Personal Adornment Reflection

I believe that how people dress and carry themselves reflects how people are in character. Values and beliefs are often expressed through dress and body adornment. I am a very dynamic personality when it comes to the way I dress and carry myself. In certain occasions, such as going out, I like dressing up; wearing heals, jewelry, fashionable clothes. On a day to day basis, I prefer going casual and wearing Birkenstocks, jeans, and a tank. I also have a sporty side to me, where I like to wear sweats, a hat, running shoes, etc. My body adornment is to a minimum; I have my belly button pierced, my nose, and my ears. Everything about my piercing is simple and tasteful; I do not really express myself through my body adornment like so many people do. Overall, I think that the way that I carry myself is relatively simple and natural. So, I guess that the way I dress and carry myself reflects my value of simplicity. I don't like to be too flashy, but also not too bland.
I make the choices that I do because the choice to carry myself the way that I do comes naturally to me. I do not over think it, I just dress the way I feel and add body adornment, such as piercing, if doing so makes me feel good or makes me feel beautiful.
I don't think that these decisions have changed dramatically over the years. Normal changes that occur with age, different environments, and trends have occurred, but nothing to drastic.
The core beliefs and values that my family upheld were to be a person of character and integrity, be true to yourself, love your family and friends, be ambitious, etc. My family allowed for self-expression; however, things such as tattoos and piercing were not something I could do at will, under the age of 18 and as long as I was living under my parents roof. Piercings were something I could talk to my parents about and negotiate with them about. When I asked to get my navel pierced, my father had a hard time with it, but my mom overruled, and actually got hers pierced along with me.
The core beliefs among my peers were to be trendy and fashionable. Middle school and High school is all about following the latest trend and getting the "cool" body adornment at the time. My desire to pierce my belly bottom was definitely influences by the peer group I was associating with at the time.