A common way of talking about the importance of clothing.

There a few connected ideas to this one:

  1. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. If you have low self-worth, then you might dress in a way that reflects low self-worth, which in turn causes people to treat you that way.
  2. Intention-Manifestation. If you want to be successful, then start dressing in suits, which people will associate with success, allowing you to experience the success you want.
  3. Frequency illusion. If you start wearing brand names, you notice more often when other people are wearing brand names.

The first is people treating you how you treat yourself. The second is fake it till you make it. The third is the new car effect.

But there’s a fourth effect, as well.

If I view myself as a goth, and then I start dressing a goth, people will start to treat me like a goth. Which reinforces my experience of reality as a goth.

Some might say that this is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

But not quite.

If I believe I am a goth but dress like a ballerina, the idea here is that people will treat me like a ballerina.

Or, if I believe I am a classy person but I always wear bathing suits, then people will associate me with the sort of person that shows a lot of skin (which might not be classy).

So perhaps the fourth idea here is simple: Manifest your Intention.