I use to spend alot of my life between after college and 30 not thinking about how I dressed or thinking that the work was more important than the appearance, but then,

I had an experience where I "accidentally" dressed nice and noticed how everyone treated me differently.

That shock at how nice I looked directly correlates to how poorly they thought of my appearance before.

Maybe it's unfortunate (or maybe it's a way to control how you can get ahead) but the truth is how you dress shapes how people perceive you.