I think it depends on the context when people say “dress goth,” because you’re right, it isn’t realistic to expect that someone is going to be wearing calf high doc martens with all of their jewelry and hair done up just to go to the store to buy snacks. Especially now with all of the Covid closure, a typical goth outfit for me is black sweats and a band shirt, maybe I’ll wear an earring and necklace too. Of course goth isn’t defined by physical aesthetic, otherwise that would seem to imply that mallgoth and e-girl are goth too. I read a quote about goth culture that really applies to this: “Without music, you’re a poser. Without fashion, you’re a tourist.” The most important aspect of being off is appreciating the music, naturally; but I think fashion plays a big role into defining our culture as well. There is a right way to dress goth and a wrong way to dress goth, but it’s ambiguous enough that there isn’t a goth “uniform”. I think that is a large part of why mallgoths are viewed as posers, because it’s aesthetic fascination for them with no reverence to the music or actual cultural origins of goth.

Plus almost all goths gatekeep in their own unique way. I mean this in the sense that everyone has their own qualms with each of the derivative offshoots that claim to be part of goth culture. I don’t really see cybergoth as an offshoot of goth as much as I see it as a derivative of rave/techno/edm culture with some overlap in goth aesthetic. I readily accept nugoth and goth revival as the torchbearer of the same sentiment held when trad goth was established from Post-punk - there are a lot of people that will disagree with me on this. I think that black metal shares more in common aesthetically and in regards to the content of our music with than cybergoth, but that’s just my opinion - TONS of people are going to disagree with me on this as well, but it’s just the way I see it.

Anyways, my $.02.