Estela Naiad: “Do what makes you passionate!”

She is a beautiful creative personality with many passions, an inexhaustible source of ideas, inherited the photographic flair of her parents, ranked in the top 30 of NYX Spain 2018… We present you Estela Naiad from Spain!

1. Hello Estela! Тhank you for joining us! As a start of our chat tell us who is Estela Naïad?
Hi! Thank you for taking the time to chat with me. That is in fact a tough question. I would say “artist” in the most extense meaning of the word. My main job is as a photographer, graphic designer and videographer. But as you can see in my social media I’m also a model, a tribal fusion bellydancer, a mystery youtuber, and a musician. I like to craft, draw, write… So maybe, what Estela Naïad is… She is a project addict!

 2. When did you start modeling in general? Tell us about your first steps in modeling and what inspired you to embark upon this endeavour. 
I come from a family of photographers, so photography and modeling came into my world from second one. Since I can remember I was making creative photosessions, from both sides of the camera, but I used to keep them to myself or my closest friends. It wasn’t until 3-4 years ago that I started sharing them with the world, and creating a constant as a modeling artist in gothic and fantasy themes.

3. You are among the top 30 finalists of the NYX Professional Makeup Face Awards of 2018 in Spain. Could you share how you ended up deciding to take part in this contest as well as walk us through all of its stages?
What I liked about the  NYX Professional Makeup Face Awards is that it wasn’t only a makeup contest, it also involved developing a Estela

Estela Naiad in TOP 30 NYX Professional Makeup, Face Awards 2018 Spain

4. Tells us more about the videos that you make on social media. Do you have an actual crew that you work with? What are the subjects that you mostly focus on? Moreover, how much time do you set aside to get prepared?
My team is just my husband and I, so we make all the work ourselves. Normally I introduce the idea and create a short script or storyboard and make some sketches of the aesthetic and the makeup. Then we research locations of the shooting and set a date. Depending on how elaborated is the look, getting ready for the session can take from 2 to 5 hours. The session with photo and video can take from 4 to 6 hours. And then we get to the post production phase in which we spend several days retouching the pictures and editing the video. Normally I edit my photos myself, and we work together in the video edition. Many times we also make an original song for the video if we are inspired too. As you can see it’s a lot of work, so I’d like to make a shoutout from here to all the artist and models, if you enjoy what they do, please show support to them because it is actually a lot more work than it looks 🙂

5. Throughout the years many new gothic sub-categories emerged above the surface. What are your thoughts about them?
I think it’s only natural that a subculture evolves and methamorphs in each generation. I respect every sub-category, even if it’s not appealing to me. What I think is that the essence of the gothic culture should remain. I truly don’t understand dressing as a goth, but not listening to goth music, or have a little gothic background, for example, in literature. Still, I would respect it, as this is just my personal opinion, anyone can do whatever they want with their body and aesthetics if not hurting anyone else. But at least, they should give gothic culture a try first, do a little research, it might surprise them!

6. Speaking of gothic stereotypes, which is the one that you mostly cling to? Which others do you like?
I’m a victorian goth at heart! I’ve always been fascinated by the 19th century art, literature, music and aesthetic. I’ve been probably drawn into it since I first read “The Vampire Chronicles” by Anne Rice when I was 14-15 y/o. and because even before I was a goth I was very interested in art, specially from that century. I think what I most enjoyed about the subculture was living it as an Anne Rice vampire character. But I like experimenting a lot, I really like some other stereotypes of the subculture, and my taste in music is very extensive. I like from the most vampiric music, to trad afterpunk, gothic metal, industrial, medieval music, folk, etc.

7. What do you think is the single most important trait for a role model and how he/she should manifest it?
I think the most important thing nowadays in the social media era we are living in is respect. There’s so much hate and internet bullying/trolling poisoning people it’s heartbreaking. So a role model should encourage the people to not fall into this hatred, respect other individuals. You can show your opinion by arguing elaborately always from respect. And above all, the role model should encourage, specially to young people, to reason and decide for themselves, not because this role model says so, just because you also believe it’s logic and morally correct.

8. What were your first challenges that you had to face when you were a baby bat? How did you deal with them?
I starting dressing as a goth when I was 14-15 y/o. Of course it was progressive, I’ve been interested in other aspects of the subculture before that age, but it was in that moment that I started wearing the clothes and immersed in the whole culture behind it. It was shocking to my family at first, because they related that aesthetic with some negative things due to misinformation. Eventually they understood and accepted it, but it took a couple of years. I also had some bullying, but mostly from unknown people from the street.

In that moment I was at a school where we used to wear uniform, so there was no discrimination there, and also my classmates were very nice to me and cared about me, and after that school I went directly to art school, where there was many people from other subcultures including goth, so there wasn’t any problem either. So the most negative experiences where from strangers, that screamed bad things to me on the street or made fun of my aesthetic. Also from strangers I got sexual harassment. I don’t know about other countries, but here in Spain they had like an “urban legend” that goth chicks were great in bed, so me and my friends got harassed a lot, and it’s very difficult at such young age to deal with it. 

I didn’t have major problems with “elder goths”. There was a little elitism and discrimination, just because you were young and new in the subculture, but I as I’m a little bookworm and dug a lot into all the aspects in the subculture they had nothing to tease me about… Hehe.

Still, I never cared about passing the “goth exam” and never liked elitism. I don’t think you should push baby bats away, I’ve always tried to encourage them and show them new things. Of course they’re new and still learning, you can gently show them new music, literature, art or movies letting them decide from themselves what they like from all that, instead of making fun of all the things you think they should already know.

9. Here is a commonly asked question that we’d like to challenge you with; What’s the difference between elitism and just voicing your opinion in terms of gothic culture? Where is the line between these two and how to differentiate these two angles?
Of course it is respect and tolerance. You can always present your opinion if you do it with respect and good argumenting. But people have to keep in mind that there’s no universal truth, and there are different ways of living the same thing. For example, as I said before, I believe you can’t be a goth if you don’t listen to the music or don’t have a little background in the culture. But that is just my personal opinion and I could never tell you if you are a goth or not, because that is your experience of life and I’ve got no right to tell you how to live it. I could never tell you what you can or can’t wear. You can do whatever makes you happy.

People have to understand and respect other individuals showing them tolerance. If someone is new in the subculture help them so they can perpetuate it and show them what you know so they can decide if they like it or not, instead of discriminating someone that is still learning just to inflate your ego. To me, what was more appealing of the gothic subculture was how illustrated it was, with all the background in literature, art, filmography, music…

I believe goths are very intellectual people, so we should take advantage of this aspect and treat each other with love and tolerance, show a good example for other subcultures and the world in general.

10. What do you value the most in gothic culture? Moreover, what will keep you as an active participant of it for a good part of your life?
I can’t really say just one thing. As I said the culture: music, art, literature… I also love the aesthetic, but to me is just a way of representing all this. It is a different way of appreciating things, a more decimononic and romantic vision.

Abbadon – Fashion Goth Video by Estela Naiad

11. What’s your favourite colour palette and the type of clothing that you love to get dressed with?
It’s not the clothing I wear more often because of the hot weather I live in and everyday comfort, but I’m in love with victorian clothing. Corsets, lace, velvet… this is the most beautiful aesthetic to me. Of course I tend to wear little details on my day-to-day that remind me of victorian clothing, to keep it close to my heart. About the color palette I don’t like mixing many colors, so preferably just plain black, with a little touch of burgundy or purple/violet.

Sinister – Fashion Goth Video by Estela Naiad

12. Say you are on a lonely island, what are the 3 gothic items that you will make sure to have in order to survive?
This one is hard! So I would say The Vampire Chronicles novels by Anne Rice, or just anything by Edgar Allan Poe, The Cure’s discography, and a book of 19th’s Century art.

13. What advice would you give to baby bats?
Do not let anyone’s words let you down. Experience the subculture in your own way. Take time to investigate the gothic subculture and decide what you personally like about it. Do not waste your time trying to impress anyone, just do what makes you passionate. Enjoy things on your own personal way and just be happy.

14. Do you have a motto that you live by? If yes, could you tell us what is it?
“Give all you have” and “treat others the way you want to be treated”. I like to push myself on doing all kinds of different things, regardless of the rewards I might get out of them. And I think we live in a society where no one cares about the other anymore. I like people with values and morality so I try to live by it and always do what is correct, even if I don’t get it back.

15. How would you advise goths to keep the gothic spirit alive across the globe?
Don’t get stuck on the superficial aspect of the culture, and appreciate each other. Share knowledge, create a true community not only based in aesthetics, that should keep goth alive through time. Gothic subculture is undead, undead, undead!

16. Where people can find you on the social networks?
You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube .
I hope to see you all there!

Thank you so much for your time and energy to answer our questions! 🙂

Thanks to you for creating such interesting questions, it was a pleasure.



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WGM Team
WGM Team
WGM promotes Gothic culture and alternative self-expression. Our mission is to share the latest trends from the community and support the artists whose creative spark keeps it alive. See through our eyes the light in the darkness.

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