Not a Phase, Mom: Inside India's Alt and Goth Gen Z Scene

Not a Phase, Mom: Inside India's Alt and Goth Gen Z Scene

The thing nobody gets about these kids in all-black. Everyone thinks it's a phase. "Arre, he's gone through some breakup, he'll be fine." Let me tell you what's actually happening. In our country blending-in has been the rule to fit-in since day one. Don't give the relatives material. And these young people are doing the exact opposite.

 

Black on Black clothes in this searing sun, heavy metallic boots on the street full of bata sandals, and makeup done with real intention. And that's not really fashion, it’s courage. Because if you see a goth kid in “London” is just a goth kid, but here in India it’s “Log kya kahenge”, “ye kya pehen liya” which is a quiet act of defiance against such comments. Funny enough it happens even before they step out the door of their own house. I feel they deserve a little respect, because there is a price to be paid for standing out in this country and they do it every single day.

 
                   

A purist Western look cannot survive in this climate and the beautiful thing about us is we have revamped it according to us, beautifully. Alt makeup with a kurta. Fishnet underneath ethnic clothing. Oxidized silver performs the function of all that heavy Western metal. It is not like ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery", it is the fluency and art form of being dark and traditional at the same time.

 

But trust me as-is clothes aren’t the heart of it. There is something way more deeply rooted than just clothes and dressing sense. In the West this personality leans theartrical- a romance with darkness, melancholy worn for effect.Here in India it is more gentle and useful. Because in Indian families hard feelings aren't simply discussed…when a kid struggling is told they have everything, so what is there to be sad about? And for many of them, it influences how they dress. The black expresses what cannot be expressed at the dinner table. This isn't morbid at all for someone who is under test pressure, has family expectations, and feels the estrangement of not being understood. It is honesty. Often, it's the first version of themselves who doesn't have to pretend to be okay.

 

There's one more thing that sticks with me. These spaces make room. For a boy who wants eyeliner and nail color but does not want to look like he has shattered something. For a female who can dress however she likes without having to answer to anyone else. All of the standards we grew up with about how a guy ought to appear and this is how a woman looks in here they just... loosen. They breathe. And believe me, in our culture, that is no small thing. That is freedom.

Quiet, but still free.

 

And, of all things, the internet discovered it. A century's worth of history compressed into a fifteen-second reel. So you have the ones that genuinely live it and those who wear it for a week before moving on to the next aesthetic. The actual ones get protective, and the gatekeeping becomes noisy. But, isn't that what occurs when you love something and it goes bad? Those who actually meant it were never doing it for the camera.

 

So the next time you're on the road and see one of them — all black, kohl eyes, looking like they strolled out of something far more dramatic than a Tuesday — don't dismiss them. That kid is accomplishing the most difficult task in our country. Standing out. On purpose. In a place that softly urges everyone to leave. Yes, the clothes originated from somewhere else.

 

But what do they mean? That is ours. Completely ours.

- Devangshu Purohit