Goth fashion varies, especially depending on what time frame you're looking at. Early Goth fashion was in fact quite different from what it is considered today. The clothes were like regular jeans, sweaters, and coats, but often a bit baggy or worn. It was less a particular statement (although you can infer one) and more something of a coincidence; these Goths were less concerned with how they looked, and as such would simply wear whatever they had around. It later evolved with the inclusion of the more "darker" images, just as dyed black hair, black nail polish, black eyeliner and lipstick (although dark red was also sometimes used) and the "pale" look (whether it be lack of sun or make-up) Around this time the clothing added a few more things, such as piercings, black PVC leather/latex, studded collars and bracelets, and sometimes necklaces with a cross pendant. There was some lapping over with Metal fashion at the time, since a) there was some lapping over with the music, and b) both were considered non-mainstream sub-cultures. Goth fashion now can be defined in a few ways: the first is the inclusion of things such as laces, fishnets, corsets, gloves, boots or stilettos, and even more silver jewelry with religious or occult symbols. The next type is more Victorian, so long black coats, complex dresses/skirts, veils, tophats, glasses with black lenses, corsets, walking sticks, etc., basically Steampunk, but less tech and more black and white coloring. Special mention should also be made to Lolita
Goth. It's more popular in Japan than it is in the West, but there are some Western Goths that fit into it: the fashion is more along the line of the "cute" Goth. It's not too dissimilar to the Victorian style; in fact, Lolita Goths could almost be described as looking like large, living Victorian dolls. The difference is that Lolita Goths are more likely to add color to the style as opposed to just straight black and white. Further, there is a certain "cuteness" to the style, a certain playfulness in juxtaposition to the sometimes serious, melancholic fashion that Victorian Goths subscribe too. Generally speaking, Goth fashion is derived from two aspects: the first is that it emerged in contrast to the disco style of the 70's, what with the slick visuals and heavy use of color. This was done to the lighter extent seen in early Goth and late 80's/early-to-late 90's Goth, while Victorian Goths use the black and white motifs combined with the extravagant clothing as a type of commentary on Victorian era extravagance, and to that end a commentary on extravagance as a whole. The other reason was that many Goth interests steam from Romanticism, a movement mostly found in music, art, and literature near the mid-to-late 18th century, which acted as a rebut to the Age of Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution, focusing on the raw emotions, horrors, and beauties found in the untamed nature. Notable pieces related to Romanticism includes the works of Edgar Allan Poe and Frankenstein, which if you've seen any visual representations of can give you an idea of where Goth fashion started from.
