I think dominance status is involved. A lot of people would feel uncomfortable wearing unusual clothes in public because they’re afraid of drawing attention to themselves, due to some kind of “people who stick out get beaten down” fear that’s related to dominance dynamics. And they’d be especially afraid of showing the kind of slight smugness described in the post, as that could be construed as a provocation (I think smugness is dominance in general).
I think dominance status is involved. A lot of people would feel uncomfortable wearing unusual clothes in public because they’re afraid of drawing attention to themselves, due to some kind of “people who stick out get beaten down” fear that’s related to dominance dynamics. And they’d be especially afraid of showing the kind of slight smugness described in the post, as that could be construed as a provocation (I think smugness is dominance in general).