GET YOUR GOTH ON >>>

If viewed from a helicopter, the night crowd in front of the Backstage Bar & Grill during metal shows would look like a giant bruise. The thick knot of folks, clad mostly in black and sporting coifs that are almost unanimously dyed maroon, will swell slowly, beginning to elicit stares of both horror and amusement from drivers trying to park at the Cloverleaf Tavern. Vague smiles playing about the black painted lips and the cavernous silences are all the passersbys will receive.  They won't get it. 

Julia Jones gets it. She dressed the part growing up ... and still proudly wears Gothic-inspired clothing. In fact, she designs and finds Gothic fashion, jewelry, home décor and gifts for her store at the Middle Floor Merchants inside Sanford and Son Antiques. The store, A Little Touch of Magick, mainly focuses on mid-price romantic Gothic wear for women.

Jones didn't just jump into the Goth game. She was already successful.

"I was getting married on Halloween in Vegas and needed something for the theme," explains Jones. "I couldn't find an adult dark princess dress anywhere. I thought to myself, ‘I can't be the only adult who still wants to dress Goth."

She created a website - alittletouchofmagick.com - selling what she currently carries in the store. It grew into a successful business.

If she didn't happen to host a fashion shoot near Sanford and Son, and fall in love with the three-story rambling antique and vintage shop, she'd still be behind the computer - wearing a vested steampunk hat and laced fingerless gloves, of course.

Instead, she opened the store on Black Friday last year, selling bat pencil skirts, red dragon corsets, deconstructor jackets and formal Goth dresses.

The very people who lambaste Goth for being gloomy would likely be floored by its soaring, tragic beauty, its dependence upon small orchestras, its odd grace and almost classical posture. It becomes quickly apparent that the people most given to derision are those who have never heard a note of the music.  

A Little Touch of Magick

Middle Floor Merchants
Noon to 6 p.m., Wednesday-Sunday
743 Broadway, Tacoma
425.502.2156