Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Update: Lip Service is dead



Update: I'm concluding Lip Service is dead. The website is down, the instagram has been deleted, twitter and facebook haven't been updated since 11/15. I tried emailing Widow's customer service (the widow site, btw is still live) and the email BOUNCED. They are still selling clothing on the site and the customer service email is DEAD. Wow! Here is the only statement I found on the matter from someone with more authority than myself, an alternative clothing retailer, Never Coast Clothing:





Ok, so since the guy who started the Lip Service alt clothing brand died, the brand has kind of been dying. New looks weren't coming out, and they downsized to a few staples. As of this writing (4/10 night) the website is down. I'm kind of sad it's dead and gone...I was always looking forward to their new fresh take on alt fashion each season. They covered every genre from romantic goth to industrial, and even some genres that I don't think ever existed...like 20s mobster goth.



by the way all these catalog pages (back when LS had a catalog!!! were from 1999-2005)


Up until recently, they had some good designs! I think I realized something was wrong when they stopped making new designs about a year ago. Maybe they were focusing their efforts on Widow. I don't really know.

from their mirror collection...or broken glass?
Lip Service was a guilty pleasure. I didn't really wear the stuff I bought from them too often. These styles aren't really too wearable...they're pretty much just for the club. I think I've worn each maybe once or twice (aside from taking photos). So, by the way, I don't know why I opted for the glitter pants (below) when I could have gotten the miniskirt. I would have worn the miniskirt to work or anywhere, but vinyl pants...really that's only for the club and in a very specific temperature range. 

when i was teen, I thought this was how i'd dress to my corp job. looks so fancy!

the pants


Was the owner's death the main cause of its demise? Nobody knows. I kind of feel that the goth clothing "brands" are dying, as people are more likely to go shop at H&M or F21 or other fast fashion stores. Also the goth look isn't so in-your-face clothingwise anymore. At least where I live. And the places I go online.  


the jacket

corset and dress...love the hologram effect

lol old picture. I'm not blowing this up too much. "ghoul school" corset and hoodie. I should really wear that hoodie more often! crop tops are in!
I've got beetle earrings in this color! why'd they choose beetles? No one knows but it's so awesome and perfect. I wish they'd re-release this.

they had a bunch of fetish stuff

apparently this was never made. they should bring it back for their Widow line.
hell yea cybergoth. they really did cybergoth well. 

wha when did goth stop looking like this
Does anyone know what happened to Lip Service???

21 comments:

  1. It's pretty weird that they just disappeared without giving any notice. I don't know weather it's because they are planning to completely redo the whole brand or they just letting it die silently...?

    I'm also very sad that the goth style is becoming more and more bland. Yes some brands are dying out. But then again I like the whole diy thing coming back. And at least in Finland people just have less money these days, so they just basically HAVE to get the stuff that is cheap and just can't afford lip service or other high priced brands. (Except with second hand, we have a huge second hand community for gothy clothes.)

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    1. Yeah unless you've got some disposable income, you can't really afford to have something you wear a few times a year here either

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  2. They might just be rebranding or switching over entirely to widow. I agree a lot of it was club wear. I have a skirt by them that I think is so cute, but it goes with almost nothing! I also found some of their stuff to be overpriced for the quality. It's sad when a chapter closes, especially on something that's been around for so long. There's another brand that went under awhile ago, their name is on the tip of my tongue.... A British one... And they went completely rockabilly ditching the goth label. It was really sad.

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    1. I was snooping around on the Facebook page and one person said the rights were sold to Iron Fist in 2014. As far as I can see the Widow stuff is still kicking it, but Lip Service items are gone from e-stores.

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    2. Yeah their stuff kind of didn't go with anything except other ls stuff in that collection. Widow is still alive but I feel like they're not releasing as many designs and you can tell their production numbers are low. Like, 80 bucks for basically underwear
      .... They probably manufactured like 3 of them.

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    3. Yes, it is true that Iron Fist bought them.

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    4. I had no idea that iron fist was big enough to do that. Do you know what's going to happen to ls after the takeover. Lol will Google later

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    5. But they bought them early 2014... Since then it was withering away. Wonder how iron fist is doing...

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  3. I really like the Neuromance clothes, and is that a young Wednesday Mourning modelling them? Oh I liked looking at all the old images, thank you for sharing! Sad that the creator died and the store has kind of died off too!

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    1. Lol after your and Maria's comment I had to admit I didn't know this model and looked her up. I can't really tell if that's her... She's got similar hair

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  4. I consider myself coming around goth after Lip Service's height, so they were never on my radar, but goth fashion was a lot more serious in the beginning of 00s than today. And omg Wednesday Mourning's modeling! Yay she's my favorite goth model.
    When I look at these pictures it feels like they were taken such a long time ago.
    Love your vinyl pants btw!! so cool!

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    1. Lol they were taken a long time ago... 10-15 years is a pretty long time. When I was writing this post I was thinking these looks looked kind of dated. Still have a soft spot for them though.

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  5. Awww, this is so sad! I remember collecting Lip Service back in the day. And I'm surprised how relevant they were able to stay alongside modern fashion!

    At least we can still gorge on Widow. :)

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    1. I think widow is next... I emailed customer service and the email is dead... Also their fb is also dead. There was some stuff on dolls kill though, so who knows

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  6. I was wondering the same thing. I went to their website a couple weeks ago and when it was down I thought that might be the end. Tis makes me sad as I still remember the catalogues and the first time I visited their website....I wanted to buy one of their punk-plaid long dresses to wear to my high school grad. They were sold out so I emailed their customer service and they were so sweet to me and were so apologetic that it was sold out *sigh*memories* I have the a whole bunch of that Bio-threat stuff in the orange colourway and I had a bunch of that gangsta pranksta stuff, too. I actually have that beetle dress and have NOT worn it out for some reason.....time to go digging in the closet....

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    1. I remember that prom dress!!! I completely forgot about it. I too have a gangsta pranksta dress I got at hot topic...I don't think I've worn it in a decade. Everyone was wearing it I remember..

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  7. Ugh, this is some bad news, some of my first gothy clothing (back in 1998) were by lippy and some of my lippy stuff is maybe 10 or 15 years old and still fine to wear. I guess 2016 will now be spent on ebay tring to find some nice pieces to keep XD

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  8. Lip Service can still be found on the resale apps, FYI. Poshmark, DePop, sometimes Mercari. I just sold a pair of Gangsta Pranksta purple capris with thin black pinstripes & bondage straps (on capris!), I grabbed them a few years ago on Gothauctions and they never fit right (were advertised as Tripp NYC, which sizes differently).

    Actually, Item "C" in the first pic is those same pants! The purple pinstripe was released later though, around 2008.

    I also had the skirt & "corset" combo shown in the 3rd pic down! Second from the left, top row. I threw it out after a massive leak dumped sewage water in some boxes I'd put out in the garage (never live in a house with a bathroom over the garage IMO) for sorting. Now I regret not digging them out and sterilizing them. And a lot of other stuff, that was most of the remains of my high school clothing. HS was 2000-2004 for me, it was the height of non-bondage wide leg pants and Lip Service.

    I don't think Widow is entirely dead (and I didn't even know they were LS related til I read this), I just checked their site and there's even a few new items, relative to whenever I last looked. Six months or so. But there's either a money problem or a lack of attention issue. Shame.

    Sorry to comment on an old post, but it dragged me down memory lane!

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    1. Lip service is half-assedly back as a glorified Etsy store... No idea what's up with widow...I do hope they make a comeback...a real comeback that is!

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  9. Lip Service is alive and well at lip- service.com and @lipservice1985 on insta. Not in full production mode but keeping the brand alive with new and old styles trickling out.

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