“Do you base your relationship/friendships on appearance?” This question was on Pitman’s Psychology class survey given to 88 freshmen, 99 sophomores, 115 Juniors, and 117 Seniors that attend this school.

The majority’s answer? 360 out of 419 (a striking 86%) said “no.”

This result seems outrageous, unfortunately. After all, it has been a well-known belief that body image and appearance are major components in societal acceptance. So is it that Pitman–or overall society–is changing their materialistic point of view for how to accept others, or is the survey lying?

I decided the only way to find out was to see for myself.

For an entire week, I dressed in school-appropriate clothing that suggests to a certain clique or stereotypical behavior. Only my teachers and a select amount of peers knew about the project as it took place. On a daily basis, I would write down an objective overview of how people acted towards me on the days in which I dressed up.

The original hypothesis was “the weirder the clique I dress up as, the less I would be accepted.” The final conclusion to the experiment, however, led to a different theory for society.

Setting Up

Before the project began, there were a select few variables that could not be controlled. The greatest factor may be that this experiment can only be done in the view of a senior female. The most accurate way to present the truth would have been to have subjects–both male and female–from each school grade. However, time was of the essence, so we took our risks on finding the truth.

Other major factors include body shape and height. Those cannot be easily controlled issues and play a major role in appearance. It should be noted that the subject–myself–stands at five feet and four inches and weighs approximately 150 pounds; this sets me down in the classification of “overweight” according to the RushUniversityMedicalCenter.

In addition, my timing was quite ironic, as I had to dress in this fashion during Pitman’s Anti-Bullying Week. Anti-Bullying Week was largely campaigned with posters all over school, so it could be a consistent reminder for all students.

After much thought, I came down with five specific dress-up days in this order: costume day, athletic day, business day, music day, and pajama day. Each of these days had their outfits chosen ahead of time with the psychological consultant of my step mother to help me find out the possible impressions each material would give.

The Experiment

Day one was the most colorful day. I had worn a formal costume consisting of a red and white overcoat, white bow tie, white collared shirt, black skirt, and white boots with black trimmings. The costume was made by me with the help of a sewing professional to appear like a particular anime character known as Alice Baskerville from the series Pandora Hearts; despite this, I decided not to tell anyone what the costume was.

The most noticeable reaction to this attire was non-stop gawking from everyone, save a select few. The attire did come in handy however as a conversation starter. People in my classes began talking to me for the first time ever. Those who did decide to comment on my attire had actually been rather kind with compliments and the continuous belief that I dressed up as a Power Ranger.

The second day, I had worn a yellow Adidas sweater, silver basketball shorts, and Nike’s running shoes. Compared to how I was treated prior to this experiment, there was little to no difference. My friends had noticed that I wore clothes differently from what I am used to, but that was all.

It was on this day, I began to notice a subconscious theory emerge; perhaps clothes may not matter as much as it used to, but more formal attire can be seen as praise-worthy as it shows the person took time and effort to appear as they are.

To test this theory further, we went on to the third day. I wore a black pencil skirt to my knees, white collared shirt, and grey blazer. To add onto the “business aroma,” I switched out my usual messenger bag with a black briefcase.

Surprisingly enough, I was treated in a similar manner as I was on day one; there were fewer stares, of course, but the compliments and conversations erupted. I was even mistaken for being a substitute or student teacher at one point when I walked past a group of male students who attempted to hide their phones from my sight.

The experiment continued to the fourth day; I began to wear denim skinny jeans, All-Star sneakers, and a Lady Gaga shirt. I believe the results would have gone better had I worn a more conflicting artist’s shirt, such as Chris Brown or Justin Bieber; however, I had to go with what little I had.

No reactions came up, even by my music-loving friends. I was able to only draw a conclusion that perhaps music and band shirts or accessories did not hold a strong influence in how people act towards you.

The fifth day also had ended in some unsuccessful turn. While I did dress up in grey pajama pants and a simple black t-shirt, I left school during lunch due to falling ill. I was able to see that no students even gave me a second look, meaning wearing pajamas to school–so long as they are not extreme–are considered socially acceptable.

Drawing Conclusions

After my week-long study, I began to add in data and professional opinions of the subject to bring forth a solid conclusion. The most obvious conclusion through it all: appearance does matter.

There was even a study conducted by the University of Missouri-Columbia that led to a conclusion that college-aged students care more about their own materialistic appearances over their health. Calorie-counting–a popular new technique in watching your weight–is more important to the subjects in comparison to eating nutritional fruits and vegetables.

The school systems in some areas even support the basis of placing appearance towards a top priority–even above education. IndianLandElementary School in South Carolina is among these schools.

“According to the three-page flier, prizes would be awarded at the October 20th pageant for ‘Best Eyes,’ ‘Best Hair,’ ‘Best Smile,’ ‘Best dressed,’ and ‘Most Beautiful,’ which would be ‘based upon the contestant’s facial beauty score only.’ Boys and girls could also submit photos to win additional awards, and could collect signatures to vie for the ‘Sweetheart’ title. The flier included instructions on how to walk, turn, and pose for the judges,” Yahoo’s Shine shared with its audience concerning the pageant.

This pageant had led to a large uproar in parents and others who had read the news articles concerning the matter. Despite their arguments, the children would soon grow up into the materialistic world which we live in.

In the article “Appearance Matters: the Importance of Looking Presentable” published on themortonreport.com, the targeted audience of adult women are told how being well-dressed is appealing, positive, and even healthy. Its strongest emphasis is that “beauty is not evil,” which–if you really think about it–is true. Beauty is nothing to be ashamed of, and while it may cause envy, it is simply how you appear to others.

There is even an article for men on realmeanrealstyle.com called “Why Give a Damn About Appearance” that gives several strong reasons telling men why they should care about how they dress. Its arguments go from appealing to the opposite sex to feeling more confident about oneself.

With all this in mind, the experiment did prove that Pitman may be different from how multimedia portrays high school. Some people really don’t base their friendships on appearance; perhaps not all 360 people were telling the truth, but they do have a sense of realizing they shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

However, there is also some evidence proving that dressing up and maintaining a clean image isn’t a bad habit, either. Dressing up nicely has been proven to make individuals more confident in how they appear to themselves, and that’s what should really matter.