Counter-signaling bleg
I am looking for some salient examples of counter-signaling. The classic case is the rich man who dresses like a bum – he has no one he needs to please. Casual dress signals the very high level of his status and his absence of a boss. Of course this equilibrium is not always mimic-proof (e.g., virtually anyone can dress like a bum). This strategy works for the rich if only they have some other means of causing people to think they are very high-quality.
Top nerd programmers often don’t wear ties. Truly beautiful women might deliberately dress down. Can you think of other plausible examples? Does counter-signaling work best when a person has already built up a mystique? Thanks in advance for any help you can offer…
Addendum: Here is my previous post on counter-signaling.