Wilde wasn't simply cheerleading for formality or endless schooling—he was identifying a peculiar asymmetry in how we judge ourselves. Being underdressed or undereducated carries real social consequences, yet nobody has ever suffered from *too much* of either; the surplus only compounds your advantages. A person showing up to a casual dinner party in a tuxedo might feel foolish, but they'll be remembered as elegant, while someone in wrinkled clothes regrets it. What makes this barb so sharp is that Wilde understood excess in these two domains never diminishes you—it only reveals the occasion's limits, not yours.