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In western society in the 21st century there are very few restrictions to what people can wear. Just about anything goes. You don't even have to look particularly decent. You can wear almost nothing at all and get away with it as long as the minimal essentials are covered. In many cases very little is left to the imagination.

That's not to say that you won't have people casting a critical eye in your direction and making all sorts of judgments of you based on your clothing - or lack thereof. Many of those judgments may not be totally fair. Others are reasonable reactions though.

Many people still have quite high standards of dress. Most people won't have the kind of expectations that our grandparents and even earlier ancestors did. Nobody will be treated as a criminal or even a person of low morality for wearing too little in public. However, people will nonetheless make their personal responses, at least inwardly, to what others are wearing or not wearing.

So it's unavoidable that people who choose to dress in all black - that is in what has become known as the Goth style - will be judged on that choice. A significant percentage of them may be essentially decent, good and kind people for all the rest of us would know. But the image they present to the world is one of a dark, negative outlook on the world. It's not even surprising if people are inclined to associate such a mode of dress with witchcraft or satanic worship. After all, black has always been regarded as a colour of dark and evil spirits.

I well remember once when my husband and I were on holiday interstate and we stopped at a little craft shop along the road. As my husband was sick of looking at craft shops, I went in alone. As soon as I walked in the place gave me the creeps - but when a woman with long black hair and a long black dress appeared from the back of the shop, it really freaked me out. I didn't take the time to see if there was a broomstick and a black cat. I couldn't get out of the place fast enough.

Of course not everybody who wears a long black dress is a witch! But there's no denying that witches have always been associated with wearing all black and having long black hair. Just add a wart or two on the face and a few missing teeth in a creepy grin and most of us wouldn't be hanging around for small talk.

That's not to say that everything that is black is seen as being evil. Far from it! Black can look extremely attractive. Take for example, the classic little black dress, which

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