Clothing and appearance play important roles in society. They are used to identify the wearer with a particular group or ideology; they may express one’s status in society and they often serve to enhance the wearer’s beauty. When choosing clothing, a person may decide to emphasize the physical self and conceal his or her spiritual essence or to reveal more of the spiritual self by de-emphasizing the physical. The way a person dresses can either send the message, “look at my body, this is me!” or it can declare, “Listen to what I say, I have spiritual presence.”
Our clothing affects not only the way others perceive us, but also the way we perceive ourselves. Do we identify primarily as a body or as a soul with intellect and emotions?
This is not so suggest that one should dress in an unattractive manner. On the contrary, the Torah instructs always to present a pleasant, neat and dignified appearance. [In our interactions with other people, our clothing should serve to focus attention on the face — the one part of the body that reveals inner spiritual essence — and on the personality, not on the body.]
