Instatrend Alert: Gothic Font

Just look around – or, even better, scroll your Instagram feed – and you'll reckon the rise of the gothic script in high fashion is kind of unstoppable.

A prerogative of the goth imagery since ever and on several occasions "stolen" by streetwear, this year we've seen it basically everywhere, from Justin Bieber's and Kanye West's merch to Gucci SS17 show at presented at MFW a few days ago. Long story short, no matter what your style is, blackletter is the key.

This bold calligraphy reminiscent of the medieval times also goes by the name Old English, and, in a way, his reappearance on the catwalks is just a fragment of a broader scenario, that of the heavy-metal imagery's comeback brought up by Vetements since AW16. This kind of iconography got then in the spotlight with the likes of some of the most influential pop icons of the moment. Among these, Justin Bieber, who used an Old English font for his Purpose Tour merch, Kanye West, whose merch sweatshirts proudly recites "The Life of Pablo" in gothic characters, and Rihanna, who introduced this font in her line Fenty x Puma – topping a sporty-goth collection all off. Not to mention the hip-hop crew A$AP Mob had proposed this font in a merch collection in 2013.

Oscillating between lux contexts and street trends, today the gothic font has spread especially among skaters and it contaminates sportswear a lot. In addition to the usual suspects like Marcelo Burlon and, of course, the endless trendsetter Vetements, among the most interesting brands of this calligraphy a trademark one for sure is Misbhv, Polish brand with a scratchy, very cool and contemporary aesthetic, made up of patent jackets, oversized leather jackets and sweatshirts over which the blackletter slogan "hard core" stands out. Last but not the least, there're brands like Спутник 1985 (Sputnik, 1985), upcoming  Russian-born streetwear brand, Italian institution GCDS, skaters favourite Palm Angels, and the Australian brand DAISY. Founded by the couple Gibson and Reene Fox, for the second season – entitled Human Emotion – the brand shows off a gritty yet somehow delicate 90s-inspired narrative that winks at Lolita and does not miss gothic characters here and there.

Below, we all our favourite insta-inspirations.

#1 Chiara Capitani

#2 Rowena Xi Kang

#3 Tereza Hascakova

#4 Regina Aniki

#5 Emily Elaine Oberg

#6 Sarah Snyder

#7 Adrianne Ho

#8 Patrycja Szklarczyk

#9 Viktor Kortsen

#10 Sita Abellan

Artwork by Alessandro Bigi