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Photographer Rankin collaborated with artist Damien Hirst to create Myths, Monsters and Legends.

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RANKIN

Love is in the air, and gOThiC is in the spotlight. text: Laura DeCarufeL

is name was Adam. He stalked our high-school hallways wearing a leather trench coat, chipped dark polish and a moody expression. His hair was silky black, and mascara flecks dusted his pale skin. He was Edward Cullen before Robert Pattinson had adult teeth, and I loved him from afar with a fervour that only shy teenagers can muster. That was in the 90s, when darkness cast a stylish shadow over music, film and fashion: Nine Inch Nails ruled the airwaves, Marilyn Manson starred in David Lynchs Lost Highway and Rei Kawakubo designed seven shades of black for Comme des Garons. Now, more than a decade later, pop culture is in the throes of another gothic crush. Vampires and their ghoulish relations dominate TV hits like The Vampire Diaries and Game of Thrones, as Edgar Allan Poe, played by John Cusack, h

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So, gothic has been part of our cultural lexicon for centuriesa dark wave periodically rising to claim secondary elements like horror and punk. But this latest upswell represents something new. Theres the season, for one. A glum winter is one thing, but what does a sinister spring imply? Alexandra Smith, a trend forecaster for the Mintel Group, attributes the trend to recession anxietywith a twist. When the economic crisis first hit, we saw the rise of what I call humble minimalism: comfort food, an uptick in Friends viewership, says Smith. Now that it has been three years, our response to doom is evolving. People need a different form of escapea sexier way to feel gloomy. Enter the gothic bombshells who stalked the spring/summer 2012 catwalks at Emilio Pucci and Betsey Johnson. If youve ever yearned for a skull-patterned mini-romper, Johnson has got you (just barely) covered. But sex appeal doesnt explain the popularity of zombiesthe new It monster that has been lurching from the cult milieu into the mainstream on hit shows like The Walking Dead. Smith, for her part, sees similarities between the zombie trend and the Occupy political movement. Its never about one zombie, she says. Its always a collectivea mass of people rising up. They set aside their differences to fight for a common cause and become united as one. Or a darker motivation: Perhaps the demands of our narcissistic agein which our carefully crafted identities strut and fret on the social-media stagemean that theres relief in losing MONsTER MAsh yourself in the crowd. I dream about the devil a lot, says Rankin, lightening the conRick Genest, a.k.a. fession with a grin. With Myths, Monsters and Legends, a new Zombie Boy, likens the apphoto project with artist Damien Hirst, the famed British photogpeal of zombie apocalypse rapher pays tribute to his nocturnal obsession by creating images to the elemental thrill of of startling primeval power. As embodied by model Dani Smith, anarchy: When everything shots range from the dark beauty of Medusa (Theres something is lost, all that matters is empowering about the fact that youre forbidden to look at her) survival. The system colto terrifying creatures of the uncanny. Weve spent the last lapses and you have to 18 months creating things that were so monstrous, people either run or be lunch, wouldnt want to look at them. My challenge is to make the enthuses the performance horrific beautiful. For more, visit ellecanada.com/February. artist and current muse h prepares for his Hollywood close-up in The Raven. On the fashion front, jewellery designer Delfina Delettrezs skeleton bracelets and spider-web rings add a sexy twist to horror chic, while shoppers snap up Daphne Guinness goth-tinged collection for M.A.C. The style icons beauty inspiration? Pigeon blood. There is something really appealing about darkness, muses Nicola Formichetti, designer of Thierry Mugler, mega-stylist to Lady Gaga and overall sartorial master of the dark arts. On a shoot the other day, a friend asked me why all my models looked so sour. I said, Because theres certainly no mystery in them smiling. That mystery is perhaps gothics most alluringand enduringquality. Its the charisma of deviance, explains Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, where the Gothic: Dark Glamour exhibition attracted record crowds in 2008. The show traced the growth of gothic from architecture introduced by Germanic Goths (condemned by Renaissance painter Giorgio Vasari as congestions of heavy, dark, melancholy, monkish piles) to modern creations by gothic designer Rick Owens. However, a fascination with family curses and demon lovers found its first major pop-culture expression in early-19th-century gothic lit like Jane Eyre and Northanger Abbey, along with poetry by the original goth boys, Keats, Byron and Shelley.

The Walking Dead

Thierry Mugler

Betsey Johnson

Rankin cites this Medusa-inspired image as his favourite of the Myths, Monsters and Legends series.

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RANKIN (medusA); ImAxtRee (RuNwAy); pIctuRe-desK (the walking dead)

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to Formichetti and Lady Gaga, who borrowed Genests Stokers Dracula [1897], which was written during a time spooky aesthetic for her recent Grammy-nomination con- of great technological and societal upheaval, is crammed cert performance. Montreal-based Genest began his full- with [then revolutionary] typewriters and telegrams. body skeleton-tattoo project at 16, but hes not bothered Punter also points out that, with gothic, the medium is by the fact that zombies are so hot right now. I get it, he often the message. The first Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll says. Its the same reason why people love Santa Claus and Mr. Hyde films were made at a time when cinema itself you step out of the realm of reality. was seen as virtually supernatural. As one of todays most acclaimed novelists, Colson And that is gothics inherent magnetism. People say we Whitehead is well versed in exploring the outer reaches of like to be frightened, but its not that simple, says Punter. possibility. His latest novel, Zone One, takes place over We like to test the limits of our fear. Gothic takes us to the three surreal days several years after a zombie apocalypse, edge, but its not as scary as tsunamis, volcanoes and stockas civilian volunteers clean up the destruction. For market crashes. Its a different order of terror. Were taken Whitehead, who grew up reading Stephen King and watch- to the brink, we look over it and then we can draw back. ing George Romeros zombie flicks, the day of reckoning As for Adam, the gothic hero of my high-school days, I holds a strange appeal. I remember watching Dawn of wonder if he has retained his dark roots or joined the rest the Dead and Invasion of the Body Snatchers and connect- of us, gripping a latte on the subway, thinking about last ing them to a fear of people, he recalls. For me, the night nights episode of American Horror Story. I hope not. There of the apocalypse is the night when the truth comes out. is something eternally romantic about the true outlawby Everyone around you preturns defiant and fragile, raging against the tends to be normal, but light, ultimately doomed maybe but, for they really want to eat and now, thrillingly, dramatically alive. n destroy you. It speaks a bit about my damaged psyhER DARk chology, he adds, laughMATERiALs ing, but there it is. So, is Trish the timelessand timely Modern gothics most interesting contribution Summerville appeal of all things gothic (centre) with to pop culture? The rise of the anti-hero. While designs from that they reveal our true villains become evil caricatures, new heroes her collection selves: twisted and capable display a compelling human complexity. As Alex for H&M of anything? Smith explains, So many recent superhero For Whitehead, stripping away civilmovies have fallen flat, but the ones that didntlike Batmanhad protagonists ization to reveal its sordid foundation who werent 100 percent good guys. Or girls. Lisbeth Salander, the tortured also offers the chance to discuss our titular heroine of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, may dress all in black, but her apocalyptic present. Monsters are rhetfully realized character is painted in shades of grey. Trish Summerville, a costume orical props used by creators to talk designer and stylist celebrated for her work with No Doubt and Black Eyed Peas, about how we live, he says. Im trying landed the coveted gig of transforming Salanders complexity into clothes. We to discover what it is about contemspoke to her about creating a visual identity for the blockbuster gothic heroine. porary life that is zombiefied now. Were walking around disconnected, What were your starting points for the design? In contrast to the Swedish verpractically devoid of life. sion, our Lisbeth isnt loud and overt in her dress. I didnt want her to come across The image of BlackBerry addict as like she is in a band, flashy or longing for attention. She is not a clich of what zombie seems aptthe distracted, shufgoth should look like; her clothing is dark and worn, dirty at times, and nothing is fling walk recalls the lurch of the undead new. How did you introduce the subtleties of her character through clothes? Tktktkt tktkkt tktk while following an established path that The character wears them to disappear, not stand out. There are a few moments links technology to anxiety. Gothic where the costume variations help show her trusting side. In one scene, Salander always flourishes at times of rapid techand Blomkvist are together in the cabin and shes wearing only socks and his nological change, when people fear being oversized cardigan. It shows that she is comfortable and still a sexual being after at the mercy of forces they cant control, being damaged for so long. How did you translate that vision into the capsule explains David Punter, the worlds forecollection for H&M? I took specific pieces from Salanders wardrobe, cleaned most critic on everything gothic and them up a bit and gave them a more fashionable silhouette and detailing. The colthe editor of the forthcoming A New lection still has the essence of Salander but focuses on subtler aging and details Companion to the Gothic. Even Bram in each garment. For more, visit ellecanada.com/February.

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