even though some answers have been widely different, they still do conatian an aspect of the "modern" Goth. the modern goth culture started in 1978. and is attributed to one song that inspired three bands. the look came from one of the three bands. the next generation of bands in the early 80's copied that look. but goth is slightly different for each person, and is continually changing. the Vampire subculture has become associated with Goth as has, frequently, the SCA ( society of Creative anacronism ) at least here they have. different in different cities. you really got to watch out for the raver goths, those ones are nuts. ~wink~ I do choose to wear nothing but black, no highlighting colours, no trim, just black. no make-up though, unless going to formal night, which doesn't happen very often. I also choose to have my hair long ( it's almost waist length now. ) late 1800's was the gothic/romantic era and yup it was Mary shelley's Frankenstein that was part of the era, and has an effect on today's gothic culture. though a lot of "Goths" don't learn anything about the history, and only call themselves goth because of the music, and the fashion styles. lots of "Fetish" wear in goth community here. not unusual for younger generation of subculture to not know the history. kind of like the gay community doesn't learn about the history for itself....like the Nazi concentration camps having jews, political prisoners and gays in them. ~efg~ and the US attitude in some areas is a duplicate of the Nazi attitude towards gays. the state of oregon being an example. (sorry off topic I know, but living beisde gay community here had to point out the similarities)