Hello everyone! This blog post is all about What I Wore to Phantom of the Opera 2025 (and then some, and by some I mean trend analysis)!

Phantom of the Opera is currently on tour throughout the US in fall/winter 2025. Eric got me ticket for my birthday, and we attended the December 4th show. This isn’t a critique of the show, but instead, an homage in the form of clothing, because I love a themed event, and I was excited to dress up for Phantom of the Opera. The show was a 15/10, like blew me away. I’m glad I returned then energy in the form of clothes.

I was so happy… I was cheesin’ so hard, my dimple popped out! <3

Who knew I’d be a girl who attends plays… This was my first time seeing any traveling Broadway production. I love a movie musical, so I was hopeful that I’d like a musical on the stage, and yeah, I’m obsessed now. I just really love the production levels, and those moments where performers fully lean in, bringing the vision to life.

There are very few outfit details photos, but I think I will screen grab the items I bought and put links if there are links available, okay?

Phantom of the Opera outfit links:

Dress: Wednesday’s Girl
Tights: L’eggs 360 contour 60 denier tights (black)
Boots: Princess Polly Wrecked Western Boots Black
Necklace: Zara metal moon necklace
Purse: Thrifted in 2010
Coat: Thrifted, no tags even, just a left side tag stating, “made in italy” ???
Mittens: strangely enough, from the Duluth aquarium? Lol

Gothic Romantic fashion in 2025-2026, and why I naturally aligned with it

Besides just now dressing up to see a play, I must confess, I’m already in my own gothic horror fashion era. After recently reading Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, and watching the new Frankenstein film by Guillermo Del Toro, I was already set for the season, really, like… well fed, no more gothic romance vibes needed. THEN, the trailer for the upcoming film adaptation of Wuthering Heights dropped… and yeah, one may see why I am so perfectly down bad for the looks, gothically and romantically speaking. How could I not be? This led me to want to see Phantom of the Opera when it toured through Minneapolis.

Gothic Romanticism has been solidly trending alongside my current gothic media obsession, and it feels more genuine and long lasting compared to other recent micro trends. Obviously there are many influences on the runways, showing models adorned in lace and ruffles for 2025/2026. According to Vogue in October 2025, soft goth girl makeup is on the rise. It truly feels like a combination of the y2k boho chic revival steering us strongly forward, while carrying with us that natural pushback to the muted or less interesting “clean girl aesthetic” we’ve all been chewing on for half a decade. We want some drama, and we need it like a defibrillator to the tell-tale heart.

breaking down the look

Here’s the thing… I believe in DRESSING for the OCCASION. I live by the gospel of Frances Ha– aka, I know what I’m supposed to do, when I’m supposed to be doing it. “Doing” being dressing, and “it” being the occasion, you get it, you get it. Sure, dressing up may be stuffy and old fashioned, but if you’re spending money on a broadway show ticket, you may as well wear a nice outfit. Like WHERE is the WHIMSY, yknow?

Anyway, dressing for me is specifically not over or underdoing it. I didn’t want to go full ball gown, (though, I saw some beautiful dramatic baddies pulling it off at the show), and I didn’t want to go in hoodie and jeans... I landed on a nice “smart casual” or like… elevated above casual, just by a hair.

“Sometimes it's good to do what you're supposed to do, when you're supposed to do it.”
-Frances Ha

All I knew was I wanted ruffles, AND to carry my thrifted y2k corset purse. I ended up buying a new dress and new statement necklace for the look. The tights and boots were bought earlier this year, but they should still be available online, so I linked them above. For makeup, I wore a cat eye and lipstick, doubling my lipstick as blush. For my hair, I did half up half down with two space buns on the top. I was going for Nadja from What We Do In The Shadows with the buns. I just think she screams gothic horror, and so I copied the blueprint on that front!

We had tickets for a very cold day, so I wore longer moto/western styled boots for more leg coverage. The dress was between a plum an a maroon tone, and the necklace brought in some drama, along with the ruffle sleeves… of which I suffered a wardrobe mishap at dinner… One of the elastics around my wrist holding the sleeve tight snapped open, taking my bishop sleeves to bell sleeves. I just went home and cut the other elastic. The bell sleeves took it from milady, to wizard vibes.

The necklace was a moons, suns. and stars necklace from Zara, but I saw after buying it that you can buy it on any fast fashion site. I just googled “moons and stars necklace” to find the link, and alibaba has it, so do with that what you will. I just wanted it to give “yearning” and I think I pulled that off. All in all, I had so much fun dressing up to see Phantom, and the show was excellent. I’m glad I rose to the occasion with an outfit that matched the drama unfolding before me. Now if you don’t mind, I have to go listen to Masquerade on repeat for the next month or so.

Thanks for reading, friends! I was excited to share these outfit photos, but I was so busy with my birthday and the holidays. Now finally I’m getting some free time leading into the 2026 new year! I’m not always the trendiest girl, mainly due to not needing a trend when all I have are lifelong influences like 90’s romcoms, Twin Peaks, and like… anything Audrey Hepburn wore in her entire life. Like I try new things here and there, but I rarely buy new stuff, because I love thrifting and I try to keep my buying habits low.

If you’re into fashion, gothic literature, or being a patron of the arts, feel free to leave a comment or follow me around the internet.
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Kindest regards,

C