Clothing vs. Body: What Makes Up the Identity?

Identity is great to think about, especially when you consider how much external factors like clothes, hairstyle and more plays in role in how it's expressed.

The other day I was thinking about identity and clothing, wondering which makes it up more the clothing or your body. When we look at clothing we associate certain identities with them. If I say 'punk' you can probably picture a set of clothing that goes along with it.

Now think about whether the clothing or is it the person wearing the clothing that expresses that identity. I can argue it's the person because that's where the idea for the 'punk' ideology came from and that it's our perception that's being reflected onto the clothing.

That doesn't mean the clothing itself lacks a certain autonomy, it's possible for clothing to exists without us projecting our perceptions onto to it. Think about the ways in which an article of clothing can be assigned different identities that exists from person to person.

In the end I think both are responsible for what makes up the identity. Clothing always us to express and tailor our identity and our body is the base for which the clothing gets be expressed through.