ABSTRACT
Appearance communicates meaning. In an age when our society gives lip service to the cliché that beauty is only skin deep, one might surmise that personal appearance represents a secondary and superficial value, one to which few people devote attention or time. Exactly the reverse is true. Our personal appearance has a pervasive impact on our selfimage and on the image we communicate to others. As such, it is a major factor in shaping our behavior and the behavior of those with whom we interact. Indeed, we seem not only to place a significant value upon personal appearance but also to do so with amazing consistency and across cultural perspectives (Langlois et al., 2000).
