16: Back in black

 *Soleil*

 When we enter the club, the atmosphere is exactly like I remember from the first time. I notice how the dominating black colour makes the few colours much more dramatic. The contrast of colours in the girls dresses, stripes in the hair, the lining in jackets. The lipstick, mostly on girls but also on some boys, makes a fantastic change when the eyes are tired of black.

 It is like being in a film noir time machine, where the grand dresses of the romance, fetish leather, burlesque lace and punky piercings have all come together in one mixing machine and had been spit out here. There is no judgement here, everyone talks to and accepts everyone else, together in being outcasts from the normal world. Well except for the royals upstairs. There is still an elite in this subculture and the border is harshly drawn at the stairs.

 I notice how people cast longing glances at