I agree more with Jyoti and Rae, that style is not necessarily correlated with money. I know many stylish people with limited budgets -- but the desire to dress well -- and I know a few wealthy people who dress rather poorly, though they probably spend more on clothes. I also know wealthy people who dress impeccably. What matters more is the desire to care about one's appearance and style. I think Mo alluded to the idea that some people just don't care about style or are purposely anti-fashion. Money won't fix that, but it needs to be respected as much as the stylish ones need to for their efforts. Caring about your appearance is not necessarily shallow or vain. It can actually be vain to deliberately NOT care about your appearance (in a backhanded way). Granted, having money does help more than it detracts.
In northern Canada, many people tend to be more casual than they do in larger urban centres in the south. The exception is when you have large migrant populations in the north, like you have in Dawson City, Yukon, working there for the summer season. When I was there, the girls in DC were very stylish, both the locals and the "transients" (with the southern girls influencing the Yukoners considerably). Styles were more casual and bohemian, but still well put together. I actually got a kick out of thrifting up there, b/c stuff came from all over the country into those shops.
Other questions you asked:
"Should people make the effort for any reason other than their own desire?"
Chouette22 kind of addressed this in her thread:
http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....e-watching
" Does it take an equal amount of effort to put together a sloppy outfit as a nice one?"
It usually takes more effort to look good but necessarily much more so. Some people spend a lot of effort trying to put a look together but still don't look that good. The effort is usually in the planning beforehand and the shopping of good pieces.
"And if you never dress up for anything, is the significance of the event diminished?"
IMO, yes! There are definitely dress down events that are special, but putting in some effort shows respect for your hosts and other guests. Looking the same casual all the time does not distinguish the one event from any other including brushing your teeth (if one does that). I used to be very punk casual at one time, and I realized that it was showing disrespect to the others I was dealing with, even though I intended no disrespect. As a comparison, what food is served at the event? Is the food different or special in any way? Why was there special food in the first place? If the event warrants special or different food, maybe it also needs different attire.
