The Base: Black Jeans and a Black Top

You can wear these looks in black jeans anywhere from skinny to slim. A straight leg is borderline; the leg-opening number where a jean counts as straight is in our emo style guide. Skinny is less dated than it was a few years ago: in Nylon's August roundup of the spring 2027 menswear shows, the only pants Prada sent out were skinny and cropped. We go by color first. A black slim jean reads emo from across a room even if it's a little looser than a 2006 pair.

The black denim we stock right now is cut wide or bootcut (the wide pair is in Look 7); for the slim-jean looks, bring your own. We don't sell band tees at all, but one you already own can take the graphic tee's place in Looks 1, 4 or 6, or go under the cropped hoodie in Look 7. When one of our pieces comes in several colors, order it in black unless a look names another color.

None of our tees fits like the tight band tee of the 2000s; they're cut relaxed or oversized (the tee row in the fit table shows how to size one closer). A relaxed top over a narrow leg still makes an outfit that tapers toward the feet.

Look 1: A Show or Festival

• Cross Thorn Graphic Distressed Tee, $59.99
• Black slim or skinny jeans
• Retro Punk Studded Belt, $19.99, worn low
• Studded Multi-Layer Punk Bracelet, $9.90
• High Street Skateboard Couple Shoes -1479 in black, $61.99

We built this one for a full day at a show or festival. The tee's gray thorn graphic covers the front, on black cotton washed to look worn. Flat soles are our pick when you're standing from the first set to the last. The black pair has cream panels and laces and comes in EU 35, 36, 42 and 46; if you want the shoes all black, or your size isn't there, black Converse or Vans you already own do the same job.

At a show you can add black eyeliner and a chain on your jeans and stack every bracelet you own without anyone there thinking you've overdone it. Bring a zip hoodie for after dark, and if you tie it around your waist, knot the sleeves over one hip so the buckle stays visible.

Look 2: A Fall School Day

If the temperature at school is all over the place in the fall, you can take a zip hoodie off and put it back on between classes without a trip to your locker. Ours, the Big Zip Slim Zip-Up Hoodie ($78.99), is a women's cut in S to L. In black it's fitted, with an oversized black zipper and a ring pull.

Leave the hoodie unzipped over the Skeleton & Melted Heart Graphic Waffle Knit T-Shirt ($35.99) and its skeleton print, with black slim jeans and the studded genuine-leather Retro Rivet Punk Style Belt ($36.99) below. For shoes, the Retro High Street Men's Low Top Skate Shoes-1471 ($38.99) are white canvas with color-block panels; they only come in men's EU 39 to 42. We'd let them scuff up, but if you'd rather keep them white, follow our guide to cleaning white shoes.

Look 3: Cold Weather

Under a real coat, the layers go on from the inside out, starting with a long sleeve against your skin.

The hoodie's listing gives no fabric weight, and we wouldn't go out in it without the coat. On a freezing day, trade the studded cap for a warmer, plain black beanie.

Indoors, out of the coat, the hoodie shows some color: leopard print on the hood and a pink-and-green logo print down one sleeve.

Look 4: A Heat Wave

The Skeleton Vintage T-Shirt ($30.99) is a cotton tee we sell for spring and summer, though its listing doesn't give a weight. For a different black tee, we'd set the limit at 6 ounces per square yard. Heavyweight tees start around 200 grams per square meter (just under 6 ounces).

When black jeans are too much, black denim shorts keep most of the look. They lean a bit pop-punk; at 95 degrees we don't mind. In jeans, roll them once at the hem to show a little ankle.

Look 1's studded belt and black skate shoes stay on with the shorts or the jeans. With nothing over the tee, more of the look has to come from metal: put the Studded Multi-Layer Punk Bracelet ($9.90) on one wrist and the Heavy-Duty Distressed Snake Chain Bracelet ($27.99), a doubled silver-plated chain, on the other.

Look 5: Skirt Days

A black denim mini that stops mid-thigh is the easy pick here: its belt loops give the Rhinestone Skull Belt - 1668 ($24.99) somewhere to sit. That belt is one-size genuine leather with rhinestone studs and a skull buckle. The Cat Print Long-Sleeved T-Shirt ($59.99) covers the buckle when it hangs loose. Tuck it in or knot it at the front. The print pairs the cat with the words "what you see?"

A mini leaves a lot of leg between the hem and the shoe, and we'd balance it with a heavier sole than canvas, like Look 3's platform high-tops over opaque black tights or, for a show, fishnets. On hot, bare-legged days, try our Slip-On Shoes ($98.99). Despite the name, they're open-back platform slides in faux leather.

Look 6: A Night Out, Leaning Goth

Swapping Look 1's belt for one with a metal cross beside the buckle tips the outfit toward goth. Our goth vs emo guide covers which side a given piece lands on. We leave the bracelet off here; next to the chain, the cross and the eyeliner, it would be one piece too many.

Look 7: Wide Jeans

It takes metal at the waist and a top that stops above it to make a wide leg look emo. Wear Look 3's cropped Studded Streetwear Hoodie over a black tee tucked in at the front. The Retro Punk Studded Belt goes through the jeans just under the hoodie. A hem this wide would swallow a thin shoe; the platform high-tops from that look have enough height for it.

Our pair is the Pirate Skull Heavyweight Black Raw Denim Jeans ($63.99), with a relaxed wide leg that hangs straight and a red graphic panel across one thigh. Any wide pair you have works just as well.

Look 8: From Clothes You Already Own

The cheapest way into any of these looks is to buy just two pieces, the Retro Punk Studded Belt ($19.99) and the Studded Multi-Layer Punk Bracelet ($9.90), for $29.89. Add them to clothes you own and you're in Look 1 minus the graphic tee. If you can only buy one thing, make it the belt: it turns up in four of the eight looks. The Gothic Cross belt from Look 6 costs $4 less, but with plain jeans its cross and engraved roses look more goth than emo.

Before you buy the belt or the bracelet, check your closet for these.

• Your narrowest black jeans
• A plain black tee or a band tee
• A dark hoodie
• Canvas sneakers

Wearing It Without Looking Like a Costume

Priya Elan pointed out in The Guardian in 2020, during one of emo's comebacks, that emo is hard to wear and still feel like a grown-up. Our answer is to stop at three statement pieces in the daytime.

By that count, Look 1 is the one look that goes past three, and only at a show: the eyeliner and the jeans chain take its two daytime pieces to four. Look 6 is full at three with its eyeliner. Looks 3, 4, 7 and 8 have two and room for one more, like a band tee in Look 8. Looks 2 and 5 are the quietest, with just the belt (fishnets make it two in Look 5).

Look 2 can go to the office once you swap its graphic tee for a plain black one. Keep the studded belt and add one bracelet at most, or none at a strict office.

What to Change for Your Frame

Worn open over a tee that skims your body without pulling, a zip hoodie runs a line straight down the front. That line is especially useful if you're broad through the chest or heavier through the middle. If it's the middle, move the belt up from slung low to your jeans' waistband.

On a shorter frame, a contrasting shoe or a hem rolled more than once draws a line across the ankle that makes the leg look shorter. The belt, jeans and shoes should stay close in color; in Look 2, that means trading the white low-tops for an all-black pair. Tall, thin frames get more out of Look 3, where a long sleeve under a tee fills out the arms.

Fit Numbers to Check Before You Order

A belt's full length is longer than that number: the strap runs on past the hole you use. Most of our belts are sold in a single length, among them the Retro Punk at 110 cm (about 43 inches) and the Retro Rivet at 118 cm (about 46.5); the Gothic Cross comes in 100 or 110 cm. The listings don't say which way those lengths were measured. Measure a belt you wear now both ways, end to end and buckle to hole, before you compare.

Common Questions