the set of “Addams Family Values”:

And thanks to the Netflix series «Wednesday», starring Jenna Ortega, the Addams Family has arrived in the 21st century:

The hit series went along with the latest growth of the amazingly long lasting gothic style: soft goth – that’s how Generation Z likes to dress.

So back to the historical icons of Gothic Rock, Dark Waves or whatever you want to call it, first and foremost Patricia Morrison, bassist with The Gun Club, The Damned and…

… The Sisters of Mercy (1985-1992):

Sisters of Mercy singer Andrew Eldritch in the early 90s:

Alien Sex Devil, 1985:

The Cramps on tour, 1986:

Nick Grot, 1986:

Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry from Australia, better known as Dead Can Dance, 1984:

Klaus Nomi in New York, 1979:

And remember… Yes, that’s it:

Happy World Gothic Day everyone!

Although … is it appropriate to wish a goth something “happy”?