Meaning

(countable) Originally (derogatory), an inauthentic or trendy goth; now, a person who dresses in goth-inspired clothes, is interested in industrial metal and nu metal music, etc..

Definitions by Sense

1. (countable) Originally (derogatory), an inauthentic or trendy goth; now, a person who dresses in goth-inspired clothes, is interested in industrial metal and nu metal music, etc.
2. (uncountable) The culture or fashion style adopted by such a person.

Example Sentences

MallGoths are young in age, spending the majority of their time after school at the mall. […] MallGoths dress differently to seem "in the know," when, in actuality, they have no clue what Goth culture really is. To them, Goth is a fashion statement and nothing more.

“Lester, what the fuck?” he said, grinning and laughing as he clapped Lester on the shoulder, taking a young mall-goth’s five bucks out of a hand whose fingernails were painted with chipped black polish. “What the hell is going on here?”

[A]lternative teen culture was really concentrated, with mallgoths, emos, and (shudder) scene kids sharing equal grounds on Myspace.

“Funnily enough ‘mallgoth’ was meant to be a bit of an insult,” explains Trinity Levy, the Arizona-based high school senior who started the Instagram account @1990smallgoth. “Being called a mallgoth was the equivalent of being called a poser. The purpose of it was to describe the kids who loved Marilyn Manson and bought Tripp pants from Hot Topic back in the day, but still identified or were seen as goth. I'd say that that broad description is still true at its core. Despite its name, it doesn’t have anything at all to do with the goth subculture besides sharing a few aesthetics.”

Next, are the wannabe mall-goths of the 2000s. Self-proclaimed "e-girls" and "e-boys" sporting chain link chokers and belts, big black bell bottoms, outfits plastered with images of roses, and "emo" accessories and makeup that strives for a look that breaks society's conventions, but falls short.

My own teen encounters with the look occurred during the ’90s reign of Hot Topic mall goths, an era Jeremy Scott gleefully—and a good deal less restrainedly—celebrates in his Moschino collection, an exuberant gathering of Halloween kitsch that will likely make traditional goths groan.

"The skull is all-purpose," said Sasha Frere-Jones, a music critic at The New Yorker. "It simultaneously refers to horror movies, to the Misfits and, by extension, all punk rock, and to a generalized culture of blackness and spookiness and the larger, mall-Goth culture."

For the most part, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has grown stronger with every season. […] Case in point: the last five minutes of the finale, which included a six-month time jump; Daisy adopting a mallgoth vigilante persona; and the "birth" of AIDA, a humanoid A.I.

Word Forms

• mallgoths
• mall-goth
• mall goth

Related Words

When Should You Use Mallgoth?

Use mallgoth when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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