Emo Fashion and Culture
There are two popular forms of dress associated with emo. The first is basically what came out of the 90s "indie emo" scene, and has connections to
indie rock. It includes more vintage and
thrift store clothing, typically for a well-worn look. Some of the clothing leans toward khaki colors. T-shirts are typically of smaller sizes and with random prints, often images from the 1980s.
The other popular style of dress focuses on darker colors. Commonly seen elements include dark colored hair (often dyed either black or an unnatural dark hue), males wearing pants tailored for females,
lip,
eyebrow, and
labret piercings, and dark make-up on males and females (most notably black eyeliner, although red eyeshadow is becoming increasingly popular).
Converse All-Star style shoes are common amongst both styles of dress, as are
Vans shoes.
Though the original emo scenes were not exclusionary, the modern "emo" scene has developed into a "gay friendly" scene. Though it's unclear whether it's related to the diminished "macho" elements of emo music or the "gay friendly" nature of the scene, it has become commonplace for detractors to use "emo" in combination with popular gay slurs, such as "emo fag".
While use of the term "emo" to describe the dress and attitudes of some fans of
emo music, it should be noted that use of "emo" as a musical genre and "emo" as a slang term are largely separate. "Emo" as a musical genre long pre-dated the use of "emo" as a slang term, while most modern bands labelled "emo" are done so unwillingly, and largely because they share some of the fashion trends and attitude associated with "emo" as a slang term.
There is also a common stereotype that associates
self harm, most notably wrist slashing, with "emo", though there is no evidence of any correlation between the two. The link may stem from the association of negative emotions with the emo subculture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emo_%28slang%29