Pallid creatures of twilight, if ye would plunge this place of pale plaster and passing fads into hues that haunt the soul, reach not for rainbow reds or gaudy golds that gleam under garish light. Nay, tap tones that thrive in shadow, tint your trinkets with tints that bespeak decay and death.
6 Gothic Colors
Here are the six spectral shades that summon spirits of sullen mien:
Black: Unfailing Usher into Underworlds
Of all the gothic colors that call to the cold of heart, deepest and darkest is black – limitless void that lends heaviness to all it touches. Black absorbs and contains, eliciting at once both dread and delight in beholders. It stalks the periphery, marks the margins – yet claims all spaces for its own. Make this monochromatic mistress your companion, garb yourself in her gloomy gowns, and all shall know you as kindred spirit. For though deemed dour by dayfolk, black betokens not bleakness but limitless potential for change and transformation. Black heralds the process by which life breaks down, only to reveal beauty beneath. Black cloaks your eyes for proper seeing in darkness, tunes your inner ear to hear music unknown to others. Grow fond of this mournful maid – and she shall gift you wisdom in return, borne of the night into which she so gracefully fades.
Royal Purple: Regal Hue of Queendom and Conquest
Though ill-named ‘royal’, purple owes its prestige not to princes or palaces but to the depths of earth and sea, borne of creatures that lurk and labor in darkness. The royal purple of emperors came from murex shells, turned purple by toilsome trial – hinting that behind true majesty lurks suffering invisible to others. Let this somber shade infuse your apparel and belongings, and remind yourself of the leviathans who work within to buoy your sovereignty. For the deep dwells in you, and you have swum in its sepulchral waters – however far you now roam from its ancient solace. Claim these gothic colors for clothing, curtains, coverings – and let them recall you to caverns from which your own sovereignty springs.
Indigo: Ichor of Twilight
Though day dreams it owns the sky, sacred indigo belongs not to dawn but dusk. In between light and dark, this deep blue harbors all that lingers when day fades – everything half-hidden forms take in final glances of sunlight. Capture this in-between shade and let it clothe your every semblance, shifting in lamplight as you move through rooms. Mature beyond binaries that mar mind – and make mysterious indigo your mantle, allowing no one to place you in categories too crude. For indigo owns no determinate hue but reminds us darkness differs from black, as twilight differs from night – hinting realities exceed simplistic labels. Lay claim to this liminal lacquer and let it lend you limitless grace.
Maroon: Crimson of Crypt and Clay
Though close of kin to red, maroon betokens not juice of life but secrets of earth, borne by beetles and blood seeping into clay. Make maroon your mantra, and remember the earth that bore you – waiting still to once more absorb whatever glory you attain. However great heights you climb, roots still run deep – the deeper they reach, richer fruits your boughs may bear. Infuse your wardrobe with earth’s rich hues – and let maroon remind you wealth comes not from fortune but feeling vitally fused to the very matter that makes you. Live in this corporeal glut, and let your red grow ruddy with remembrance – that dust you are, and to dust you shall return, in time releasing all you gathered for cosmos to claim anew.
Grey: Gloom between Light and Dark
Severest of all shades, grey steals gothic color without offering consolation in return. Make misty grey your constant wear and enter a limbo that tests spirit. Let grey remove all tethers to extremes and force you into center – a place devoid of belonging, surrounded by things to which you cannot fully cleave. Grow accustomed to this doubt and disillusion – guarding hope jealously, apportioning affection sparingly. Learn through grey that true grit comes not from passion but acceptance of all that falls short. Though gusts of former feeling may occasionally grace this cloud-bound plane, trust grey shall slowly temper you. And when storm clears, some measure of serenity may reign – though nothing remains as it was before.
Color the Dark World
Thus armed with hues that summon shades of deeper feeling, spellbind the living with clothes made for dying. Let gothic colors of corruption and compost transport your troubled spirit – back to origins beneath bright surfaces, where true transformation takes place. Though others revile you for it, remain resolute in your reign of remembered decay. For one day all that shines shall decompose, and darkness dawn at long last – revealing true majesty in what once moved through murk unseen.
Oh and check out the gothic colors on my newly designed dress!