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Genteel doesn't cut it... American girls don't reward you much for dressing formally.
It's all contextual. Standing out and looking sharp, even formally, does work, in the right contexts (after all, we have whole threads about the charms of a good suit). I've been to several events where I received a lot of female attention, compliments, and conversations entirely because I was dressed more formally, just a little above what the other men were, and (critical) was comfortable doing so; my ability to do so with confidence might not have covered "sexy/edgy", but it did edge into arresting/bold/jaunty just fine: partially the clothes, partially because I was extremely comfortable in them (Hardy Amies: "A man should look as if he bought his clothes with intelligence; put them on with care; and then forgotten about them").
All just tools, useful as the occasion demands.