How to Rock Summer Goth If You Aren’t Taylor Swift
Conventional wisdom dictates that as the weather gets warmer and the sky brighter, so does your wardrobe. Moody blacks and grays are replaced by jewel tones and pastels, while your cozy winter knits get swapped out for flirty off-the-shoulder tops. Your makeup mirrors this transition: Gone are the vampy wine lips of seasonal chill, replaced by summery pink lips or more natural no-makeup makeup looks. But rules are meant to be broken, and if the recent Met Gala taught us anything, it’s that bucking conventional wisdom can be the wisest choice of all.
Take Taylor Swift and Katy Perry at the Met Gala. They showed us that the inky lips we wore during our brief and ill-advised sixth grade flirtations with goth could be repurposed for grown-up glam. In fact, Katy wore Perry Panther, a cool matte black from her new Katy Kat collab with CoverGirl, to the event. Based on that, and the dark lipstick trends that dominated the spring-summer runways during last fall’s fashion weeks, we’re going to go out on a limb and predict that summer goth will be the surprise trend of the upcoming season. And you don’t have to be a pop star (or a vampire) to pull it off.
To prove it, I recently tried a purple-black lip during my normal workday. Not work-appropriate, you might think. But! I kept the rest of my makeup light with just a touch of black eyeliner and some brow pomade, letting my inky smile be the centerpoint.
As you can see, while the lips are a statement, the rest of the makeup’s subtlety makes the vampy accent more of an accessory than a capital-L Look. My otherwise plain outfit (sweater, jeans, Ivy Park ballcap) was instantly more interesting as a result of this one little makeup tweak, and the combo honestly did not feel out of place or out of season. In fact, I could see the dark lip look working with a plain sundress and sandals, adding a little edge to an otherwise unmemorable ensemble. So go ahead, welcome your summer goth overlords.
Tell us what you think of summer goth @BritandCo!
(Photos via Larry Busacca/Getty)
