Troy Kuhn likes wearing a suit to work every day. As a real estate investment consultant, Kuhn said, his clients have certain expectations of him.

"They expect you to look professional, to look prepared, to look like you know what you're doing," the Wilmington, Del., resident said.

While we all don't wear formal attire to our jobs, our clothing helps people form an impression of us — regardless of whether it's right or wrong.

Your status in a company also plays a part in determining that opinion, said Peter Glick, a psychology professor at Lawrence University in Wisconsin.

In a study published last year in the Psychology of Women Quarterly, Glick found that a woman could wear the same outfit but was viewed differently depending on her job.

Students watched video recordings of a receptionist and a manager (played by the same person) and, depending on the video, she was dressed conservatively or more provocatively. They recorded their judgments as to the person's competence, intelligence and how they felt about that individual.

A female manager wearing a tight skirt and showing some cleavage was seen as dumber and sparked stronger negative emotions than the receptionist who wore the same clothes.

"You're open to the stereotype that you used your sexuality to get ahead," Glick said. Dressing sexy is "perceived as very inconsistent with a managerial job."

When the manager and the receptionist wore a turtleneck, business jacket and slacks, the perceptions of competence improved, and people felt more positive about each of them, with the manager leading in both categories.

A company's image is determined in large part by its employees and how they look. Businesses work hard to maintain their brand, said Debra Lindquist, vice president of marketing for the Iowa-based Association of Image Consultants International.

"You should ... want to show respect for the fact that you are working," she said. If everyone is wearing jeans and T-shirts, you don't have to wear a three-piece suit. But whatever you wear should look presentable, she said.

You don't want to look like you're behind the times and be perceived as someone who doesn't have fresh ideas, Lindquist said.

"You wouldn't want to think your image kept you from doing something," Lindquist said. "We all can't raise our IQ 30 points, but we all can do something about our image."