Goths are at their hottest when their skin is pale and clear, and they keep things nice and simple.

I'm not talking about a morality thing, I'm thinking about the purity of an aesthetic. What I mean is that the whole goth look was originally an updated take on a sort of ethereal beauty and menace seen in old movies, particularly horror, and how they did their makeup in order to come out better on camera. A big inspiration being the sharp contrast of pure black on pure white that is evident in old photos and black and white films, which lent them sometimes unintended gravitas.

I mean, some early icons are people like Bela Lugosi or Morticia Adams; very sleek and sophisticated. If you look you notice most early goths had no visible tattoos, and no more piercings than earrings.

But unfortunately it got really vulgar and commercialized and made into an edgy caricature of itself (think Marilyn Manson), and thus way too many these days seem to think it's a requirement to get piercings, or tattoos, or those cheesy coloured contacts that are supposed to make you look like a DEMON from HELL--which I think ruins it. If you want piercings and tattoos just go punk...(;´Д`)