Fashion and Beauty

Long-fanged, tight-trousered heroes with a compulsion for neck-nuzzling are the new pinup boys. And black-clad vampires are, well, the new black.

Emo music is more popular than ever - its angsty undertones are the perfect soundtrack to an afternoon spent curled up with one of the "Twilight" books or even the "True Blood" saga, which Alan Ball has turned into a series for HBO.

CBS tried a vamp show last season (cunningly called "Twilight"), while the gay network Here! has a raunchy, fang-y soap called "The Lair." Even Sylar and Peter Petrelli on NBC's "Heroes" have Dracula-like powers to suck the life force from hapless fellow superhumans.

And while the teen set has propelled the vamp vibe into the cultural stratosphere, even grownup New Yorkers are getting in on the chilling action. "I had a moment where I had to come out with my interest in geeky stuff - it's a great escapism, but I've had to own it," says Max Wixom, 30, a publicist from Manhattan.