Real women make their own decisions about what to wear and why, and they are entitled to dress how they please for whatever reason they please.
Fictional women are subject to the whims, desires and biases of everyone involved in their production, and self-serving, gratuitous BS is often the cornerstone of the result. There are very few examples of female characters who are dressed in a revealing manner because it reflects their motivations and personality (this would be the ‘appropriate’ situation you describe); they are most often dressed that way because they are female, and female characters must be served on a platter to the heterosexual male audience’s gaze or else they’re just not worth the effort! (Here’s lookin’ at you, Mass Effect.)
I call it “honesty”. An honest character design is one where the presentation of the character is aligned with the motivations and personality of the character established in the narrative. The appearance of the character serves the character.
So many character designs featuring boob windows are dishonest in that the presentation of the character serves the viewer and NOT the character.
Bless those words.