WHAT SHOULD I WEAR AT THE OFFICE?
As we begin to rethink the idea of workwear, Kim Parker explores the changing sartorial landscape
Looking back, the death knell for the power suit may have actually sounded years ago. In 2016, JP Morgan made headlines when it announced the relaxation of its executive dress code in order to reflect ‘the way [the workplace] is changing’. The Wall Street bank was trying to adapt to its increasingly informal-looking clientele, who were abandoning the buttoned-up look in favour of ‘business casual’. Other banks soon followed – Goldman Sachs loosened the wardrobe guidelines for its technology division the following year, to help attract more top-tier Millennial and Gen Z talent, before expanding it into a company-wide policy in 2019.
‘In almost every industry, short of working in a courtroom where a gown and wig are a uniform, we’ve seen a shift towards being able to wear more expressive and feminine clothing at the office,’ says Polly McMaster, the founder and CEO of the Fold, a retailer that specialises in modern workwear for women in corporate environments. ‘Then Covid-19 came along and it accelerated the trend.’
Working from home allowed us to furlough our suits in favour of leggings by Wardrobe NYC or Ernest Leoty. After all, we had to be flexible, whether it was for laptop sessions at the dining table, hours of home-schooling or a lunchtime run. In the meantime, ‘waist-up dressing’ for digital conference calls officially became a trend. ‘I didn’t want to spend money on a work-from-home wardrobe so
basically wore Pangaia trackpants with white shirts from Raey,’ says
Bazaar’s fashion director Avril Mair. ‘My clothes are fairly minimal but in luxe fabrics, so it’s been easy to pare back.’ Designers including Alberta Ferretti and Paco Rabanne also embraced the ‘party up above’ concept at their spring/summer shows. Prada even upsized and relocated its triangular logo to the necklines of tops, a clever tactic when your outfit is only going to be seen on a screen.
‘Life became wildly out of sync with what it was before, so the simple consistency of putting on something a bit smarter, even if it was just to work in the next room, was still important for us during lockdown,’ says McMaster. The results of a new survey of over 3,000 professional women conducted by the Fold at the end of 2020 showed how a year of flexible working has affected how we all want to dress. ‘We learnt that women no longer need to look head-to-toe formal, but it is still important for them to get into the psychological mood for work and to project a pulled-together image, albeit remotely.’
But with the UK lockdown officially ending this month (variants permitting), what will a gradual return to the office mean for our wardrobes? ‘My week will likely consist of being part-time in the office, a couple of days working from home and then events scattered in between,’ says Bazaar’s digital editor Sarah Karmali. ‘I’ll want anything I invest in now to work for all three occasions – something that can be dressed up or down, but is also comfortable. My tolerance for uncomfortable clothing has disappeared during the past year.’
According to Heather Gramston, the head of womenswear at Browns, the answer lies in versatile separates in easy silhouettes and luxurious finishes. ‘We’ve seen a rise in customers buying into more relaxed tailoring options from labels such as Totême and the Frankie Shop, which does knitted jackets that you can slip over a T-shirt like a cardigan or belt up on top of the matching slouchy trousers to look smarter,’ she says. Oversize cotton shirts, like those by With Nothing Underneath, or silk blouses by the New York-based label Khaite, will also be key; they can be tucked into a pair of dark denim culottes for office-based days or worn unbuttoned over a vest at home. Embellished ballerina pumps by Manolo Blahnik, Gramston adds, ‘are a nice transition to wearing shoes again, because they feel like slippers but have enough visual interest that you don’t need heels’. The Fold has now taken the results of its survey into account with its A/W collection and is offering low (45mm) block-heeled shoes – elegant but still comfortable enough to walk in. Bazaar’s editor-in-chief Lydia Slater, meanwhile, will be adopting flat boots worn under a dress or a skirt as an essential component of her new hybrid working life, ‘as they will allow me to stride to and from the office while still feeling smart’.
Tapping into the post-Covid trend for ‘dopamine dressing’ – embracing cheerful colours and prints in the wake of 12 months of the doldrums – will also create impact without the need for stiffness or structure. ‘It makes something that might seem a bit corporate or dull, a trouser suit for instance, feel special,’ says Lisa Armstrong, the head of fashion at The Telegraph. ‘I’ve just bought a pink Paul Smith trouser suit and it’s uplifting, comfortable and chic enough to wear to a wedding, should any of the ones that got cancelled last year get resurrected, but also great for meetings and dinner.’ Chunky gold jewellery has a similar enlivening effect: look to Tiffany & Co or Goossens Paris, which made accessories for Coco Chanel from the 1950s to the 1970s, for bold chain necklaces and cuffs that elevate the simplest of outfits for meetings, whether on screen or in real life.
With the new hybrid working model set to stay, at least for the next few years (a survey by Deloitte in January this year predicted a five-fold rise in home working by 2025), along with a continuing focus on sustainability and shopping smarter that arose during the pandemic (no shops meant no last-minute impulse buys), navigating the new workwear landscape will be about selecting hardworking pieces that adapt to our continually changing lifestyles. The way to do this successfully, says McMaster, is to plan in advance. ‘The old dress codes may have been modernised, but you should still anticipate the needs of your role. Would you deliver a keynote speech in casual clothes? Unlikely. We have to reflect the importance of a work mindset and a professional approach, but with more flexibility about the requirements of the working day.’
Mair is already thinking ahead to a time when events ramp up again and is investing accordingly now. ‘I’m looking for ways to make an evening-focused wardrobe work for the day – I’ve just bought a silk dress by Loewe, which I’ll wear with flat Gabriela Hearst sandals and a Stella McCartney utility jacket,’ she says. ‘I’m longing to dress up again – I defy anyone to feel at the top of their work game in anything with an elasticated waist.’