#except two

colour pallet (i own almost no bright colours; if there's colour, it is 80% of the time going to be pastel pink or lavender, though I've been branching out into brights and primary tones a little. i also own precisely Four brown items: two are CR merch, one is my vintage cat vest, and the fourth is a pair of absolutely gorgeous vintage boots that i got for hella cheap as a bootblacking restoration project)

cut/fit (depending on where i wanna present of the masc >< femme spectrum in that outfit; i like all my bottoms to sit on my (very high and narrow) waist, with skirts generally hitting at or below my knee and either very flared (circle or swing) or pleated. box cut "unisex" shirts should hit where the ball of my hips sit in my pelvis but femme cut shirts dont have to be that long they will be tucked in. i almost never wear something sleeveless, or if i do i wear a shirt under it, and the closest i get to a low cut shirt is shirts with keyholes, otherwise nothing lower than maybe an inch or two under my collarbone. my shoes are also generally high tops or boots and often have either a thick sole or a full out platform)

theme (this is how i wear really weird shit in very cohesive ways lmao; my tshirts are all generally ominous goth graphics OR cutesy kawaii vomit (or both lmao), patterns on my blouses and skirts (or pants, on the few patterned pants i have) are in similar veins (lotta halloween themes, lotta hearts) OR theyre very basic stripes/tartan that i mix and match with graphic shirts)

i also pay attention to quality as much as i can, and will absolutely not shop directly from the really aggressively fast fashion brands like shein, h&m, romwe, etc. they're always cut and made like shit and basically never look good on an actual person, but every now and then i'll find something cute in a thrift store that i can physically check for quality. vintage also tends to be better quality in general, especially if youre looking for natural fibers (the number of vintage silk dad shirts i own for summer is A Lot lmao), but can be cost and size prohibitive

aannnddddd some shops that i either routinely buy from or have been planning to buy from, for reference

"big" brands:

killstar, blackcraft clothing (generally traditional goth, better for straight sizes, decent quality for the price)

unique vintage, modcloth (vintage repro, both stockists for other vintage repro brands on top of selling their own things, generally pretty good quality across stocked and in house brands, most skirts and dresses have POCKETS, lotta killer sales, good size range)

smaller brands:

myviolet and foxblood (sibling companies run by the same people, myviolet is pastel kawaii stuff while foxblood is goth; they do sometimes carry the same cuts of things in different pallets. generally pretty good quality, does a lot of stuff in cotton or modal but not everything. size range is pretty stellar tho especially for a small brand)

disturbia clothing, straight to hell apparel (disturbia is more corporate goth leaning with a lot of business type wear in goth colors and patterns, straight to hell is very rockabilly leaning. both are pricey but their quality seems very sound (i have not bought from them though))

wicked clothing (sarcastic goth), two crow collective (chronically ill), thentvs (native american streetwear) (mostly tshirts, but really off beat ones. only bought from wicked clothing so far, just tryna decide how many more tshirts i need)

sleepy peach (retro repro but make it weird, lotta weird mens cardigans)

kei collective (stockist of a lot of indie designers in the western kawaii streetfashion scene, a wide variety of very cute to VERY WEIRD apparel and accessories)

die with your boots on (stockist, carries foxblood and a lot of other straight black goth basics. quality is on par with foxblood, size range can vary depending on brand, great place to peek for things like strangecvlt shoes or foxblood items that are out of stock on the main site)

art brands:

morning witchy (lot of botanical all over patterns on button up dad shirts, skirts, joggers, shorts, tshirts, and so on, with absolutely banger size range. gorgeous quality and absolutely beautiful designs. i want so many of their sweaters so bad)

stablercake (not specifically apparel focused but they do pretty frequent tshirt designs and theyre all great, ESPECIALLY if youre a furry. quality is always top tier unless its a bs manu error, in which case they typically offer a replacement or coupon when they find out something is fading weird, etc)

crescent creepers (weird goofy goth all over patterns, like 80s style cartoon bugs or deep sea creatures. sizing isnt great but if you're thinner, they have a lot of really fun overalls/shorteralls and button ups)

vetiver fox (very pretty goth patterns, has a lot of gorgeous swoopy skirts (with fuck off huge pockets) and some cool tank tops, is planning on maybe doing a run of regular tshirts too)

s2heart bunny (kawaii anime girl art shirts except soft and pretty and often sad or, as is the case with the ones i have, kawaii bunnies with nail bats and middle finger flags lmao)

egglien creations (weird bright very clowncore apparel, i have the cardigan from their collab with lulu van hoagland, who also does gorgeous work, just usually not apparel)

also a lot of the times, artists (especially tattoo artists) you follow will do tshirts and the like, which is where i get a lot of my really weird things