Pair of shoes, black leather, Sauro Cesaretti, Italy, 1992; part of man's Goth outfit.

Black leather shoes.

Purchased. Registered File number 1994/1465.

Part of a Goth outfit (T.988 to 992-1994 and T.756, 757-1994), Street Style, 1993. Worn by Martin Meister, who said at the time:

'The idea was to dress in velvet and silk - to be a dark glamorous puss; a Lord of the Night,' says Martin Meister, an Austrian living in London, who has provided the V & A with a goth outfit. 'But it's not a glam goth outfit,' he insists, referring to the plain black wool jacket, leggings, dark green shirt and pointy shoes. 'When I was 15 and 16 I became a goth in Austria. I coloured my hair black and bought all the Souxie records.'

What was being a goth about? 'A real goth had a gloomy aura but was influenced by quite sophisticated things like Edgar Allen Poe,' he says. 'Real goths were into poetry, spiritual things . . . unlike the goths today who I think are just poseurs.' Would Meister admit to being a goth now? 'Yes, because of my thinking. I still like gloomy things: my favourite film ever is Nosferatu, but as a child I liked the Adams Family and the Munsters - I thought: 'Oh God, what a lifestyle.'

(Martin Meister, interviewed by Sarah Callard for "The British supermarket of style", published in The Independent, Saturday 25 September 1994)

T.992:1, 2-1994