How do people's appearances affect the way you view / treat them?

[Socci]

This is probably a difficult question to answer objectively but I'm interested.

For example - would you be likely to have sympathy with someone / cut someone slack if they were obviously pregnant?

Do people's age / clothes / weight have a bearing on how you treat them or views you may form about them either consciously or subconsciously?

boden doesnt sound like a label i would want in my wardrobe i think!! for some reason i am thinking sensible clothes? am i right?

not that there is anything wrong with sensible clothes

better than cats pee though!!

sorry perfume that smells like cats pee not sensible clothes

i bought some stuff off Gap today b/c a pal back home gave me a voucher. so i had all the gear shipped to my mom in Texas to bring when they come over for the summer. and man, that stuff was a rip! 25 bucks for a pair of jeans for a kid! I did it b/c of course it was a voucher, but w/tax and shipping, i only got two tops and one pair of jeans for $50!

did a search on boden definatly not me!! i could wear it then i think anyone that knew me would get slightly worried they wouldnt be judging my appearance they would be thinking i had lost the plot!

I don;t actually think there is a clear dividing line between traits that are to do with "appearance" and those that are not. And I think we are very good at picking up vast anounts of information about a person at a subconscious level. Clothing/grooming might tell us something about taste and it might tell us something about a person's priorities, it might even tell us what sort of morning they've had and consequently something about how they are feeling; mannerisms such as eye contact, touching, tell us something about a person and are hugely influential in whether we warm to someone or not. We frequently get it wrong, of course, but when we meet someone in the flesh I just think our minds are processing a vast amount of information, drawing on a vast bank of past experience, and doing it all at such a sophisticated level that we don;t even realise we're doing it. What is it people say - that something like 60 per cent of communication is non-verbal. I think it is denying our basic human social behaviour to say that appearance doesn't affect our perceptions

dd has loads of baby gap stuff mainly bought as presents sister spent nearly £50 on a denim jacket i did spend £30 on a pair of jeans for her but they were for a special occasion, i know i like expensive stuff for me but i can justify £90 jeans as i wear them for longer than 6 months dd clothes are asda and next no desingner labels for her!

i mean, i wear stuff till it falls apart. but 25 bucks for a pair of jeans for a 3 year old? uh uh. that's a rip. that's why i can't do boden. it's a rip, man.

hate to think what someones first appearance of me is like i know some of my now best friends didnt even like me when they first met me but then they got to know me and now they just take the piss!

night night all

thewomanwhothoughtshewasahat - I'm interested in what you said about "...Clothing/grooming might tell us something about taste and it might tell us something about a person's priorities..."
I would have agreed with that statement until I got fat. If I am not judged on my size then why do I get exactly the same reaction from people regardless of what I wear. Daytime (since having GS with us) has been mainly jeans and t-shirts - of different standards and quality depending on whether we're in or out of the house. Work has involved outfits from smart (but casual) to very expensive suits, etc depending on what I would be doing on any particular day and whom I might be meeting. During the court case - very smart was 'obviously the order of the day' (although I have to say the judges did treat me with total respect and even commented very positively on how we (me & Dh) looked. I have been regularly ignored in meetings until I developed a strategy of getting in there early (and loudly) with my comments so that I had to be responded to.
I guess what I'm trying to say, is that thin people are often judgd by their overall appearance (clothes, hair, etc) whilst unfortunately for the majority of us true 'fatties' - many people simply cannot see beyond the size. I make a point of walking up to complete strangers and commenting on how much I like their outfits, etc - you should see the surprise on the faces of the larger ones ... we fatties don't get that.

When I was first a mummy I was 25, a bit (ok, a lot) of a hippy with long, chilli red hair, a propesity for ethnic gear and a pierced nose. I was however, always clean and nicely fragrant :) My son was dressed tidily, cleanly and 'normally'. Our local M and T group was full of Boden and Gap mummies and no bugger would speak to me! I tried to join in conversations and was treated like an alien. One mum eventually admitted to me that the general consensus was I probably had a drugs/drink problem and had a minging squat home - just from my appearance
Slowly, as I grew older(and lonelier!) I toned myself down and became accepted. (I do even have a Boden top or two myself :)
I now get people making assumptions about me cos I'm blonde and skinny, but there y'go.)
But I still have this overwhelming feeling when meeting a new group of mums that any group willing to have me as a member, I don't want to join...!
because though we all make private assumptions about people on appearnce/whatever, I do think it is the height of ignorance and bad manners to treat someone differently just because they are not like you.
So sorry ro rant, this hit a nerve I guess.