The 2012 Have Yourself a Gothic Little Christmas was my first! I had been waiting years to go and I finally did this weekend.
And, it was not what I expected. At all. Here is a quick video tour of the show.
Some of the "Gothic" elements were, well, quite blasphemous. In fact this was the first item we saw at the front of the show. I am not religious but even I was shocked at this Goth version of Mary, Joseph and Jesus.
These Drop Dead Gorgeous Barbies by Horror Lovin Tees made me laugh at first. I adore counter culture, especially if it has a point. But how does this fit in the show exactly? Would Goths buy these?
I know the show also carries "Medieval, Steampunk, Fantasy, Fairytale, Victorian, Anime..." and Geek content but to be honest, a lot of stuff there was horror and punk.
I thought there would be a lot of crafters making unique items for Christmas, not stuff you would put in your house that would mock Christmas.
I do not celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday but seriously? Yes, an evil Santa is kind of funny and ridiculous but making fun of the celebration this festival was supposed to be about seemed off and kind of wrong.
So, I started focusing on the things I did like. Turns out, almost all the food I saw there was for dogs!
Then I realized, oh yeah, maybe they think Goths just don't eat? But, do they have dogs...???!!! I just don't get it.
There were all these treats by cutopia but I was nervous that they were for dogs or were maybe soaps... They are an apparel shop so who knows?!
I did love their cupcake apron but not goth, not geeky, very foodie... Oh I was so confused! They had a Batman one just behind it which made more sense. I was so surprised the show definitely was more appealing (yet confusing) for me as a foodie than someone who adores all things gothic.
I absolutely loved Susan Pfeiffer's crafts, definitely an alternative crafty feel to it which is exactly what I wanted to see at the show. Especially those skulls!
And the foodie in me loved these hats that she makes to order. I may end up ordering something, they are so cool!
This was one of the few truly "Goth-oriented" pieces I saw. There were some clothing booths that looked interesting but I loved this purse and wanted to buy it but it was a clutch. I don't do clutch. Bummer.
Marina Smith, the Founder and President of the Jules Verne Phantastical Society, had her Arcane Angel work at the show.
Marina is absolutely talented and brought her Steampunk work to sell.
This was closer to the kind of jewellery I wanted to see! Beautiful, unique and would make a fantastic present for the artsy person in your life. I did not see a lot of unique jewellery at all, except for Marina's pieces.
The dark and macabre elements confused me. There was some geek content but I thought there would be more. My friend Emily saw whips... Not what I was expecting at all. Were they mocking the idea of a Gothic Christmas? Truly, I saw very little there that a Goth would like. A lot of stuff I would never see anywhere but Goth? Not to me, sadly.
