Last week Suzy X, a former mall goth and illustrator of the “Best Song Ever” series on Rookie Magazine, tweeted, “who would let me curate a summer mall goth playlist for them?” Naturally, we responded since our curiosity as to what exactly constituted “summer goth” would entail. Was this a demographic being targeted by Hot Topic? Is there a Tumblr of goths in cabanas sipping tiki drinks? (FYI: there is.) So, so many questions.
A native of Miami, Suzy X has never let the warm rays of summer put her goth nature in hibernation. She’s even celebrated her goth lifestyle in tropical regions like Belize.
Suzy X explains why goths can take the heat:
One of the most hackneyed misconceptions people have about goths is that they are fundamentally allergic to sunlight. What started out as a satirical pet project of Tom Lenham, Goths In Hot Weather revealed that goths can too enjoy themselves in warm weather, and eventually became somewhat of a style guide for aspiring summer goths. MTV Style and WikiHow have also capitalized on this phenomenon, many years after I started braving sweltering Miami summers in fishnet sleeves and combat boots.
Oddly enough to all the norms out there, I wasn’t that much of an anomaly; plenty of goths have thrived in tropical climates. Latin America has their “darkss” and “darquetas,” Brazil boasted about seven different World Goth Day events this year, and goth clubs can be spotted in the steamy cityscapes of Jakarta and Bangkok. One could even argue that the heat would be the least of a goth’s problems. After all, the hot sun is not nearly as oppressive as the very bane of human existence.
Soon-to-be no longer fronting Shady Hawkins, Suzy X is focusing on new material for a new project and her Malcriada zine, as well as contributing drawings to Bitch and writing for MTV Iggy.
Summer Goth Playlist:
01 Tubeway Army — “Down In The Park”
02 Total Control — “Flesh War”
03 Cementerio de Mascotas — “After Party”
04 The Sisters of Mercy — “Lucretia My Reflection”
05 Rakta — “Caverna”
06 Siouxsie And The Banshees — “Cities In Dust”
07 Cocteau Twins — “Blind Dumb Deaf”
08 Eyedress — “My Hologram”
09 Perturbator — “Hard Wired” (Feat. Memory Ghost’s Isabella Goloversic)
10 Selma Oxor — “Quiero Salir”
11 SZA — “Babylon” (Feat. Kendrick Lamar)
12 Princess Nokia — “Young Girls”
13 Los Mirlos — “Sonido Amazonico”
14 U.S. Girls — “Island Song”
