on signifiers

Lately I've been thinking a lot about signifiers, and who notices them and who doesn't. Signifiers are little visual/verbal/etc cues that signal something larger about who a person is, but are nearly meaningless if you don't already recognize them. Or at least that's the definition I've been thinking with lately.

The easiest ones for me to spot are always skate culture. if someone has a board it doesn't mean anything, but you know they actually got it if one of their shoes is torn up. If someone has a Thrasher tee or Supreme it doesn't signal anything because the brands are already blown out, but some Quasi clothes is the kind of thing only a skater would recognize anyway.

But there are signifiers for all different types of cultures, things that I see every day and probably miss without ever realizing what they say about people. You have to be in the know to know.

And in the same way there is a spectrum of recognition, there is a spectrum of intention on the other end too, that can even vary from day-to-day. Sometimes people pick out what they want to signal through these little cues, but other times it's just there in how they show up -  like it's almost an intrinsic part of them. And these things can blend into each other. I wear a shoelace belt some days because I like it. That's a skate signifier, but its also just because I like it. It's a signifier that's just for me.

Everyone is made up of a bunch of these little things. Sometimes on purpose and sometimes just in who they are. And if you don't look close you'll probably miss it.