Top Ten Staple Gothic Fashions and Accessories

Be honest, girls---are you tired of sulking in the same black T-shirt and pair of raggedy black jeans all the time? Maybe it's time to vamp your up your Gothic style a little bit by venturing outside of Hot Topic once in a while. Say goodbye to the middle school interpretation of the Dark Side and hello to the ever-elegant and ever-mysterious Victorian Goth look. Here are your closet's top ten staples (not necessarily in this order but if you want to take arbitrary numbering seriously, be my guest):

1. FISHNETS: Dress up your gams and every starving artist in town will hunt you down for your number. You can wear fishnets every season of the year (except perhaps spring and summer, depending where you live and how often you go outside). Smaller, more discreet holes look more elegant than gaping ones. (Some fishnets' holes are so large that they defeat the purpose of wearing hosiery at all!) These are best worn with skirts obviously but get creative---you can pair them with tailored shorts if you like. Also, your fishnets DON'T have to be black. Grabbing some in red or purple, for example, is a great way to add color to your wardrobe. Unless of course you're totally sold on the morbid zombie thing.

2. CORSET: Talk about cleavage inducers! Forget push-up bras and slip into one of these mega boob enhancers. There are two main types of corsets: overbust (which, not so surprisingly, go OVER the bust) and underbust (which, also as the name implies, cinch UNDER the bust). Make sure that the corset fits you VERY WELL (consider the same factors that you do when you're shopping for a bra) because if it's too small, it will squash your chest and if it's too big, it won't do anything for your figure. If you're not so comfortable exposing cleavage in public, layer your corset over a camsiole, fitted tee, or any other top with plain, thin fabric that won't take away from the main attraction.