The Unlikely Icons Who Shaped Baby Goth Girls (Millennial Edition)
From Sitcom Sidekicks to Animated Outcasts, These are the Characters and Celebs Who Gave Us Permission to Be Strange
By: The Lace Ledger Staff
Every goth girl has a story of initiation. It wasn’t always the black eyeliner, the lace corset, or the Nine Inch Nails CD that did it — sometimes the first spark was subtler.
The way we gravitated toward the sarcastic friend instead of the bubbly lead. The way we secretly wanted to be the villainess, not the princess. The way our hearts beat faster at a girl with strange hair, a biting wit, or a dangerous streak.
These were the warning signs of a budding goth: you didn’t want to be Lizzie McGuire, you wanted to be Xena the Warrior Princess, flinging around your Mum’s cross-stitching hoops and calling out her iconic battle cry. You started wearing short shorts and styling your hair like Lara Croft, eager to solve ancient mysteries at a fever-pitch pace. And when everyone else was laughing at Dee Dee wrecking Dexter’s lab, you thought: she’s chaos incarnate, and I love her for it.
Pop culture of the 1990s and early 2000s was full of unconventional female figures — women and girls who weren’t marketed as goth, but who cracked something open for baby goth millennials. They gave us permission to be weird, dark and clever. In hindsight, they were archetypal teachers, each aligning with one of The Lace Ledger’s darkly glamorous gothic archetypes.
The Icons & Their Archetypes
Disney
Esmeralda (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) – The Oracle
Why she’s included: Outcast dancer, fiercely independent, spiritually attuned.
Why The Oracle: She lived at the crossroads of vision, freedom and persecution.
Megara (Hercules) – The Vamp
Why she’s included: Jaded, sharp-tongued, but secretly tender — Meg was the anti-princess.
Why The Vamp: Her allure and bite are textbook Vamp archetype traits.
Ursula as Vanessa (The Little Mermaid) – The Siren
Why she’s included: Ursula’s glam human disguise, dripping with menace and seduction.
Why The Siren: Vanessa was pure predatory allure from the depths, a villainess in chiffon.
Pocahontas (Disney, 1995) – The Oracle
Why she’s included: Mysterious, spiritually attuned, drawn to visions. She gave millennial goth girls permission to be mystical, reverent of nature and guided by intuition.
Why The Oracle: Oracles are seers and truth-speakers; Pocahontas embodied that through communion with the natural world and her willingness to defy her expected path.
Mulan (Disney, 1998) – The Oracle
Why she’s included: She disguises herself to protect her family, but her strength comes from inner knowing — the quiet vision that she could rewrite her destiny. She gave baby goth girls permission to be brave and nonconforming.
Why The Oracle: The Oracle archetype is about foresight, self-knowledge and spiritual guidance. Mulan embodies this through courage rooted in wisdom and duty.
Film
Lara Croft (Tomb Raider) – The Corp Goth
Why she’s included: Archaeologist by day, pistol-slinging adventurer by night — Lara embodied intellect and danger.
Why The Corp Goth: Pragmatic, ambitious and sharply styled, Lara fits the corporate-goth model of power dressing with purpose.
Jessica Rabbit (Who Framed Roger Rabbit) – The Heiress
Why she’s included: Sultry, misunderstood, “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way.” She made danger glamorous.
Why The Heiress: Her velvet-draped aura and femme fatale mystique align with the Heiress archetype’s decadent allure.
Aaliyah (Queen of the Damned era) – The Vamp
Why she’s included: As Akasha, she embodied vampiric sensuality and cultural crossover.
Why The Vamp: Aaliyah’s performance defined a generation’s darkly glamorous ideal.
Rose DeWitt Bukater (Titanic) – The Romantic Goth
Why she’s included: Trapped in gilded cages, yearning for freedom, standing on the edge of ships at sunset.
Why archetype: The Romantic Goth aches for love that feels like fate, even if doomed.
TV Series
Xena (Xena: Warrior Princess) – The Brat, The Vamp
Why she’s included: Leather, blades, bisexual energy — Xena was alt culture’s goddess.
Why The Brat: Xena bends the rules, fights with swagger and teases her enemies before striking.
Why The Vamp: She’s also magnetic and commanding. That leather corset, the smirk in her eyes and her absolute confidence in her body as a weapon and lure.
Kerry Hennessy (8 Simple Rules) – The Oracle
Why she’s included: The sarcastic, artsy younger sister who lived in her popular sibling’s shadow — Kerry taught us it was okay to brood and to turn that broodiness into wit.
Why The Oracle: Oracles are visionaries, often misunderstood; Kerry’s sharp humor masked deeper intelligence and foresight.
Sabrina Spellman (Sabrina the Teenage Witch) – The Whimsy Goth
Why she’s included: Straddling the suburbs and the supernatural, Sabrina normalized magic in the everyday.
Why The Whimsy Goth: She embodied lighthearted witchery, teaching that spells and sparkles can still be powerful.
Dot Warner (Animaniacs) – The Whimsy Goth
Why she’s included: The self-proclaimed “cute one” of the Warner trio, Dot’s wit was sharper than her bow. She embodied the paradox of being girlish and savage at once — a reminder that femininity itself can be weaponized. Baby goth girls loved her confidence in owning the joke while still being adorable.
Why The Whimsy Goth: Whimsy Goths live at the crossroads of sweetness and subversion. Dot’s playful energy and sly commentary captured the archetype’s delight in turning charm into rebellion.
Max Guevara (Dark Angel) – The Corp Goth
Why she’s included: Motorcycle leathers, genetic modification, and endless attitude — she was cyberpunk noir on network TV.
Why The Assassin: She embodied lethal beauty, survival instinct and a refusal to conform.
Judy Funnie (Doug) – The Romantic Goth
Why she’s included: The beret, the poetry, the avant-garde performances — Judy was every art goth’s proto-muse.
Why The Romantic Goth: She dramatized everything, swooning through life as if in perpetual performance art.
Dee Dee (Dexter’s Laboratory) – The Brat
Why she’s included: Glitter, chaos, and the thrill of breaking the rules — Dee Dee was destructive and delightful.
Why The Whimsy Goth: She represented playful chaos, tearing through systems with a smile.
Katie Ka-Boom (Animaniacs) – The Brat
Why she’s included: A teenage girl who literally exploded with rage — dramatizing the gothic truth of emotions too big to contain.
Why The Brat: Her tantrums embodied brat energy — unruly, emotional, demanding to be seen.
Pepper Ann Pearson (Pepper Ann) – The Whimsy Goth
Why she’s included: Quirky, awkward, too tall, too much — Pepper Ann turned being an oddball into a power.
Why The Whimsy Goth: She aligned with whimsy goth’s celebration of eccentric individuality.
Ashley Spinelli (Recess) – The Brat
Why she’s included: Playground rebel, tough girl in leather, allergic to conformity.
Why The Brat: She showed us rebellion starts early, even in grade school.
Phoebe Buffay (Friends) – The Oracle
Why she’s included: Mystic songs, reincarnation jokes, deadpan surrealism.
Why The Oracle: She blurred the line between eccentric and prophetic — Oracles are often dismissed before they’re understood.
Karen Walker (Will & Grace) – The Heiress
Why she’s included: Dripping in jewels, drunk by noon, wielding cruelty as comedy.
Why The Heiress: A parody of decadence — Heiresses own their excesses with lethal charm.
Lane Kim (Gilmore Girls) – The Corp Goth
Why she’s included: Hiding a punk-rock double life beneath her mother’s strict household.
Why The Corp Goth: By day dutiful, by night rebellious — Corp Goth thrives on the duality of masks.
Angela Moore (Boy Meets World) – The Vamp
Why she’s included: Stylish, magnetic, with a core of vulnerability.
Why The Vamp: Vamps are irresistible — Angela carried allure that transcended the sitcom laugh track.
Topanga Lawrence (Boy Meets World) – The Romantic Goth
Why she’s included: From painting her face to arguing law in court, Topanga was always extra.
Why The Romantic Goth: Her blend of idealism, drama and intellect aligned with the Romantic’s intensity.
Sailor Mars (Sailor Moon) – The Brat
Why she’s included: Fiery, psychic, perpetually bickering — Mars had bite beneath her elegance.
Why The Brat: Brats thrive on conflict; Mars embodied beautiful defiance.
Music
Christina Aguilera (Stripped era) – The Vamp
Why she’s included: Dark eyeliner, leather chaps, unapologetic sexuality — Christina’s reinvention was a liberation anthem.
Why The Vamp: Vamps thrive on transformation and provocation; Christina’s “Dirrty” era was pure vamp energy.
Posh Spice (Victoria Beckham, Spice Girls) – The Heiress
Why she’s included: All black “little Gucci dress”, a bob sharper than a blade and permanent disdain. She made minimalism feel dangerous and expensive.
Why archetype: Heiresses thrive on chic armour — Posh was the sleekest.
The icons who shaped baby goth girls were never the obvious heroines. They were the misfits on the edge of the frame, the voices that dripped with sarcasm, the fighters who refused to soften their edges. They gave permission to step outside the script and turn inherent strangeness into celebrated identity. For millennials, these characters didn’t just entertain–they lit the first candle on the altar of self-discovery.
Which unlikely icon whispered to your younger self that it was okay to be dark, weird and defiant? Share your baby goth inspirations below or via social #TheLaceLedger, and let’s honour the figures who carved space for our shadow selves.
