People's (and peoples') fascination with self-built gear is evident in the many cultures where adorning various body parts continues to be a central element of local cultures. As a species of the animal kingdom, man is the only "animal" lacking feathers or fur to protect its body from the weather's vicissitudes. First, we seek to cover our sexual organs. Yet, the drive to cover our bodies is not stemming from mere modesty. Since our birth (and the original creation), we sense that we're lacking something - something we end up seeking (often relentlessly) to make ourselves beautiful throughout our entire lives.
As "naked apes", we have retained a single natural vestige that we - men and women alike - use to express grace, sensuality, seduction (think of a geisha's hair), as well as courage and virility (consider the military-style haircut). When expressing ourselves through a hair arrangement or haircut is no longer enough, we appeal to feathers as embellishments or, symbolically, as complements to our bodies, elements that we seize on to transform ourselves. The delicate feather becomes a powerful symbol of power, social position or courtship ritual. Nowhere is this more obvious than the peacock's giant fan, nothing short of a marvel of transformation, to signal its moods.
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