Can you imagine what it feels like to go from the James Dean of Shanxi Province to the laughingstock of Dolores Park in the space of a single plane ride? It's like realizing the whole room knows you're stoned, only instead of six or seven people you thought were your friends, it's an entire culture.
As you can see, understanding the basic elements of design is crucial to a good look. Of course, the former does not guarantee the latter as can be seen with the brown-nyloned Japanese and the socks-and-sandalled Germans.