Boho-chic - Boho-rock and Gothic

Boho-rock and Gothic

By Midsummer 2006, the Sunday Times had discerned a trend that fused aspects of boho-chic with "heavy metal attitude": "It's about wearing a studded leather jacket with a flimsy chiffon number, stomping about town in biker boots ... and wearing anything with a skull on it". The newspaper referred to this style, which had been a feature of collections for Autumn 2006 by Christian Dior and John Galliano, as "boho-rock" and noted that both Sienna Miller and Kate Moss had adopted it. "Gothic rock" had similar connotations. A look described by the Sunday Times in Autumn 2006 as "modern goth" was a more stylised version, exuding a "bondage vibe" and contrasting "soft, light fabrics ... with the harsh sleekness of patent ".

The gothic look was in vogue again in the autumn of 2007, a sleeker "dark Victorian style" being associated with, among others, Sienna Miller, twin actresses Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen (through their clothing label, The Row), the Australian model Gemma Ward and the rising Ukrainian singer Mika Newton (the latter notably in photographs associated with her début album of 2005, Anomaliya). In 2009 Nicole Scherzinger, lead vocalist of the Pussycat Dolls, described her off-stage image as "understated-rock-boho-chic", while, in the autumn of 2010, under the heading "Boho with bite", the Mail on Sunday advised readers after "dark, soft, floaty fabrics flirt heavily with leather and lace, kohl and killer heels" and to "think laid-back cool with a shot of vamp". In some respects this particular refinement harked back to the style of the silent film actress Theda Bara, who became known as "the Vamp" (after "vampire") and habitually used kohl, a black cosmetic prevalent in Eastern countries, to make up her eyes.