Emo Study

There are two popular forms of dress associated with emo. The first is basically what came out of the 90s “Indie emo” scene, and has connections to Indie rock. It includes more vintage and thrift store clothing, typically for a well-worn look. Some of the clothing leans toward khaki colors. T-shirts are typically of smaller sizes and with random prints, often images from the 1980s.

The other popular style of dress focuses on darker colors. Commonly seen elements include dark colored hair (often dyed either black or an unnatural dark hue), males wearing pants tailored for females, lip, eyebrow and labret piercings, and dark make-up on males and females (most notably black eyeliner).

Converse All-Star style shoes are common amongst both styles of dress.

Though the original emo scenes were not exclusionary, the modern “emo” scene has developed into a “gay friendly” scene. Though it’s unclear whether it’s related to the diminished “macho” elements of emo music or the “gay friendly” nature of the scene, it has become commonplace for detractors to use “emo” in combination with popular gay slurs, such as “emo fag.”

While use of the term “emo” to describe the dress and attitudes of some fans of emo music, it should be noted that use of “emo” as a musical genre and “emo” as a slang term are largely separate. “Emo” as a musical genre long pre-dated the use of “emo” as a slang term, while most modern bands labeled “emo” are done so unwillingly, and largely because the share some of the fashion trends and attitude associated with “emo” as a slang term.

There is also a common stereotype that associates self harm with “emo,” though there is no evidence of any correlation between the two. The link may stem from the association of negative emotions with the emo subculture.

The term “emo” has also been used in recent years on the Internet as a form of insult, especially towards those who appear emotionally unstable online, or those who rant about issues in their lives to people in public forums or chat rooms. Phrases such as “don’t cry emo kid” are used frequently as a quick brush-off of somebody they deem as an “emo kid,” or even just in passing if somebody seems disgruntled – thus the term “emo” is very loose, and is usually applied very liberally to different situations.