Ask Lemmy

Black goes with everything. But as @Sergio@piefed.social mentioned there's usually a bit more to it. Solid black is still boring. Functional but boring. Traditionally I'd say we're a bit more two tone. Black is often the base. But you'll generally see accents or a pop of color in there. Blood red crimsons, deep royal purples, shades of green and pumpkin orange are very common. Even if its just laces or a few tchotchkes here and there.

An there is a newer sub culture now literally called pastel goth heh. Not to mention those that glow in the dark.

Funny you should ask that, I was just trawling around looking for memes to post on !gothindustrial@lemmy.world and came across this classic image:

It's from like 2007 but still got a lot of truth. See here for a breakdown of the various "stereotypes" of goth types by the same artist, many of which do not involve monochrome: https://www.deviantart.com/trellia/gallery/25271332/goth-stereo-types

If you check out pics from last summer's Wave Gotik Treffen, you'll notice that yeah, black is the baseline but it's not exclusive: https://piefed.social/post/883617

As for your question "why?" idk but wikipedia says:

The anchor that holds all elements of dark culture together can be viewed as the color black with all its associated symbolism. It is seen as an expression of seriousness, darkness and mysticism, but also of hopelessness and emptiness, melancholy, as well as its association with mourning and death.[2][6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_culture

But a lot of tradgoths will say you don't have to dress or act any certain way to be "goth", you just gotta enjoy the music. idk tho, I'm more into industrial!

There's always pastel goths

bro doesn't even know about bubblegum goths, lmao

Let's not discard my Cybergoth phase. I had plenty of colours, as long as they were neon

Joke comments aside, just because we use black a lot doesn't mean we don't use other colors. A fashionable goth can style just about anything.

Just uhh don't look in my closet, behind the skeletons

That's because they peaked in the first couple of centuries AD, color wasn't invented until way later

With a splash of pink/red/purple.

It's similar to the weeping angels, but they lose their color (rather than mobility) when observed.

Colors distract from the suffering.

Stop theres often red involved!