Favorite stores for dark alternative (i.e. gothic) clothing?

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Please nobody say Hot Topic...I'm not talking about chains, but rather smaller places. Web sites and what not. Some are easy to find via resources, but what are the ones that stick out for you? Assuming anybody here bothers with that?

Good Will,Unique Thrift Store and some thread and needle...ie,find fabric that you like and alter at will.

i am not very familiar with what goes as gothic in the states.
over here, there are a few stores and mailorders but these are frowned upon (they usually dont sell very good quality anyway and they are freaking expensive).

sources vary with what kind of gothic you are, or what style of clothing you want to wear, respectively. new romantics girls are notorious for sewing their own gowns - no way you could get a perfectly fitting hooped dress including a fitting hat or whatever accessoire you fancy at any shop. the simpler solutions are buying a corsage, getting a crinoline over ebay and sewing the dress skirt only, in style somehow fitting to the corsage while the elaborate dresses are the handiwork of half a year and completely (except the crinoline, of course) handmade.
us neofolkers are usually found in surplus shops or flea markets to get ahold of old uniform parts. also, wherever you can buy more formal looking attire that can be militarized is a good place to go.
what is done a lot is a bit of a complex mix-and-match: some parts h&m, a piece from the fetish shop, some rock accessoires, striped or tartan stuff from more punk-oriented stores... the goth look mainly comes through the combination. for example, whenever h&m features some more romantic stuff that looks quite bland in a normal context, goths buy it to combine it with their assorted wardrobe and voila.
the really serious people go and let their stuff be sewn professionally. a friend of mine has an extensive wardrobe of more such items - baroque frock coats with fitting outfit as well as pinstripe suits to wear with knee-high pikes. this usually isnt affordable to most, so they may save up for one tailored piece and combine.

as said, i dont know what passes as a goth look in the states, and if the scene is as diverse as it is over here... but what i described is a very short examplish rundown what you are likely to see over here. (not counting all the sub-groups like middle ages freaks, fetish people, kitsch goths, batcavers, neon/space-looking electros or whatever there is - including parodies and personal interpretations)

Truth be told, I don't really care what's considered gothic in the US--most of my familiarity with the styles come from European sources. I do understand that it's very diverse, that's why I left it open, so as to not exclude anyone.

I can't find many places that have good clothing for guys in any of the variations, though, honestly...most of the pretty gothic clothing is just for girls, IMO.

honestly.......i never shopped at a particulary place as much as just whatever appealed to me at the time.....which means a lot of walmart and sam's club/costco....i make my own style for the most part.

yep, the uberprettiness usually is reserved for the girls.

and i like that you dont really give a damn towards the local scenes specific dresscode.

those peole i know who are into standard gothic clothing (bondage trousers and the like) often wear clothes by aderlass (www.aderlass.com). they are pretty expensive and their online shop only sends to germany, austria and switzerland. maybe you can contact them and ask for possibilities to send stuff to the states.

the simpler alternative is to get a few simple trousers of a style you like (jeans, suit trousers, bdu pants...) and with a good fit (black of course - just make sure they look good on your figure), get some skinny black t-shirts and invest a few $ in mascara, kajal and maybe a bit of eyeshadow (most black eyeshadow sucks, except the super expensive one by MAC - i rather use a warm dark gray, either with or without a hint of glitter in it) or liquid eyeliner if you have a steady hand and/or the willingness to learn to use it well.
there are countless websites that teach makeup basics, as even nt girls seem to need some basic vocabulary like "do this if your eyes are set close to each other, do this if your eyes appear too small" etcetera.
if you stay away from painting half your face with liquid eyeliner images or adding dramatic kajal tears under your eyes but wear a simple and well-executed eye makeup, you are hard to beat, style wise. just better avoid that emo kid look.
you can also polish your nails if you like. (tip: black nail polish looks bland in comparison to a really good dark red. and there are a few that us guys can wear, too: the expensive chanel rouge noir for example. most able ladies in a good store for cosmetica will be able to find you a lookalike for smaller wallets)

edit: being into makeup is something i found a lot of girls to find cute and interesting. ideal topic to smalltalk on, as it is very unsexual and very far removed from the usual me-tarzan-you-jane gender role stuff.

most of the elaborate clothing with a historical flair seems to be bought from stores (online stores, mostly) that supply history reenactors. no idea about those, though as i never cared for that look. (and find it impractical for everyday use)

if those countless variations of gothic boots are too expensive or too low in quality for your taste, getting basic military boots is the thing for you. they are not too expensive (im not talking about special forces stuff by haix and the like) and are made to be put to use.

what are the kind of looks that you have in your minds eye?

i rather like the lipservice stuff. it tends to be well cut but perhaps not designed to last for ever ie the fabrics tend to be a bit lightweight. reasonable choice of menswear too.

www.lip-service.com

let me know what you think.

(and please feel free to share some pics of your new look if your not too shy)

Oh, I can't stand make up--clashes awfully with sensory defensiveness. >.< I'm really looking for fashion advice so much as seeing what sources other people recommend, which specific stores to not buy from, etc.

Yeah, Lip Service has some good stuff. If I ever do get around to ordering a bunch of clothes, I'll be sure to post pictures.

Here's a place I ordered from. At first my order didn't come, but I emailed them and they were quick to respond and were very nice and appologetic about it, so it came soon enough. The place is called Sock Dreams. It's not specifically gothic, but it does have a lot of gothic socks and armwarmers and what not.

I haven't ordered from Fanplusfriend, but their clothes are pretty. A lot of Japenese-inspired gothic and lolita clothing. Considering that it's not as expensive as you might expect it may not be I'm not sure how good the quality is, though. They have some good stuff for men, too.

Art of Adornment has some great Victorian Gothic-style jewelry. Again, I haven't ordered from them, so I can't say how the quality is, but it's pretty.

GothicAuctions. I haven't used it, but I've heard it's like eBay for goths.

For "Do it yourself"-ers, there's Antimony & Lace. It has ideas and fashion inspiration.

Heavy Red is a bit on the expensive side but it has a few good stuff, mainly for women. For guys it's pretty limited, though.

Gallery Serpentine is expensive as hell, but has pretty clothes.

Blackrose isn't great, but it has a few ok items.

Slash N Burn. I ordered a pair of armwarmers from them once and wasn't really impressed--the picture had looked better and they didn't fit too well. But I returned them and got my money back with no problems, and they might still have some okay stuff, too.

Arsenic Fashions. A lot of Lip Service stuff that Lip Service doesn't carry anymore. Some originals, too. Some of it's nice, and it's not SUPER expensive.

Gypsy Moon isn't strictly gothic, but their clothes are pretty fairy stuff. I don't think they have anything for men, though.

XtraX Underground Fashion is one of the top German sources of gothic clothing. Not sure about the quality, pricing, or whether it's worth risking the international shipping for those who don't live there.

GoodGoth.com has clothing for both genders, and has plus sizes. Again, I haven't shopped here, so I don't know about the quality.

Fairy Goth Mother doesn't have anything for men, but it has some pretty clothing for women.

Hope that none of these sites are dishonest, but I've seen many of them on multiple people list of places for gothic clothing, so I can only assume that most of them are at least a little trustworthy. Still, excercise caution and always check return policies and what not before buying.

as for xtrax: freaking expensive, even without international shipping. shittily cut, seems to fit almost noone (but everyone equally bad - seems to be less so a problem with mens wear, naturally) and the quality is not justified, given what you have to pay.

Try here, they do some beautiful things.

DARK ANGEL