Naked World?

Painting: African Queen looking back- Joseph James Lakey (credits to him).

Today on the bus back home, my ipod ran out of battery, and so I sat on the bus looking at the rain outside and my mind started wandering off…

What would the world be like if everybody is naked?

I wonder why people came up with the idea of wearing clothes in the first place. Maybe because of the changes in weather. But people used to be fine without clothes, there is no reason why they wouldn’t be now. Evolution would not let any species remain the same when living condition changes. Maybe we wear clothes because of the insecurity that became a part of human nature when we started to have consciousness. Maybe because people know that if they are naked, other people would be able to read something out of their body language. People don’t like being read by other people. Clothes are like camouflages, to hide people’s true personality and feelings, and to bring out what people wish to be, or what people want to be perceived as. Some people like to be unnoticeable and ordinary in uniforms. Some people want to look professional and rich in suits. And some people want to look, well, like Lady Gaga.

I have to say that I love fashion. Wearing clothes is an art. Fashion is an art! But I can’t help wondering what would happen if no one uses those camouflages named clothes.

One thing is for sure, people would appear equal. No sort of uniform could give people the equality that bare skin does. If everybody is naked, there would be no difference between poor and rich people, a cleaner and a professor, a king and a farmer… No one is better than another. Even when there are differences in skin color. So what? They’re all naked. Color no longer matters, but personality is what counts.

If we are all naked, I think the concept of “beauty” would be vastly different. Clothes are used to hide our defects and create false delusions of a perfect body. Without clothes, everybody is beautiful. Not just beauty from appearance, but beauty from body language, from behavior, from every little and major defect, from curiosity, from crudeness and from the confidence that every single person has with him/herself. Is that the reason why artists are so fascinated by naked figures?

Most importantly, without clothes, I would think that there would be less disagreements and fights in the world. Since people are more confident with themselves and not feeling insecurity behind their clothes, they become less insecure with several other things like money, fame or power. Without fancy appearances people would care more about what is inside a person. Without stereotypes made out of what a person wears, people would be more interested to find out about the person through talking. And without prejudices that a person’s appearance might bring, people would be more open when there are differences in opinions. Our lives would then be focused on beautifying our personalities rather than our look. We would strive for inner, eternal values such as honesty or kindness rather than outer, temporary values such as money or power. Hence there would be less disputes and wars. Wouldn’t that be great?

I know my ideas are rather simplistic and naive. Forgive me if I’m not a psychology expert. But let’s think about it. The idea of a naked world. Never coming true, but interesting, right?