From badges for your politics, jerseys for your sporting affiliations or eyeliner for your goth status, there's no shortage of ways that people use style to mark their identity.
This has been particularly important over history for LGBTQIA+ people to subtly signal who they are and what they like.
There's even a word to describe this phenomenon: flagging
So, how did flagging actually work? And is it something young people – especially those in queer communities – still participate in today?
Flagging explained
Flagging isn't just about what you wear, it's about what's expressed by what you wear.
In the new ABC iview series The Way We Wore, fashion historian from Adelaide University Madeleine Seys explains how clothes played a big role in the queer community, dating back to the 1800s.
She says fashion was an important tool for LGBTQIA+ people to find each other and build their communities in Australia, especially when homosexuality was criminalised.
"Flagging begins with queer men in the 19th century," she says.
"[They'd use] particular colours, objects or symbols to indicate their queerness to other men, other people in the community."
Adopters of "the hanky code" would wear a hanky in their back pocket, with different sides and colours communicating different kinks.
For example, a grey hanky hanging out of your back left pocket would indicate you're a bondage top, while a coral hanky in your back right pocket could flag to others that you're not against licking some toes.
Dr Seys says flagging let queer folk safely find like-minded individuals, and "deflect the threat from the outside world".
Is flagging still a thing today?
While the hanky code seems to have gone out of fashion among young gay people (after all, you can just add a line on Grindr), there is one key item that many queer people, especially women, still use: the carabiner.
When exploring the op shops in Sydney's Newtown, multiple people admitted to using the humble carabiner to flag their sexuality to potential love interests.
"I call it a carbonara" Seren says, momentarily unable to remember its real name.
"I need to get a new one, but I want it to be really big and chunky. [It's] the one thing I do that's similar to the handkerchief thing."
For Seren, who dresses "very dad", clothes have been an important tool for expressing themself.
"Clothes have been a very big part of my gender and affirming my gender … and it makes me really happy doing that."
Natasha says she tries to dress "for the female gaze", choosing pieces that make her feel comfortable, and are "more creative than overtly sexual".
"Anything that looks queer, basically."
Practical key hooks, long jorts and flowy pirate tops aside, there's tons of other modern ways someone might flag their queerness.
"I mean I think it's pretty obvious when you look at my [slit] eyebrow and undercut [hair] that I'm queer," Renee says, who also likes to express herself by wearing football jerseys.
Sammy used to have a wolf cut (a combo of the shag haircut and a mullet), which was "very gay – I was very happy about that".
"[And] when I got my septum piercing, I was like: I'm very femme presenting, very 'straight looking'. This is something I want to do to avoid that.
"But now I'm like, if people think that [I'm not queer], they can just think that. I'm still part of the queer community."
The argument against flagging
For many of the young people we talked to, dressing a certain way to flag their queerness isn't something that's particularly important to them.
"I think I did [engage in flagging] maybe a couple years ago when I first came out, like: Oh, I'm queer and I want to use my clothing to express that," Sammy says.
"But now I'm very comfortable in myself and I don't think I personally need to show off that I am any certain way. I'm just okay with who I am."
Sammy loves being fluid with her clothing, going for ultra girly one day, and then an oversized unisex look the next.
"I very much have come into: I'm going to dress how I want to dress and it's not going to be for any certain person."
"If it's to attract a masc chick, like, who knows what that even means? So, it's just for myself."
It could be a sign that times have changed, especially in the LGBTQIA+ friendly area that is Sydney's inner west, where queerness is almost assumed. Who needs to advertise theirr sexuality when they can shout about it openly?
Wessley doesn't tend to wear clothing to overtly flag his queerness either, but uses style to express himself in other ways.
"I'm Torres Strait Islander [and] I have a few pieces by Aretha Brown, who's a really cool queer First Nations artist [who] has a lot of political messages behind her pieces.
"I'll pop out the old skirt every now and then to signify that maybe I am a little bit more queer rather than straight, but I wouldn't say that's my whole thing."
Stream all episodes of The Way We Wore now on ABC iview.