STYLE: Spring Favourites

A quick note: as you may have noticed, I'm posting a lot more regularly now; I'm happy to announce that An Honest Drug will feature a new post every Wednesday! I'm not certain how this is going to go, but I'm enjoying writing again, so let's continue in the spirit of Miss Addams herself.

My kingdom for a pussybow blouse. I've become obsessed with accumulating as many of these as possible, as they're the only sleeved tops I actually like wearing (90% of my wardrobe is vests and tank tops) - everything else just irritates the hell out of me. I was actually going to put a waist belt over the top of the whole thing, but nothing ended up looking right? Draped silhouette it is!

This outfit is full of things I've been totally unable to stop wearing; the blouse, my wife brimmed hat and these DIY Quartz hoops. I've had awful luck with earrings over the past year; I lost half of my favourite pair of vintage clip ons at a party, one of a pair of moon earrings I made on the way to coffee with a friend, and one of these. Thankfully, though I haven't found the right materials (yet) to remake the moon earrings, I managed to whip up a new set of these, and I've been wearing them constantly since spring started - apparently Spring really makes me want to wear pink? I think it's the cherry blossom.


My daily outfits feature a lot of similar looks to this, and it's nice to have a uniform. I feel like the Internet is grossly oversaturated with the witch aesthetic now, which I partially blame on brands trying to cash in... But I still like it. It's a more grown up and refreshing take on goth, and the occult is an area I really enjoy researching - so those elements appeal to me. Plus, there's a lot of variability in the silhouettes and looks within it; I don't get bored.

How do you feel about the popularity of witchy styles? Is there anything you're really enjoying wearing right now? Comment and let me know below!

     

Art: Soren Häxan

Top to bottom: 'Monstrum', 'Dead Hands', and 'The Spiritualist'.

Until I either hang/frame/do something with the pieces I already have or move into my new flat, I've had to enforce an art ban on myself; no buying any new prints, which I have responded to by... looking at lots of art. I guess the heart wants what the heart wants. 

The most recent of my guilty late night binges is the work of Soren Häxan, Washington-based artist and writer. Häxan's oil paintings and ink illustrations blend illness, the abhuman and the occult, and homoeroticism to create unique works on faith and sexuality.

As well as prints and original artworks, you can also find hand bound books and patches in Häxan's etsy store, The Hands of the Corpse (warning: some art NSFW). Additionally, keep an eye out for his soon-to-be-published book, Our Queen Milk.

All images by Soren Häxan. Soren is also on twitter (where he's a joy to follow), as am I! Has anyone else found any new art recently? Let me know below!




Fiona C.

The Occult Trend: Non-Religious Symbols for the Secular

EDIT: I wrote this article running late for a deadline, and the end result I was unhappy with as it failed to convey the points I was trying to discuss properly; I've since overhauled it completely, though I've left the two first comments below (made below I updated the article) for posterity.

I find the current trend in alternative cultures for occult symbolism interesting; though it originates from loftier concepts of alchemy and witchcraft, it has brought fashion brands and symbols such as the St. Peter's Cross and the Sigil of Baphomet which were once derided as too 'mall goth' and intentionally provocative to wear back into popularity. From Blood Milk's dark romanticism to Killstar's pop culture blend, companies are joining in on this enthusiasm and drawing on paganism, ancient Egypt, western esotericism and witchcraft in their inspirations.

This most recent trend is just the newest in a long history of Goth borrowing from religious and spiritual movements; ankhs and crosses have become something of a cliché within the subculture. As far as I've seen the general consensus seems to be that practitioners are happy with this when done respectfully, but I know several bloggers who have stated that they don't personally feel comfortable doing so when they don't believe in the spiritual beliefs the symbol represents - indeed, many of my non-goth friends feel similar, either because they follow a religion of their own or just don't want to. There's a lot valid reasons for not wanting to adopt symbols representative of beliefs; I wear a lot of religious iconography quite happily (primarily the cross, the ankh and pentagrams, amongst others), but inaccurate usage of symbols (such as all the clothing with pentagrams and 'hail satan' slapped next to them) peeves me, as the designer has clearly not done their research, and considering this is another lens through which we view these cultures I think it's important to get them right.

So for those who have made the decision to avoid religious and spiritual iconography but still like aspects of the occult trend, I've compiled a list of alternative suggestions below -

Source one, two, three, four and five (which I've lost).