What people wear does matter — both in the way they feel about themselves and in the way others view them.
   Just ask Judith Rasband.
   A former BYU faculty member and popular BYU Education Week speaker, she has spent the last 40 years as an image educator, author and consultant. The director of the Conselle Institute of Image Management, she has appeared on "Oprah," "Good Morning America" and the "Today Show" and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor and USA Today.
   Her message is simple: "Appearance communicates."
   Dress, she said, is an emotional, sensitive — even controversial — subject. "Few people recognize how their dress affects them," she said. "It is a controversial topic largely because people don't know what they are dealing with."
   Research, she said, indicates body-baring clothing sends many messages: "Look at me." "I'm sexy." "I am open to advances." "I am insecure." Tight-fitting clothing sends some of those messages and others: "I don't care anymore." "I don't know any better." "I need to look like everyone else." And finally, deconstruction of clothing, clothing that is ripped, ragged, torn, dirty, backwards and unfinished, sends other messages: "Anything but the norm." "In your face." "Anything for shock value." "I'm cool, edgy, defiant, and tough."
   She works to help people recognize the message their clothing sends and choose fashion trends that maintain their "image integrity."
   "There are options for comfort, individuality, creativity and style as well as economy," she said.
   In making a choice, she recommends consumers ask themselves, "Why is it in fashion?" "What is this look saying?" "Why do I want to wear it?" "What is my intent?"
   Sister Rasband stressed that there is more to modesty than being covered up. "Modesty is also about attitude and fit," she said. "Modesty is about common sense."
   Ultimately, people should decide what they want to "adopt, adapt or avoid" before feeling pressured.
   Over the years she has designed a "Personal/Professional Style Scale" which she uses in consulting for businesses and others on dress codes and design elements. Research indicates the way people dress affects the way they think, feel, act and behave. It also impacts the way the people they come in contact with react and respond to them.
   "As dress standards go down," she said, "we get a relaxation of manners, morals and productivity."
   For example, she said, companies with a "business casual" dress code often see a decline in effectiveness and ethics. "Contrary to popular belief, dress-down days in the workplace bring a decrease in mannerly behavior and productivity, along with an increase in harassment litigation within corporate settings," she said.
   A person's image is always at work, Sister Rasband explained. "It can work for us or against us, and often without our awareness," she said. "We are so unaware of the influence of how we present ourselves."
   Everyone practices some kind of image management everyday. They dress for the weather, work, the occasion or to save time or money or both. "It simply needs to become a more conscious effort," she said.
   When people dress immodestly, they may send a message they didn't intend. Immodest fashions are about "defiance, rebellion, sex and sleaze" and are a reflection "of our own insecurity."
   And she warns, "You can be fully covered and still immodest."
   Even modest clothing can send the wrong image when worn to the wrong places without thought or planning, she adds. For example, when choices are available, Latter-day Saints should choose carefully the clothing they wear to Church.
   Denim, for example, is a durable, tough, utilitarian fabric brought to America from deNeims, France, to clothe the men working in the California gold mines. Denim is in total harmony with physical labor and play. In surveys, she said, teens admit the reason they love to wear jeans to school is because they are "all ready to play."
   But when people have a choice, denim sends the wrong message when worn in sacrament meeting, Sister Rasband said. "If the intent is to be reverent, respectful and refined, then we will choose a garment of a more refined fabric, in harmony with the location and the occasion."
   Another example, she said, is a T-shirt. Originally worn as an undergarment, T-shirts are generally comfortable and communicate a relaxed demeanor. "A white T-shirt hanging below a shorter top for the purpose of modesty appears more like underwear exposed," she said. If T-shirts are being worn for modesty, she recommends Church members opt for a colored tee. Then she adds the same warning when wearing T-shirts to Church. "When our intent is to be reverent, respectful, refined, or invite the Spirit of God, then we will choose a more refined shirt, in harmony with the location and the occasion."
   Finally, she said, rubber flip-flops were originally worn as public shower shoes, pool shoes or beach shoes. "The wearer simply appears undressed. Worn with day, evening, Church, or wedding clothes, flip-flops communicate that the wearer didn't have time to dress, didn't make time to dress, didn't care to get dressed and/or didn't care about refinement and respect for the people, place or occasion." In addition, the "shuffle-slop" sound of flip-flops is distracting, she said.
   She encourages people to put a little thought and allocate some of their budget for their wardrobe. In many instances, people could buy an appropriately stocked wardrobe with the cost of what their family spends each month eating out, she said.
   In essence, Sister Rasband said, image and dress are about respect — "respect for self and respect for others, respect for occasions, roles and goals."
E-mail to: sarah@desnews.com