Goth Is Back: Here’s How to Style It

Every few seasons, fashion swings like a pendulum between light and dark, simplicity and excess. After the hyper-feminine style trends of recent years, Cottagecore (2020), “Clean Girl” minimalism (2021–22), “Old Money” and “Balletcore” aesthetics (2023–24), fashion is finally moving towards something darker, sexier, and emotionally charged again. Goth, it seems, is back, but this time, it’s not confined to nightclubs or subculture corners. It’s walking the runway, trending on TikTok, and re-emerging as one of fashion’s most powerful forms of self-expression.

This shift reflects the fashion industry’s response to the broader feeling of uncertainty. As history dictates, when the world feels unstable, politically, economically, or emotionally, people tend to reach for aesthetic rebellion. The punk movement thrived during the late-1970s recession; goth emerged from Thatcher-era Britain as a romantic rejection of conformity. Now, with global unrest, rising inequality, and digital burnout, it makes sense that the cultural mood has shifted toward something rawer and more introspective.

After the incessant cheer of dopamine dressing and hyper femininity, darker aesthetics will feel like a relief to many. This time around, goth isn’t about sadness or mourning; it’s about taking charge of our emotions in an increasingly curated world. As trend forecaster Mandy Lee (@oldloserinbrooklyn) noted, the rise of “dark romanticism” in fashion represents “a hunger for authenticity and emotional depth” after years of surface-level aestheticism. Pinterest’s 2024 Trend Report backs this up: searches for “eclectic goth” and “dark feminine” looks surged by over 60%, while TikTok’s #softgoth tag passed half a billion views.

This is goth as social catharsis.

What is Goth?

Born from the ashes of punk, goth first emerged in late-1970s Britain through bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, and Bauhaus. It blended post-punk’s edge with a fascination for the romantic and the macabre, evoking images of lace gloves, smudged eyeliner, velvet coats, and religious iconography. It is a theatrical but sincere way to wear one’s emotions on one’s sleeve, literally.

But the goth revival in question is not a singular uniform style, its fragmentary, adaptive, and often hybridized:

• Full Goth: head-to-toe black, corsetry, lace, and heavy makeup; think Morticia Addams meets McQueen.

• Soft Goth: monochrome looks softened by sheer fabrics, tulle skirts, and glossy lips rather than matte black lipstick.

• Pastel Goth: a 2010s Tumblr-born collision of kawaii sweetness and macabre iconography, think pink hair paired with pentagram chokers.

• Romantic or Victorian Goth: lace blouses, brocade corsets, chokers, and voluminous sleeves.

• Cyber Goth: neon accents and industrial details, popular in rave and alternative clubwear scenes.

As Seen on the Runway

The goth revival has filtered decisively into high fashion. Designers have been invoking the dark romantic for several seasons, but Autumn/Winter 2024–Spring/Summer 2025 confirmed it as a full movement rather than a passing theme.

Dilara Findikoglu’s FW24 collection was the most overt expression: corseted silhouettes, black lace
veils, and religious iconography rendered in crimson and bone-white tones. Critics at Vogue described it as “post-apocalyptic baroque”, decadent, erotic, and defiant.

At Ottolinger, chokers strung with pearls that appeared to drip blood became a viral accessory moment, circulating across fashion TikTok and Instagram Reels. Chopova Lowena’s pleated carabiner skirts, already a cult favorite, have become the uniform of the new soft-goth girl, mixing schoolgirl innocence with industrial toughness.

The influence stretches across fashion’s spectrum:

• Alexander McQueen’s SS24 show, Sarah Burton’s last, was a study in gothic femininity, lace, anatomical embroidery, and black velvet.

• Ann Demeulemeester, as always, continues to deliver poetic minimalism in black silks and leather, true to her Antwerp lineage.

• Rick Owens, the long-established high priest of darkness, doubled down on sculptural, futuristic silhouettes in FW25, with the show featuring platform boots, lamé capes, and candlelit staging that evoked a ritual.

• Even Dior’s Spring 2025 Haute Couture leaned gothic under Maria Grazia Chiuri: crucifix motifs, black tulle, and chiaroscuro lighting that made couture feel ecclesiastical.

Overall, the mood of fashion has clearly shifted. Where luxury once meant effortlessness, it now embraces intensity. Melancholy, once taboo, is being rebranded as a form of elegance and even sexy.

As Seen On Celebrities

If there was still any doubt about the goth revival, just know that your favorite celebrity is already jumping on the trend. Jenna Ortega was one of the first celebrities to really embrace the trend in its infancy during her season 1 Wednesday press tour, when she appeared in Thom Browne tweed, Versace black lace, and Saint Laurent halternecks, all black, all meticulously styled. The effect was immediate: suddenly, the Addams aesthetic felt aspirational. Well, with the Season 2 press tour recently wrapping up, Jenna has continued to anchor her gothic aesthetic in jaw-dropping designer pieces from Simone Rocha’s ghost-bodysuit in Seoul to Vivienne Westwood’s corseted gown in Paris, each look reinforcing the dark-romantic current of the moment.

Jenna is not alone in this. Pop star Chappell Roan has since brought a more theatrical version of goth to the stage with performance outfits featuring latex gloves, blood-red lips, and references to Catholic iconography mixed with camp. Her look merges queer expression with gothic sensuality, proving the aesthetic can be both defiant and fun.

Even off-stage, street-style icons like Bella Hadid and Julia Fox have turned to dark romantic dressing—leather trenches, lace tights, and blood-red lips replacing the neutrals of quiet luxury.

The final ruling? Goth is no longer underground or niche. It is on the red carpet, in Vogue, and all over the wardrobes of the previous devotees of minimalist style.

How to Style the Trend

You don’t need to go full Morticia to embrace the look, although I completely understand if you want to. The key is restraint and texture:

• Start with one statement piece, something like a corset, long coat, or dramatic choker, and build around it.

• Mix matte and sheer fabrics (leather with lace, velvet with silk).

• Incorporate silver or oxidized jewelry and subtle religious motifs.

• For makeup, swap full black lipstick for a deep berry stain or smudged eyeliner.

The goal isn’t to costume yourself as “a goth,” but to channel its energy: emotional depth, sensual rebellion, and quiet drama.

The return of Goth is a mirror to our collective mood: romantic, uncertain, searching for meaning. In a culture obsessed with clarity and optimization, dressing in darkness becomes an act of defiance. It says: I am complex, I am emotional, and I am here to feel.
And if fashion is a reflection of our times, then this moment of velvet, lace, and shadow feels right on cue.