Gothic Sluts is dedicated to those lovely ladies inspired to dress in the dark and somber attire inspired by the long distant fashion past. I love the pale beauty contrasted by dark lipstick that is a classic Goth’s mainstay. Not to mention the corsets, latex and vinyl that makes up so much of their wardrobes. I’ve always been someone who appreciates a costume-like feel to someone’s choice of clothes. I like the drama of an extreme outfit that makes the wearer seem larger than life.

I’m going to do a bit of complaining about a mini-series called The Tudors on Showcase. Nowadays, many directors who embark on period pieces want to try rewriting history to appeal to a post-post-modern audience. They choose to lift many of the societal restrictions of mannerisms, behaviors and dress to make it easier for today’s audience to relate to long dead, real-life, or even imaginary characters.

An article from Zap 2 It by John Crook (04/01/07) mentions that the costume designer Joan Bergin attempted to deconstruct the concepts of Tudor fashion to suit a more contemporary feel. Alas, that seems a huge misdeed, since even someone who doesn’t respect the idea of high fashion can recognize that what we wear is symbolic of what we value, either as an individual, or if we conform to popular trend, what the world around us believes is appropriate for the times.

After watching a few of the episodes so far, they’ve gone a long way towards sexing up this period of history. That seems a shame, since what makes the past interesting to me is that there often was a greater contrast between public and private life. This mini-series makes light of much of what would have been considered secret, as if it were common knowledge at the time. Not just known, but also openly discussed, which is somewhat improbable.

Nevertheless, if you want to see plenty of sex, the series offers lots of that. The women are exquisite looking, but their outfits have been redesigned to be less restrictive and more revealing than what would have been worn at the time. Even King Henry VIII played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers appears slim, muscular and has strangely full, pouty lips for a man. Beautiful people screwing make for fun, if not truly informative viewing.

Your average Goth adheres more strictly to the norms of period dressing. They embody greater mystic and untamed depths than a King who takes his shirt off every two minutes and encounters a fresh set of milky breasts popping out of dresses as if every lady of his time was merely some Hollywood starlet posing on the red carpet without having learned about double-sided sticky tape first.