How to Style a Men’s Goth Look
There are as many ways to be goth as there are bats in the sky–you just have to find what works for you. One thing’s for sure: dressing goth is about so much more than just wearing black. Once you have a wardrobe of black basics, the next step is figuring out how to wear them to give off a dark and gothic impression that suits your personal style. If you need some ideas to help you unleash your inner Peter Murphy or Trent Reznor, here are some styling tips that will show you how to dress goth.
Casual Goth Outfit Ideas
Casual men’s outfits with a gothic spin tend to be built around black t-shirts. Whether it’s plain or with a band logo or gothic design is up to you. Add a layer like a flannel shirt or denim jacket if the weather is chilly, or even a mesh shirt or henley underneath if you really want to lean into that mall goth vibe.
If you like a little punk flair in your look, you can create a goth battle jacket with patches, studs, and pins. It’s easy and fun to DIY a jacket or vest like this with a thrift store find. You can even cut out the front of an old band tee and use it as a back patch. Add pyramid studs around the edges for extra definition. Denim is a bit easier to work with, but if you want to make a leather battle jacket, you’ll need a few tools like heavy gauge needles and possibly a hammer and needle nose pliers for placing the studs.
Men’s Goth Wear
Goth streetwear often involves a lot of layers so you can show off a few interesting pieces at once, such as patterned button-downs with contrasting waistcoats for a classic look, or stylish black jackets with layered shirts underneath and a pair of combat boots.
Open knit sweaters are popular in the colder months–look for ones with horizontal stripes in black and white or black and red for a hint of color.
For everyday outfits, men’s goth hoodies and t-shirts are a versatile choice. If you want to go beyond the usual zip-up band hoodies and the like, look for ones with unique details like frayed or distressed fabric, trailing hemlines, and thumbholes.
If you want to rock a more polished aesthetic, a long wool coat with silver buttons in a color like black, dark red, or dark gray would also be great for winter wear.
In summer, you’ll probably want to pare down the layers to avoid suffering the sun’s wrath, but you can still put plenty of goth looks together with shorts and a t-shirt with the addition of a few choice accessories. You can also find a lot of short-sleeve button-ups with gothic designs and styling. High top black sneakers will help you maintain an alternative aesthetic when the mercury starts to rise.
Men’s Goth Pants
You’ll need to branch out a bit from standard jeans for your goth outfits to truly land. The most versatile choice is black jeans you can dress up or down depending on the shirt and shoes you wear them with. Whether you go for a ripped grunge look or a more polished aesthetic depends on your personal taste.
If you prefer slacks, you can always go for Dickies for those angsty line cook vibes. Pinstripe pants are a great option for a men’s goth wardrobe as well–they’re super slimming and make your legs look longer. Pair them with a men’s goth vest in tweed or satin if you’re embracing a dash of Victorian fashion, or dress them down with black boots and a t-shirt.
Tripp NYC pants, with their wide legs, chains, and millions of pockets, are perennially popular for certain aesthetics like cybergoth. If the $100+ price tag is a turnoff, you can DIY a pair by getting your hands on some big cargo pants and adding embellishments like straps, chains, and safety pins.
If you like an industrial Nine Inch Nails look, real or faux leather pants are a great option for events like goth club nights–especially in winter. Wear a matching chest or shoulder harness to give your style some edge.
Men’s Goth Leather Jacket
There are a lot of different styles of leather jackets to choose from that would fit a goth look. A black motorcycle jacket is a classic with a lot of attitude–just look at Sisters of Mercy frontman Andrew Eldritch in the “This Corrosion” video.
A long black leather duster or trench coat is right out of late 90s-early 2000s goth style, inspired by movies like Blade, The Crow, and The Matrix. Black leather coats like this would even suit a dark western aesthetic when paired with some black cowboy boots. A shiny PVC coat in this style would also complement a cybergoth look.
If you like the 80s trad goth aesthetic, you’ll want to look for a vintage leather jacket that fits the era. Check your local thrift store for one in your size. A leather blazer would also work well with this look–try it with a poet shirt to get that timeless tragic vampire vibe.
Men’s Goth Accessories
The easiest way to gothify your look is by adding a few gothic accessories like necklaces and chokers, rings. bracelets, or a belt. A wallet chain is also a good go-to accessory for a lot of different goth aesthetics.
Check out sellers on Etsy who make handmade goth jewelry–it’s often very good quality and surprisingly inexpensive. Look for designs like spikes, skulls, snakes, and crosses, whatever you enjoy looking at. Silver jewelry with a bit of a tarnished finish really pops on a black background and gives you an instantly gothic look.
Leather bracelets and cuffs are another popular choice, often with studs. For a more dramatic look, leather wristguards that go about halfway up the forearm are perfect for a medieval goth or steampunk aesthetic. (A pocket watch is also a fun choice for those Victorian and steampunk outfits.) For a look that’s a little extra, go for a chest or shoulder harness.
Last but not least, consider adding a hat to pull your fit together. A black beanie is always a practical choice, especially in winter, but if you want to go for a stylized goth aesthetic like Victorian or western you could consider a black cowboy hat, newsboy cap, top hat, or wide brim hat.
Nail Polish, Hair Color & Makeup
Black nail polish adds a finishing touch to any goth outfit, drawing attention to your hands and adding a dash of androgyny to your look (you can add a few rings to play up your hands as well). Other dark colors like deep reds and purples would also go well with most goth outfits.
Lots of goth guys like to experiment with hair dye to create eye-catching looks, often in streaks or highlights–or all over. Unless your hair is naturally a light shade of blond, you’ll have to bleach the sections you want to dye to make the color show up. (If you’ve never done this before, it’s best to leave it to the professionals.) Deep reds, greens, and blues are all colors that would suit a gothic aesthetic, but you could even go with pink, purple, or neon colors like orange and yellow.
As for makeup, a touch of black eyeliner pencil around your eyes will add dimension. Try wearing it to goth events first and expanding to other occasions once you get the hang of it. From there, you can experiment with different makeup looks.
Check out our guide to Goth Makeup Looks for Men to get started.
Piercings & Tattoos
Lots of goth guys have tattoos and piercings. Some of the most popular kinds of goth piercings are: ears, nose, eyebrow, cheek, tongue, septum, snakebite piercings on the lower lip (for an emo throwback), lower lip studs, and bridge piercings along the bridge of the nose. Gauged ears are also having a major moment thanks to the return of 2000s alt styles across the world of fashion.
Goth tattoos can involve horror imagery, literary quotations, tarot, dark forest designs, and skeletons–just to name a few examples. Tattoos are a highly individual form of expression, so choose a design that is personal and meaningful to you.
However simple or elaborate you decide to go with your goth style, hopefully this article has sparked some fresh ideas to help you let your inner darkness shine through. Whether you live in jeans and hoodies or vests and top hats, the most important thing is to be authentically you.
