The world has gone Goth. Halloween decorations may nod to the gothic once a year, but today’s dark romanticism turns that mood into an enduring statement — elegant, mysterious, and deeply emotional.
This Halloween season, an uncanny glamour has taken hold. Jenna Ortega’s now-iconic Wednesday Addams look is everywhere, from couture runways to makeup tutorials on TikTok. Lady Gaga, meanwhile, is touring The Mayhem Ball, a stage show drenched in black leather and mourning veils, an all-encompassing gothic aesthetic that pulls from the darkest of the pop star's eras. Add to that Gaga’s recent cameo in Wednesday’s second season, and you start to see the scale of crossover at play: music, fashion, and television feeding a single, shadowy mood. Joined by adaptations of Frankenstein and Dracula, honouring gothic greats like Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker, the cultural landscape is saturated with dark romance. We repeat: The world has gone goth.
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Over the last few years, this full-blown gothic revival has been playing out across fashion, beauty, interiors, and culture at large. Tish Weinstock, British Vogue editor and author of How To Be a Goth: Notes on Undead Style, has been chronicling this phenomenon from the front lines. Her debut book, which she calls a “morbid style bible”, traces the goth aesthetic. Meanwhile, in Very Mad, Very Maudlin, Very Macabre: It’s Showtime for the Goth Revival for Vogue, Weinstock heralds “the long-awaited return of goth” – not a watered-down Goth Lite, but “a full-blown gothic resurrection”. But why now? “Dark times produce dark cultures,” she observes, linking today’s goth renaissance to an era of global uncertainty and malaise. “It’s no wonder the world’s gone goth; it’s the only way to deal with all this darkness.” In an age of climate dread and social turmoil, embracing a bit of beautiful darkness feels strangely comforting. It’s one way to make sense of the shadows.
But this time around, the fringe subculture has shape-shifted into a broad aesthetic movement. The modern goth revival isn’t just about music or teen angst; it’s a cultural mood. Tim Burton’s whimsically gothic films are back in vogue (a sequel to Beetlejuice is on the way, starring none other than Wednesday’s own Jenna Ortega). On red carpets, Hollywood starlets flirt with funerary chic and in beauty, nihilistic glam is ascendant: smoky “ghost eyes,” oxblood lips, and ethereal complexions. And on TikTok and Instagram, hashtags like #SoftGoth and #CoquetteGothic trend alongside moodboards of lacy gothic Lolitas and “pastel goth” twists, proving a collective craving for style that is at once edgy and romantic. Even the height of sunny summer couldn’t chase the shadows away. This year saw the rise of so-called “Summerween” style, a witchy but wearable baby-goth glam. It’s a vibe shift in the cultural air, where being the “weird girl” (à la Wednesday) confers serious cool.
As Weinstock notes, “Eschewing the more hardcore shock tactic elements of the movement, pastoral goth draws on the more romantic side of the goth, which is one of the key founding pillars of the movement. Goth is for everybody, I think there’s so much freedom to interpret as you like.”
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All year, runways have been casting a romantic shadow; the majority of shows in Paris opened with one or more black looks steeped in gothic glamour, including Tom Ford and Givenchy, setting the tone for darker collections. Dior in particular sent models in sweeping black lace gowns and veiled headpieces. The message was clear: summer or not, goth is in vogue. Ann Demeulemeester’s Paris show resurrected the label’s gothic roots with Victorian lace, Edwardian collars, and feathered gowns.
But off the runway, no one has embodied the look quite like Jenna Ortega, who has become this revival’s poster girl. Promoting Wednesday and beyond, she’s channelled grown-up Addams energy in couture: a pinstriped Dolce & Gabbana suit dress one night, spidery black lace Versace the next.
Another striking evolution of this revival is how it’s unfolding in our living spaces. Interior design and architecture are embracing dark romanticism (and we're not talking about the annual Halloween decorations). The modern farmhouse look (all white shiplap, bright kitchens, and cheerful barns) has morphed into “Western Gothic,” a style that marries prairie romance with gothic edge. Architecture today is embracing high contrast: rustic textures and gothic motifs layered onto modern forms. The “black barn” or barndominium has become a signature sight, marrying rural simplicity with moody sophistication, often using charred wood cladding and blackened steel framing. Traditional wrap-around porches remain, but now posts are painted in matte iron grey, while Victorian-inspired light fixtures cast a subtler, more mysterious glow.
Inside, the soft goth palette dominates too. Walls are painted in deep charcoals, midnight blues, and oxblood hues. Materials and finishes underscore the look: damask drapes paired with rough-hewn beams, chandeliers over charred oak tables, and velvet upholstery alongside dark wood floors. Shiny brass and rose gold have given way to blackened metals: wrought iron balustrades, matte black faucets, oil-rubbed bronze details. Despite the drama, the goal isn’t gloom. Dark interiors done well feel cocooning, not oppressive. It’s that strange comfort that goth can offer in turbulent times. Much like the Gothic Revival of the 19th century, today’s dark décor provides fantasy and solace. “There are so many frightening things happening in the world today,” Weinstock reflects, “and I see our fascination with goth as some kind of reaction to this. An embrace of darkness as a way of coming to terms with all these real-life horrors, but also a means of escape.”
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This broad goth revival is less a seasonal fad than a reconnection with the beauty of melancholy, and arguably rebellion. “At their core, goths are outsiders, disruptors,” Weinstock reminds us. The gothic sensibility, she argues, isn’t some fleeting fad; “it’s not some fair-weather trend, or yesterday’s viral news piece. It’s an attitude, and an unapologetic way of life.” The current wave of dark romanticism in design carries that same spirit. It suggests we are yearning for depth and drama amid the blandness of mass culture. Ironic, perhaps, given the commerciality of goth’s current testimonies.
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Regardless, gothic has never been a passing fad so much as a recurring refuge. “Goth is always there, but sometimes it's relegated more to the shadows, the fringes of culture. There are times when the world decides to shine its spotlight on it. But just because it's not in the mainstream doesn’t mean it ceases to exist.” Like clockwork, it resurfaces at the right moment in culture and history, when the shadows offer a strange sort of comfort. Its current incarnations may be wrapped in commercial gloss, but the pull is perennial. “I see the more romantic side of goth being embraced currently as opposed to the more shocking, fear-mongering side,” Weinstock adds. “And that’s probably because the world is scary enough as it is right now.” Goth isn’t just for Halloween decorations.
