Gen Z rewrites the rules for appropriate office wear

The work wardrobe is out. Corpcore is in.

Hailey Bieber in a suit in New York.

When Divya Mathur was starting her career in the mid-2000s, her wardrobe was divided into two sections: work-appropriate clothes and “all the really fun stuff that I could wear anywhere else,” she said.

Mathur, now the chief merchandising officer of the fashion retailer Revolve, said those distinctions no longer applied for young working women.

“Literally anyone who’s in that 20- to 25-year-old [range] is like, ‘Why would you buy stuff you don’t really want to own?’”

As Gen Z enters the office, some of them are obliterating old rules about how to dress for work. Crop tops, pyjama pants and miniskirts are all fair game.

Classics like suits and pencil skirts are getting a sexy, youthful rebrand, with trends like “corporate fetish”, “office siren” and “corpcore” proliferating online.

Brands are eagerly marketing less-than-traditional workwear that speaks to both of these shifts.

At J.Crew, sheer tops and miniskirts are marketed as “wear-to-work” offerings.

Revolve included strapless tops, micro shorts and blazer dresses in its workwear shop.

Aritzia, whose “effortless pant” has overtaken many young women’s work wardrobes, has an “office siren” ad campaign featuring a tight-fitting, off-the-shoulder dress.

Olympia Gayot, the creative director of women’s and Crewcuts at J.Crew, said this was part of a broader relaxing of office wardrobes.

“You can wear a suit, but it doesn’t look like your ‘first interview’ suit anymore,” she said. “It’s much more relaxed, which also looks really chic.”

“A lot of Gen Z thinks, ‘Going into the office would be more fun if I dressed well’,” said Rachel Goldstein, a 24-year-old strategy analyst.

Goldstein, who’s made TikToks lightly roasting Revolve’s workwear offerings, said that “office siren” marketing had actually led to confusion for some.

“I’ve seen crop tops in the office, I’ve seen leggings,” she said. Sometimes she feels like there’s a divide between older Gen Zs, who know how to dress for an office, and young Gen Zs, who might not.

Working at a bank, Erin Coleman, a 28-year-old associate director, said she saw some of her younger colleagues wearing “really fun, edgy outfits”.

“There aren’t so many of those buttoned-up rules” as there used to be, she said.

Meanwhile, the classic office suit has become a trend to people who never have to set foot in a cubicle.

Trends like “office siren” put forth a hyper-sexual version of office dressing, sometimes inspired by the ’80s and ’90s.

Emily Sundberg, who writes the business newsletter Feed Me, said these trends had really taken off in early 2024, following Kim Kardashian’s suited-up GQ cover, which she used to announce the launch of Skims Mens.

Miniskirts are marketed as ‘wear-to-work’ offerings at J.Crew.

“A lot of influencers like Serena Kerrigan, Alix Earle, Alex Cooper and Danielle Bernstein were posting these really glamorous headshots of themselves in oversized blazers and workwear, usually alongside a big announcement,” she said.

While this may look like office cosplay to some, it’s a clever way for influencers to signal they want to be taken seriously as businesswomen, Sundberg said. “I’ve talked to a few recently and a big goal for them this year was to sit on a panel. It illustrates a certain version of girlboss, even if it’s in like, the back of a restaurant.”

Mathur, of Revolve, said that the company had embraced “office siren” workwear as a trend, thanks to muses like Hailey Bieber wearing blazers or loafers to dinner. She said that some of the brand’s wear-to-work offerings were more about the “office you wish you worked in”.

“We were never in the business of skirt suits or what Theory or Vince did really well,” Mathur said. She said the company had leaned into workwear more by expanding its offerings in categories like knitwear, jackets and pants.

The brand Revolve included strapless tops, micro shorts and blazer dresses in its workwear shop.

Heather McLean, executive vice president of product at Aritzia, said despite the marketing, the trend wasn’t always meant for the actual office. The brand also introduced cropped blazers and ones with cinched waists that are designed for a night out.

Gayot said J.Crew didn’t subscribe to a particular view of what clothing was safe for work.

“If you want to wear a miniskirt with a blazer to the office, I think that depends on where you work,” she said. “You have to make that judgment call.”

Gayot emphasised the importance of styling; a miniskirt might look more modest when paired with a sweater and tights, for example.

While the retailer Mango’s “Office Looks” section is fairly demure – much of it channels Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s luxury brand the Row – the brand’s women’s head designer, Justicia Ruano, said the company knew younger customers had been influenced by trends that were more casual and edgy.

Gaëlle Drevet has long sold blazers and relaxed suiting through her brand the Frankie Shop, but she admits that the “corpcore” trend is a little puzzling to her.

“If they want to bring sexy back to the office, I think it’s amazing and good for them,” she said. “I just hope that we’re not backtracking to being some kind of object for men to look at around the office.”

The Wall Street Journal