The article includes a picture of Prince Charles wearing a mended jacket. If it’s acceptable for royalty to appear in public in mended clothing I imagine it’s ok for us plebeians.
It's like casual friday. The CEO can wear shorts and the junior engineer can probably wear shorts. However, you probably won't see the upwardly mobile managers ever wearing shorts without a direct order.
Social signalling matters and clothes are part of social signalling.
You'd be surprised.
https://www.nowtolove.co.nz/celebrity/royals/prince-charles-...
People define themselves by those they could plausibly be mistaken for, not the full range of possible social roles.
https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/04/22/right-is-the-new-left/
> Everyone wants to look like they are a member of a higher class than they actually are. But everyone also wants to avoid getting mistaken for a member of a poorer class. So for example, the middle-class wants to look upper-class, but also wants to make sure no one accidentally mistakes them for lower-class.
> But there is a limit both to people’s ambition and to their fear. No one has any hopes of getting mistaken for a class two levels higher than their own: a lower-class person may hope to appear middle-class, but their mannerisms, accent, appearance, peer group, and whatever make it permanently impossible for them to appear upper-class. Likewise, a member of the upper-class may worry about being mistaken for middle-class, but there is no way they will ever get mistaken for lower-class, let alone underclass.