Most people think of appearance as a way of caring how much control has over your mind, your body and your life. Even though that many believed in the quote that says “it matters how you perform, not how you look”, in real life, that is not necessary true. Others do perceive you, and even how they think about you. Technically, I think that sometimes people really should not dress how they feel, but how they want to feel. Clothing is sometime that in creating the positive impressions, it can increase your perceived status among other people. The way you choose to dress sending messages to those other folks around you, but also to yourself. Caring how you dress will make you a more responsible, involved, approachable and confident. You really don’t want to dress up silly to embarrass yourself, nor troublesome others.
Unruly Bodies 
I completely agree with you.
Some wise words from the show Girl Meets World, “I’m here to argue today that beauty actually is skin deep. So I’ve done some research and I’ve learned that it IS. When you get compliments from people who don’t ordinarily compliment you. When people look at you differently, packaging DOES matter. I wasn’t pretty, then I was. This is a world where “pretty” seems better somehow. Which is too bad, but it’s not debatable. However, I also learned that if you get swept up by what you are on the outside, you can lose who you are on the inside. Even though it is easy to be fooled by the beauty of the trojan horse, it’s real power comes from the army within- intelligence, compassion, integrity, courage. THAT army, is the real you, no matter what you look like. So, even though beauty may be skin deep. Beauty is nowhere near as important, as the army inside.”
It’s unfortunate that in order to be treated with respect and kindness, we must present ourselves in a way that is appealing to others. I have found that throughout elementary school and middle school, I was bullied because of my “nerdy Asian” appearance. It wasn’t until high school when I started to lose my baby fat, switched to wearing contact lenses, and wore clothes that flattered my figure, that my peers started to treat me with kindness. Because of our society’s obsession with beauty and appearance, we must dress in the way we want to be perceived and treated.
I agree with this to a certain degree. Sure if you’re in an environment like an office where you’re expected to look a certain way then of course obide by that but otherwise I think you should dress how you want and not for others or society. But telling people they should dress a certain way ot kind of reinforces the no tattoo/ piercings point of view a lot of society has, also for women it could reinforce that if you where certain things people can treat you a certain way or say things about you. I.e. a short skirt or lowcut top. Granted there is a time and a place for everything but I feel as if I should be able to wear highwasted shorts and a crop top because I’m learning to feel comfortable in my own skin and that makes me feel confident even if my body type is considered the best for such things and be able to be taken seriously as someone wearing something society deems more appropriate. Society does judge based on looks and clothes and appearance but I dont think except for certain instances that I should bend to conform to that.
Sometimes “caring about how we dress” in the sense of focusing on the observations of others instead of how we feel makes us more anxious and uncomfortable rather than confident.
I do take your point about “dressing how we want to feel.” If I stayed in my pajamas every day I wanted to just go back to bed instead of being productive, I’d never make it out of the house. The community of freelance writers I’m part of on Twitter uses the hashtag #pants to signify putting real clothes on even when you’re working from home and could do it in your bathrobe, because it makes you feel more like you’re doing something “real,” based on the thorough conditioning most of us have acquired by adulthood that clothes = work, pajamas = sleep, naked = playtime, etc. (I believe this was started by Mur Lafferty but the relevant post has since fallen off the internet so I can’t link it.) #Pants doesn’t have to mean you are literally wearing pants; it can be a suit, a skirt, a ball gown, whatever kind of outfit makes you feel like you are alert and starting your workday, so it creates a psychological division between relaxation time and getting stuff done time.
I have noticed recently that I tend to wear my more colorful, fitted, femme clothing on days when I am feeling either amazing, or awful. If I feel great, I’m inspired to wear bright colors and floofy fabrics; if I feel like crap, putting on a pretty dress is a costume that can at least disguise and maybe even raise my mood. The rest of the time I live in cargo shorts and mostly black nerdy T-shirts.
I completely agree with you.
As they say first expression is the last impression that makes sense as more you look around yourself and see how people treat you. The whole concept of having a personality requires having a perfect body, good appearance and wearing stylish clothes. But it is also not fair to me to judge people on their appearance. I don’t really see how amazing, sensitive, caring and smart a human being. But in today’s world the human body is just limited to perfect body image and appearance.