I hold my own opinion here at least a little bit suspect. I certainly wouldn't pass it off as truth or even good advice... but my tendency is to think that by the time you're considering dress, you've already lost the battle you're fighting.

Once you've gotten past doing whatever it is that you deserve respect for in the first place, playing these kinds of games for it establishes weakness and enters into a social negotiation of sorts that I haven't seen won from this position very often.

The spoils here tend go to the person who's earned them, and doesn't give a fuck about whether any particular other person thinks that's true.