"With the Japanese films, it's more of a tradition of kabuki theater and the relationship with the ghost and spirit _ and it's mostly a female spirit with something to say," she says.
Another couture gown in the exhibit, a 2007 Alexander McQueen with a jeweled Christian cross set askew on a black strapless bodice, was inspired by witchcraft and religious persecution. McQueen is said to be a distant descendant of Elizabeth Howe, a woman executed as a result of the Salem, Mass., witch trials in 1692.
Other looks that straddle glamour and goth include a Chanel gown by Karl Lagerfeld with a spider-web pattern made of feathers and beads, a high-neck Victorian corset gown by Olivier Theyskens and a "blob-top" cape by Hussein Chalayan made of carpet fibers that Steele describes as the embodiment of claustrophobia and vertigo.
Steele says casual observers might think high fashion has taken cues from the post-punk goth club scene _ and, in fact, the exhibit does pay homage to the 1980s London hot spot Bat Cave _ but true gothic style is far more elegant.
"Looking at Victorian mourning dresses, images of sorcery and vampires and crumbling castles, major high fashion designers like McQueen don't have to go to the club kids for
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