I am both sides of the fence here. I for one try to look decent to good all the time. That means neat and half way put together. You can be the fattest person alive and look great, look at Ferre.
But in my family and yours many Americans, and others as I been around the world,
simply do not care,even with tons of money. There was a time here in america when everyone tried to look their best, poor or rich. The poor dressed up on weekends cause they wore their work clothes all week and wanted to visit family and friends or go to movie or get a soda. People used to dress to ride a train or take a flight. I say
we are getting way to lazy. Just as appearance is important so is moral fiber and ethics ( Some other things that seem to go by the wayside as we gain more and more freedom to be who and what we want to be). But we are free to make up our minds as to what to wear, who to sleep with, which reastuarant to eat in. It seems with all the gains in personal and legal rights we tend to let other great qualities about our culture slip away. Like treating others as you would want to be treated, smiling, saying hello or thank you, getting up for an elderly person to sit down on a train or bus, not cursing in front of your elders( whether you know them or not). I believe if some these things we tend to forget were not forgotten, we just may even care a little more about how we present ourselves, cause we would feel good about ourselves and others.
OK maybe this turned into a rant, but I meant what I said.