It’s The Season Of The Summer Goth

While doing the rounds to promote the second season of the hit Netflix series, Ortega has played into the gothic romanticism that underscores the film, channeling a very grown-up version of her character and giving us heaped servings of summer goth inspiration through Ann Demeulemeester, Vivienne Westwood, and Elena Velez runway looks. Her beauty moments, too, have been equally dark and dreamy thanks to makeup artist Melanie Inglessis who has been perfecting the summer goth look on Ortega all month, with a bleach brow and heavy liner and mascara, but softer eyeshadow bringing it into a summer mood.

The reciprocal relationship that gothic subculture has with the runway can be referenced back to the early 21st century, when designers began to interact with goth and introduce themes on the runway, which Cintra Wilson famously dubbed "Haute Goth" in the New York Times. But the goth scene actually took off before that, in the 1980s, when goth music began to emerge in the UK through bands like The Cure, Sisters of Mercy and Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Since then, goth style has passed through the trend cycle just as plenty of other subculture-driven trends have, but this summer it feels as though the renaissance has returned.

Back to Copenhagen, where undertones of darkness and decay punctuated the collections of the week. At Deadwood, models stalked down the runway with bare feet, wearing swaths of translucent dresses and black hooded jackets paired with leather low-slung pants. Leather pants also also appeared at P.L.N, where they were styled with strings of black rosary-esque beads and sheer button downs. Almost the entire P.L.N collection was varying textures of black fabric; the models had smudged eye makeup and tousled hair to compliment the leather-heavy looks. Elsewhere at Freya Dalsjø’s breathtakingly precise collection, there were long, black, clingy dresses with laser-cut leather shawls clutched around models' shoulders, and column silhouettes created by the same patchwork leather.

For the hotter weather, colors have lightened up too, giving everything a romantic gothic mood rather than a particularly heavy goth energy. Bias cut silks, frothy translucent fabrics, strapless corseting, and torn skirts with raw hems all contribute to a summer-appropriate version of the trend.

Designers elsewhere are embracing the trend, too. Elena Velez has become a modern poster child for goth silhouettes, especially in her Fall 2025 runway. At Ann Demeulemeester, Stefano Gallici revived the house’s deep ties to the subculture, drawing on Victorian and Edwardian romanticism for the Fall/Winter 2025 show in Paris earlier this year.

All this to say, if you decide to leave the tan behind this year in favor of a surplus of black lace, I don’t blame you.