Black on Yellow-Goth in the Summer

Keeping with your style and image can be a challenge all year. Especially in England where the weather changes so erratically.  So, how should one adapt in the warmer times and when the clouds clear.

Yesterday was a warm one. 22C I think.

Well I went out in my shorts :P Everyone of course is different and feels the heat in different ways. I can regulate my own temperature quite well. I don't get as cold in winter and can stay cool in summer. I wore my big leather jacket yesterday. That was perhaps a silly move but I was ok. Not what I would recommend though.

The shorts were a good move and I wear boots daily anyway so that was no different. On top, a thin  hoody is good if you feel the chill. If not just go in a tee shirt. I had my Mohawk up and my shades on.

If you want to stay cool just layer down your gear. Shorts are not ungothy. Just vamp them up with a bandanna or fun studded belt. Mine a green US Camouflage, two belts (One actually to keep them up) and that's it. Relatively unspectacular but unquestionably effective.

Remember, you need to keep cool and don't want to be flaking out. Simply dress down your layers and envisage the principal of less is more.

Pretty much the days look

What's in a Hairstyle?

Hair!
Hair!
Hair!

A fixation with many. Some say the most important thing next to clothes. Whole magazines are dedicated it to it and its role in the fashion arena is massive.

Hair can tell a story. Show a mood. Determine an opinion or point of view. It can define you, create and portray your image all the time.

Like a tattoo, it is a somewhat permanent feature upon your body. It is something, that if unique, or out-of-the-ordinary, will attract attention.

A look that is both unique and personal can define an image, attitude, belief or style.

Colours, cuts, shades, shapes, these can all be as numerous and unique as a snowflake. No two can ever truly be the same. This is what makes it so, truly, individual.

Clothes can be mass produced, copied and matched. A hairstyle can be imitated and copied only to a certain extent. There is always imperfections, flaws and unique elements to your hair that happens to no other.

Sometimes it is the hairstyle that can determine a look or image for either that day, week, month or season. A staple colour or a signature style can become something you are renowned for. Mixing this up allows you to either re-invent yourself if necessary, smarten up, or dress down.

We all have our lazy days. While some hairstyles are low maintenance, other can be a daily regime. This in itself creates opportunities. The way we wear and style our hair can display our mood to the world. Then if we want to impress, with a bit of time and TLC, we can wow the world!


If one is happy about what we have upon our heads then continue with this. If you are not-what have you got to loose? From simply applying some product, combing it a certain way, adding colour or even a simply cut can really transform you. From the simple to the elaborate, a hairstyle is a great way of recreating ones image and projecting this new-you to the world.

Personality and Image-Tit for tat

It is said our emotions and hearts truly guide and drive us. This is especially true if we allow this to be so. Our interests and hobbies may even be determined by this also. People are different and unique. Even those from the same sub culture will still have differing views and ideas, even if only slightly.

They are still none the less different.

How someone think may affect what they do and so this may affect what they wear. It may be a trigger so to speak that makes someone turn to a particular sub culture or self-define/self-identify as a part of a group or subculture.

If we consider only those with a genuine interest in something, then there is at least something that begins this interest at a base level. Certainly when I was growing up, I did not have ready access to the internet like we all do today. The same applies to free browsing rights when I did have it. This may be therefore down to the late blooming of my interest. Though it has always been there.

Things such as fashion, music, hobbies, interests. What we are told to like is influenced by society. Those that go against this become non-conformist, odd and weird.

We are expected to like music and sport. Certain TV shows are films. So even if we like music or sport, we cannot like or play what we want to. To prefer Opera to anything in the charts when I was 16 was weird and went towards my outcast points. As with Sport, while I never played football and never truly followed it, I was a good runner, but never really looked past ever doing it as a hobby (such as watching it on TV or competing personally).



What we wear may not necessarily relate to anything about our personality. It also may tell us everything. While one must never judge a book by its cover, we could always consider there is more to someone than the initial first impression.

What's to say this guy does not love Opera, Musicals and Cricket? Simply put. Don't assume.

No one cares

An awful and very negative notion but one that is sadly true.

Your average person on the street has more to be concerned with than to judge what you dress or look like. The people who do are either in no rush or have nothing better to do.

It then brings into the notion why do we bother dressing the way we do. Why go through such effort to coin together such elaborate outfits so as to receive nothing more than a passing glance and perhaps a second look.

It boils down to people don't really care about anything you do or think when on the street, rushing from A-B. In a more settled environment. A pub, club, coffee place etc people may be more inclined to comment but the passage between these places holds no time or domain for this prolonged judgement.

Time is perhaps one factor. However I think it may also be the greater acceptance of people. Or at least we can hope.

If we put lots of effort into what we are wearing, surely to be overlooked and ignored by passers-by by is not a good thing. We do not go through that effort for nothing. Do we? Deep down one always wants attention. I do not mean this in a bad way but recognition is good and healthy, especially when it is positive or friendly.

We are not attention seekers but everyone likes recognition. There are times when it is dependent upon what we are wearing, that determines the reaction.  I saw a woman today, probably 40-50 in a long purple robe, similar to a medieval or Wiccan ritual dress. On her, it looked good and suited her. While to sum she may have looked 'odd', she was happy enough.

It was similar to this.

Ultimately one is free to dress how one wants. Ultimately, judgement is few and far between. Those that do, do because they feel some compulsion to do so. Some will be positive, others may not be. So what??

Be happy

Be confident.

Be yourself.

Back in the Coffee Shop-People Watching

It has become a routine for me to be sat in the Coffee Shop on Fridays and to watch the world go around. Being in work a bit later today I had a chance to look around town and do a few things that needed doing. As well as this I have an abundance of time in my favourite coffee shop Nero.

It is nice to sometimes just sit back and enjoy the world at work. From the business types to the old dears having their morning tea, everyone is hear for a reason. Even if that reason is just simply to have a coffee.

I often wonder what people are doing, thinking, feeling. It is funny and odd. One will never know.

I guess one must simply look and wonder. Perhaps even guess. In a sense you may never know them. It is a snapshot of their entire life. In turn, they may never know you.

You see those films about people who meet in caffe's etc and fall in love. That's why it's in films. It does not happen in reality.

I suppose this is a brief comment on the alienation of society from one another. Or perhaps simply it is a comment of every individual that exists. Their  own life, purpose and agendas.

The Book of Shadows, The Tradition and Solitary Practice

Choice is always something that faces us, in all parts of our life. Choice in what we do with our lives, choice with fashion and clothing. Choice with faith and religion.

In my search for faith and religion, there is still choice. There are still decisions to make. What to or not to include in my beliefs. What to study or neglect, if anything.

Decisions, decisions.

Ultimately one must choose something, even if these decisions are somewhat minor in the grand scheme of things.

However there are some decisions which will influence how we study ones faith. Such decisions include whether to study and practice as a solitary or as part of a coven or group. Others include what one wishes to include in their Book of Shadows. Some things may be given great presence. Others may receive less or no attention for whatever reason.

It does however allow one to tailor ones belief into a personal faith and belief system. One could include Wiccan ideas as well as some Buddhist ideas. Why not?

 

There are many different things to explore and dedicate time to. It is a serious of practices that can allow one to spend so many years upon its study and mastery. Tarot, Numerology and Astrology are great examples of this. They can be learnt very quickly. But they can never truly be mastered in this time. It takes much dedicated practice to truly understand such things.



There is great benefit to this system. It allows one to focus upon what one finds interesting. It also allows some aspects to be skipped or not included. Providing all the fundamental basics are at least understood and  acknowledged, one is free to practice how one wishes.

On the traditions, there are many options. Some are very fundamental and follow core principals, such as the Gardenarian Tradition. Others however, are more magical in tradition and perhaps not really Wiccan at a core level, simply just magical.