What makes someone goth? Do you have to dress the part or can you just say you are because you like the culture and aesthetic?
Goth is a desire for self-expression and non-conformity. You don't follow a crowd or limit yourself to someone's ideas. You are true to yourself and embrace your creativity. You definitely don't agree with what society finds "normal".
For me, it's also finding beauty in darkness, death, and decay. And exploring the dark recesses of the human mind 8D I collect skulls, umbrellas, and daggers, and my room resembles an overgrown mausoleum with roses, thorns, gothic literature, and random ass funkos and figures. I have a Ned Pool and Sideshow Bob Ross picture hanging on my wall so it's not all doom and gloom.
My wardrobe is casual goth (black jeans, black boots/sneakers, and the shirt of the day with a tattoo choker, my Crowley glasses, and my "Til Death" rose and dagger hoodie) with romantic goth leaning toward Dandy sprinkled in. It doesn't follow anything other than my desire to have smart-ass t-shirts and look like a damn decadent vampire when I DO have to dress up. My Pinterest is also full of goth styles that I would kill to have... When cooler weather comes, I'll switch to my mock collars and black or deep red trench coats.
There are several subcategories of fashion so if one doesn't speak to you, another most likely will if you prefer to do things your own way. There's everything from cybergoth to pastel goth. Something will speak to you if you find that you match with the goth lifestyle.
All I can say is if you try to personally conform to what YOU think goth is, you're pretty much going against what goth really is. It's why we hated posers in school who just dressed thinking that all it was about was the clothes and not the deeper meaning behind it. I'm goth because it feels natural to me, not because I want to be goth.
And you can like the goth aesthetic and not be goth but you may find yourself dressing that way before you know it and realizing the freedom you have from it XD