[Zope-CMF] Why skinning?

[Zope Newbie]

I'm confused by the concept of skinning a CMF site (that is, I'm confused that that's the 
way it's done, not confused by the way it works)- it seems like this breaks the very well 
thought out and elegant acquisition path inheritance that makes Zope what it is. It's 
obvious that it's desirable to have multiple non-hierarchical inheritance, but skinning 
seems clumsy by comparison, especially since it's "just another tool" and not some 
massive exception to the rule.

Am I missing something? Is there an elegance here I don't see, or is it really just a hack?