<bgsound src="Alien_minesong.swf"> </bgsound> Gothic: Night
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Night explores the symbolism of black. The gothic color par excellence, black has long been associated with death, danger, and evil, but also with mystery, elegance, and eroticism. The devil has long been known as the Prince of Darkness. But since the fifteenth century, black clothing has also been associated with elegance and aristocracy, in large part because black dye was so expensive. Black clothing was also associated with the elegantly Satanic figure of the dandy, the Black Prince of Elegance. Far from the anodyne Little Black Dress, the fashions in this section of the exhibition seem appropriate for the femme fatale and the dandy vampire aristocrat.

"Obscurity is vertiginous. . . . When the eye sees black, the spirit sees trouble. . . . In the night, even the strong feel anxious."
~ Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

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