The seven new workwear rules
Dressing for work is easier, and more stylish, than ever – once you know how, says Emily Cronin
It was the trainers that made me look twice. In the middle of Mulberry’s spring/summer 2020 presentation in Paris last September, there stood a mannequin dressed in a cream double-breasted suit – and retro, chunky-soled leather trainers. “I love amazing high heels, but women are running everywhere,” designer Johnny Coca said of the look. “This is a sophisticated, comfortable way to do that.”
Fresh, polished and indisputably professional, that outfit would work in any office – from corporate to tech to fashion. That sheer versatility speaks volumes about how significantly workwear has evolved.
For all the thousands of words we write about cocktail dresses, new trouser shapes and haute couture, we’re aware that many readers of these pages spend their days in offices. And what we wear to work has changed. A category that used to be limited to scratchy synthetic suiting and gaping button-down shirts has arguably come farther than any other fashion genre in the past several years.
Now, instead of limited choice, women can opt to dress for work in colourful suits, boardroom-ready midi dresses, power blazers over pussy-bow blouses, skirts with knits, jeans – a menu of choice that can, by its seemingly unlimited nature, be overwhelming. Which is beside the point, really. “All you want is to show up in the right thing, feeling amazing, and then forget about it, so you can focus on your work and do an amazing job,” says Polly Mcmaster, founder of workwear brand The Fold.
Here are seven ways to bring your work wardrobe up to date.
Tonal-blocking is the new pinstripe
One of the most frequent complaints about workwear is the monotony of so much black, white and navy. But in some sectors, dare to dip a toe into colour and pattern, and you risk standing out for the wrong reasons.
“You don’t want to be known for your choice of clothes before your work,” Alexandra Coote, a solicitor with a City firm, wrote in a workwear survey I circulated while researching this story.
This is where to try versions of your workwear standbys in new hues. “Colour is a great way for anyone to express their individuality, especially colour combinations,” says Iain Ewing, head of womenswear and accessory design at John Lewis. “I am expecting head-to-toe tonal colours, particular pastels, to be popular this spring-summer.”
I’m not advocating that you move from a navy suit to fuchsia – not right away, at least – but rather suggesting a shift to muted, slightly “off ” colours that read as neutrals. Deep teal, pine, wine, eucalyptus, rust, blush and duck-egg blue all qualify. The most popular colours at work-friendly fashion brand Me+em are sugar pink and emerald green.
“When we work with a bold colour, we apply it to familiar, clean shapes that women are already comfortable with, which instantly makes the colour aspect easier to approach,” founder Clare Hornby says.
Last year Emma Walmsley, the chief executive of Glaxosmithkline, and Helle Thorning-schmidt, the former prime minister of Denmark, both wore the brand’s pink trouser suit to the same forum in Aspen (and again on stage at international conferences, pictured here). “That really was proof that bright colour for workwear is acceptable, even in the most corporate environments,” says Hornby.
Take the intimidation out of colour with tonal blocking, a fancy name for wearing the same colour in different intensities – for instance, an evergreen jacket over a celadon silk blouse. Or use stereotypically feminine colours to your advantage, pairing a warm pink jumper with merlot trousers and a red heel.
Remix the trouser suit
Designers have a habit of embracing ideas they’ve previously scorned. Case in point: the trouser suit, once deemed irredeemably square, is now fashionable enough for a place on almost every catwalk. “Tailoring has become quite a strong fashion category,” says Susana Clayton, designer at Joseph, which has always been a dependable source for tailoring. “Customers can interpret how they wear tailoring to suit their lifestyle and needs.”
That means that a suit doesn’t always have to be a suit. Break it up, wearing the trousers with a knit or a silky blouse; try a nipped-in blazer over a full printed skirt. And keep an eye out for suiting in unexpected quarters, ie the high street – what you can find there could surprise you.
Take performancewear to work
Recently, a friend who works in private equity showed up for drinks with a cycle helmet under her arm. She’d cycled from the office – having cycled in that morning, worked an 11-hour day and ridden to Soho for our drink, without changing out of the cap-sleeved, A-line dress she’d zipped into in the predawn. It’s Dai, she told me – the only brand she’s found that’s both cycle-friendly and client meeting-ready.
“I love that!” Joanna Dai, the founder of the Dai performanceworkwear brand, says of the cycling solicitor. Dai worked as an investment banker for eight years and loathed the restrictive nature of the suits she felt she had to wear. Her epiphany came on a business flight courtesy of one particularly digging waistband: “I just sat there in my suit, wishing I was in my yoga clothes.” She quit finance, studied fashion design and pattern-cutting at the London College of Fashion, then interned with Emilia Wickstead (who had designed her wedding dress; it’s a good in), all with the goal of launching a range of slick workwear pieces in performance fabrics that felt athleisure-easy to wear.
“The moment I put on the first prototype in the fabric we ended up going with, I said, ‘Oh my God, these feel like yoga pants.’ They feel more comfortable than jeans, they still look tailored, they go in the wash, they
‘You don’t want to be known for your choice of clothes before your work’
don’t wrinkle and they don’t bag out.”
Now, women who try on her
Power Move trousers or Step To It dress in the Spitalfields shop praise the garments’ comfort. “But the best part is that when they look in the mirror, they look tailored, polished and professional.”
Dai has company from a growing number of brands intent on breaking the curse of dry-clean-only workwear (the last thing we need is clothing that creates errands). Aday, System of Motion and Cefinn all feature seasonless designs in washable technical fabrics. So long, ironing board.