When we talk about fashion or costume we tend to refer to garments or some type of ornamentation that is external to the body. However, throughout history, cultures have also used the body itself and human skin as a decorative medium to relay aesthetic significance as well as social status or rites of passage. The human epidermis is a remarkable organ that provides a barrier between the inner organs and the external environment and helps us regulate temperature. It is also what we present of ourselves as individuals to the world around us and so the way we treat our skin, or manipulate it, or adorn and change it, can convey a lot about who we are or who we want others to see us as.

The most conspicuous and familiar forms of body adornment to Western eyes are probably cosmetics (including lip coloring, eye shading, nail polishes, etc.) and ear piercings and, more recently, tattoos and piercings on other parts of the body. The history of cosmetics certainly has to be a long one since its application is easy and the sources for natural dyes and treatments are abundant. Other forms of bodily adornment include more painful forms of manipulating the skin, such as body piercings or scarification. Both are a form of ornamentation that tampers with the skin and creates wounds for the purpose of distinguishing that part of the body, whether by attaching further adornment (such as earrings) or changing the surface texture of the skin itself to create patterns (such as through scarring).

Tattooing, also a potentially painful practice, has a long history as feature of human ornamentation; remains of a human preserved in ice, dated to about 5000 B.C.E, show various tattoo patterns and attest to a fairly early use of tattoos. Tattooing as a distinct tradition in some cultures, such as those of Oceania, is further example of its relevance as a form of display/adornment. Today, tattoos are a cultural phenomenon in the West and have become fashion indicators more than social indicators but in cultures where the tradition is longer, tattoos have been a signifier of much deeper binds. In the cultures of Polynesia, different islands had their own traditions and styles of tattooing and the variety of tattoo motifs and patterns and their placement on the body also offered different layers of meaning, both for the person adorned with them and for anyone encountering him.

In the Western culture of shifting fashion trends, we continue to use the body as a canvas for aesthetic definition. Tattooing and piercing are still very popular though the levels of meaning attributed to different tattoo symbols run the gamut. And though the long-established tradition of tattooing and piercing retain their popularity, other forms of skin manipulation for the enhancement of beauty also gain in popularity and are now aided by technology– advances in plastic surgery and skin-renewal treatments take their place in the history of using the body’s skin to say something about how we want the world to see us.

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