I know, it seems like a silly question...

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Why Do Humans Wear Clothes?

Clothing has existed since prehistoric times, but WHY?

I know what you're thinking, "Duh, it's for protection from the elements." This is a motivation for wearing clothes, but it's not the only one.

Modesty
Status
Decoration
Protection

are also motivations along with protection. But what's the primary motive? What's the one motivation that crosses cultures throughout the entirety of history?

Keep in mind, the earliest depictions of clothing are from cave painting from the Stone Age, the Early Paleolithic Period some 30,000 years ago!

And we're talking about studying clothing from every culture around the entire globe!

The thing is, is that we've observed cultures that are wearing clothing that don't appear to have any protective function whatsoever. The one thing that has been found is that all cultures use some form of decoration.

So we can conclude that decorating oneself is a basic human practice and is the primary motive for wearing clothes.