Adornment on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
An adornment is generally an accessory or ornament worn to enhance the beauty or status of the wearer. They are often worn to embellish, enhance, or distinguish the wearer, and to define cultural, social, or religious status within a specific community. When worn to show economic status, the items are often either rare or prohibitively expensive to others. Adornments are usually colourful, and worn to attract attention.
They have a long history, around the world, from feathers or bone, to modern accessories, such as jewellery. Items of adornment are also used by warriors, and by other members of the military to show rank or achievement.
Image:Ilker Basbug.jpg, A heavily adorned general
Image:Shona witch doctor (Zimbabwe).jpg, A
Examples of African adornment
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adornment Fashion Body modification History of clothing
An adornment is generally an accessory or ornament worn to enhance the beauty or status of the wearer. They are often worn to embellish, enhance, or distinguish the wearer, and to define cultural, social, or religious status within a specific community. When worn to show economic status, the items are often either rare or prohibitively expensive to others. Adornments are usually colourful, and worn to attract attention.
They have a long history, around the world, from feathers or bone, to modern accessories, such as jewellery. Items of adornment are also used by warriors, and by other members of the military to show rank or achievement.
Items of adornment
These include cosmetics, jewellery, clothing accessories, facial hair, fingernail modification, piercing, lip plates, tattooing, braiding, and headgear.Cultures, subcultures, and institutions
Groups who practice adornment include theYakuza
, also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...
, military, religious institutions, tribal
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to conflic ...
groups, and the punk culture
The punk subculture includes a diverse and widely known array of ideologies, fashion, and other forms of expression, visual art, dance, literature, and film. Largely characterised by anti-establishment views, the promotion of individual freedom ...
.
Items of adornment can tell us about a person's rank, social status, gender role, area of origin, etc. An example would be the beaded jewelry worn by the Maasai Maasai may refer to:
* Maasai people
*Maasai language
* Maasai mythology
* MAASAI (band)
See also
* Masai (disambiguation)
* Massai
Massai (also known as: Masai, Massey, Massi, Mah–sii, Massa, Wasse, Wassil or by the nickname "Big Foot" Mas ...
tribe, which is very specific to them and some related tribes.
Images
Shona
Shona often refers to:
* Shona people, a Southern African people
* Shona language, a Bantu language spoken by Shona people today
Shona may also refer to:
* ''Shona'' (album), 1994 album by New Zealand singer Shona Laing
* Shona (given name)
* S ...
witch doctor
A witch doctor (also spelled witch-doctor) was originally a type of healer who treated ailments believed to be caused by witchcraft. The term is now more commonly used to refer to healers, particularly in regions which use traditional healing ...
wearing skins and beads
Image:BentoXVI-30-10052007.jpg, Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
Image:Daisy Tanks 20080110 Adult Entertainment Expo 2.jpg, Punk adornment
Image:Bling-bling jewelry.jpg, A modern example of adornment: Bling-bling
Bling-bling, often shortened to just bling, is "flashy jewelry worn especially as an indication of wealth or status; broadly: expensive and ostentatious possessions" such as grills and designer bags. The term arose as slang, but grew into a cu ...
Image:Maasai jewelry.jpg, Maasai beaded jewelry
Image:LA2-NSRW-2-0065_trimmed.jpg, Examples of social attire, a form of adornment, from the European Renaissance through the 19th Century
See also
*Fashion accessory
In fashion, an accessory is an item used to contribute, in a secondary manner, to an individual's outfit. Accessories are often chosen to complete an outfit and complement the wearer's look. They have the capacity to further express an individua ...
* Body modification
Body modification (or body alteration) is the deliberate altering of the human anatomy or human physical appearance. In its broadest definition it includes skin tattooing, socially acceptable decoration (''e.g.'', common ear piercing in many s ...
* Native American jewelry
References
Further reading
* Kniel, N; Wright, T:''Ribbon: The Art of Adornment'', press, * Boucher, François:'' 20,000 Years of Fashion: The History of Costume and Personal Adornment'', H.N. Abrams, 1987. * White, Carolyn L.:''American Artifacts of Personal Adornment, 1680-1820:A Guide to Identification and Interpretation'', Altamira Press, 2005, , * Bouchot, Henri:''The Printed Book, Its History, Illustration, and Adornment, from the Days of Gutenberg to the Present Time'', General Books, 2010, , *Gurel, Lois M., Beeson, Marianne S.:''Dimensions of dress and adornment: a book of readings'', Kendall/Hunt Pub. Co., 1979. *External links
Examples of African adornment
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adornment Fashion Body modification History of clothing