Coming from California, I’m very experienced in staying goth above 30–40℃, in all humidities, and I want to help people in the community that live in places that aren’t used to that relentless heat.

Practices

Before we begin, you need to prioritise staying comfortably cool. I used to work at a theme park; a dozen or more tourists died of heat sickness every year because they waved our warnings to stay hydrated in the shade aside, trying to ‘soldier through’ because that was their folkways. Don’t do this. Being too hot is just as dangerous as being too cold, treat it as such.

Now, do you have a Very Big Iced Beverage? No? Go get one. There’s a reason Americans are really into Very Big Iced Beverage, and it’s because that’s one of the most widely-available sources of coolth.

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Being nocturnal to avoid the heat is actually a common practise in the Sunbelt. I do advise it -any kind of activity heats you up, so night shift keeps you safer from heat sickness by letting you sleep during the hottest parts of the day.

In the tropical south, we take a shower in the morning so that the ‘first sweat of the day’ is in the shower and on clean skin, which helps it evaporate faster and feel less gross. In desert/coastal places, we take cold showers during the day and specifically get our hair soaking wet so that the air-drying cools us down; also taking multiple cold showers, just quickly rinsing off, helps a ton. Shower in the morning, shower when you get home, shower before bed. Go swimming, go to the shore, splash in the creek – water is your friend!

Get yourself at least one fan, ideally more. Make that fan your new best friend. Position it so it’s pointing at you while you are sitting still, while you are wet from bathing, while you sleep (it’s safe to have a fan on you when you sleep, contrary to urban legend). Take your fan outside with you. Bonus to a fan is all the biting flies can’t fly so well in high winds so the fan protects you a little bit from them. Find where you can safely hang out in air conditioning and spend as much time there as you can. I lived at the local coffee shops and the library when I didn’t have air conditioning at home.

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If you have an outdoor space at home, and it’s safe to do so, sleep outside. Get a hammock or even a camping cot, a mosquito net, and sleep on the patio or balcony where it’s cooler. Get out of your heat-retaining building.

Shade

Second, let’s talk about sun protection. If you’re like me and don’t like the feeling of sunblock, there are other things you can use to protect your skin – things that are very goth.

• Parasols. Not all parasols are UV protective. Lace isn’t going to do much of anything, and many rain umbrellas let in UV light. However, any kind of parasol is better than none. UV-blocking umbrellas are more available than ever, but even your regular umbrella not designed for that can work, especially if it’s black. Carrying your own shade also keeps you cooler, even in humid heat.
• Hats. There’s nothing I love more than a huge black hat. I have one with a brim so wide it shades my entire head, neck, and shoulders. When you’re picking out a hat, make sure you know exactly how much shade it provides – not all brims protect your whole face. It’s a good idea to find some kind of way to fasten the hat on, given wider brims mean the hat is more likely to get pulled around by the wind. Pins, and ribbons can do this.
• Veils. You can wear a veil with or without a hat. It’s easier to see through black fabric and it means you’re wearing your own shade. Try silk if you can find it.
• Sunglasses. Do get some protection for your eyes. I have a pair of Beetlejuice sunglasses that make sure that, even without makeup, my face looks decidedly goth.
• UV-Protective clothing. They make boleros, shirts, shawls, and arm-warmers that are cooling as well as protective. You do not want to sunburn the back of your hand, I did it once and that was more than enough!

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Staying Cool

When indoors, sun protection isn’t as important as temperature regulation. If you know you’re staying in the shadows, you can switch your focus to keeping cool. Try to bare at least one area of skin that has the densest amount of blood vessels close to the surface: inner side of limbs, feet, groin, and face.

The biggest change to your wardrobe that I would recommend is a diversification of fabrics and footwear. 100% natural fibres – linen, cotton, silk – are going to breathe and wick moisture away from your skin. Put your thick velvets, leathers, and polyesters away, with one exception: lace and fishnet. Remember how I said they aren’t sun protective? They aren’t, but they certainly are cool.

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Your feet are full of blood vessels, and keeping them as bare as possible helps your whole body cool down. Goth sandals are more available than ever, and shoes are one of those things that are easy to make goth with normie brands, since black is a totally normal colour for shoes to be. You can also add charms and embroidery/paint to the straps to make them more goth. Remember to get arch support!

Fishnets are the star of ‘summer goth’. Wear whatever kind you’ve already got. With a bit of care, you can even modify fishnet stockings to free the toes and be wearable with sandals. Whether you shave your legs or not is up to you, both have advantages: Having hair means you can detect biting insects a lot better than people without, and shaving can help cool you by eliminating the warm air hairs trap near the skin. Personally, I clip everything short to have a little of both advantages.

Knee-length cotton leggings look very much like breeches when styled correctly: add some fancy buttons in the right spots, pair them with a good linen or cotton poet shirt with or without the shirt being tucked in. The more lightweight fabric your skirt has, the more air can freely flow under it and cool you off. If you wear a corset for support, consider getting one made of cotton or getting a ‘sport corset’ that is just boning and mesh. Wear it over a cotton/linen shift, so the fabric absorbs the sweat. And last, but certainly not least: a kilt is quite cooling if you make it of linen or cotton instead of wool; try it out.

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Swimwear requires creativity, but the fact that athletic clothes are made of swim fabric means you have choices. I wear hotpants, a spiderweb mesh shirt, UV-blocking fingerless gloves, and a Lydia Deetz-style spiderweb shawl with hat and sandworm sunglasses at the beach.

A hand fan can both goth up an outfit and be a very practical way to keep cool in the heat. Regular nine-inch fans are nice enough, but I love the new larger fans that are twelve inches or more!

For hairstyling, I would only advise against using lots of setting products and/or teasing during summer. Teasing your hair up creates insulation, which will overheat you faster. Instead, try hair-combs; they were popular in the eras when people’s hair was up all the time, and that historical ‘outdated’ look can be what tips you over into looking goth. Scarves, pins, and sticks can also get your hair off your neck without product.

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Put the foundation and fancy eyelashes away for the summer and stick to eyes and lips. In fact, black kohl eyeliner and black lipsticks help with sun protection; Putting black around your eyes helps keep the sun from glaring on the skin around your eyes. Just don’t get cocky; be sure you are putting a sun protective balm or paint on your lips, either as part of the black lipstick or under it. Keeping the skin of your face mostly makeup-free helps it stay cool by keeping the pores unclogged; but if you must wear a full face, wear theatrical greasepaint, it’s designed to stay put for hours no matter the heat.

Stay shaded and hydrated, my fellow bats!

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