Precolonial Andean dress such as the uncu, the liclla or the acso served to express ethnic identity and the status or condition of the individual. Colonial powers tried, instead, to homogenize those differences through the imposition of a generic indigenous identity. This article considers the uses of dress as a semiotic expression of identity, and its manipulation in changing fields of reference. It intends to highlight the strategies used to express, control, conceal or transform the projection of a specific collective identity in contradictory social contexts.Precolonial Andean dress such as the uncu, the liclla or the acso served to express ethnic identity and the status or condition of the individual. Colonial powers tried, instead, to homogenize those differences through the imposition of a generic indigenous identity. This article considers the uses of dress as a semiotic expression of identity, and its manipulation in changing fields of reference. It intends to highlight the strategies used to express, control, conceal or transform the projection of a specific collective identity in contradictory social contexts.