Accessories are of course only a part of body decoration, and it is only through mental separation that we can separate body modifications and supplements from the body itself and from each other and extract what we call adornment. Most of the data I could collect concentrated mainly on jewelry, and through these I shall cover the first category, though body painting, tattooing, scarification, and the filling or extraction of teeth are equally important. Most involve more permanent and dramatic transformations (some examples of this are included here) than does the wearing of jewellery. Movements and gestures are also relevant. Indeed, these may be so characteristic that they may be reproduced so as to suggest the presence of adornment even when, in fact, it has not been worn. Igbo women in Nigeria, for instance, typically wear heavy brass anklets of plate-like proportions, which cause them to have a rolling gait as they walk. This style of movement is often imitated by those who are not adorned in this way to suggest that they too are accustomed to decorating in such a prestigious manner.

Jewellery is also set apart from other means of transforming physical appearance in that it appears familiar; we think we know what it is and what it does. However, although the physical alteration of the body may be regarded as an act of beautification by those who practise it, it is often characterised by others as barbaric and brutish.