Time to accessorize: With options limited, WFH employees opt for camera-ready style

For women working from home who spend more time in video conferencing, Lee Caraher, president and CEO of Double Forte, says earrings have become the new shoes. “You’ll see women focusing on the shoulders up for their camera time and spending money on a variety of big earrings -- just like they used to focus on shoes for their work ‘uniforms,’” she says.

Derek Albert, a marketing consultant in San Antonio, Texas, says he accessorizes with 12 pairs of reading glasses. “And not the cheap kind,” he says. “I’ve got kind of a problem. I’m ordering them online all the time and it’s become my thing, I guess. My co-workers are disappointed if I wear the same pair two days in a row.”

Albert says his favorite are what he calls his “Yoko Ono cheaters,” which he bought from a CVS last year as a joke. “Now, I love them. They’re giant and they’re clunky and they cover up 75 percent of my face but they’re great,” he says. “And I can see a mile in these things. They give me Superman vision.”

Michael Diaz, a paralegal in Chicago, says the way he accessories is by constantly changing up his facial hair. “When I worked from home, I’d grow a beard, trim it, shave everything but a mustache or a goatee, then do it all over again,” he says. “Boredom can spark a lot of creativity.”

Now that Diaz is working in the office two days a week, he tries to be cleanshaven but he admits it’s hard. “You get used to something and it’s hard to go back,” Diaz says. “Now that it’s getting colder, I might just grow a full beard until spring and be done with it.”

If there’s a sure sign of COVID-19 accessorizing, it’s practically written across our faces. “Masks will play a vital role in smart casual attire,” says Constance Hubbell, founder and president of The Hubbell Group. “For many, the mask will become a personalized expression of their taste, a stylish twist for their working-day outfit,” she says.

Lauren Block, a 31-year-old marketing specialist in Tacoma, Washington, says she tries to match her masks to her outfit. “I pay visits to clients so I need to dress to impress,” Block says. “And I don’t want a throwaway surgical mask. I want to look like I’m put together.”

The desire to match her masks to her outfits has created a bit of a space crunch for Block at home. “I don’t even know how many masks I have,” she says. “I stopped counting at 30. But I know I had to give them their own drawer, so I probably have a lot more than that now.”