Where do we stand on shorts at the office?
A surge in bare legs in the workplace is raising eyebrows and more than a few questions. Shorts on the job have been acceptable workwear for delivery drivers for years, but should they be an office-environment no-no? | HAVE YOUR SAY
The subtle surge in bare legs at the office is raising eyebrows and more than a few questions.
Shorts on the job have been acceptable workwear for certain employees, such as delivery drivers, for years, but they have long been an office-environment no-no.
Now, the increasing frequency, intensity and duration of heatwaves have more professionals donning shorts on weekdays. Proponents argue that what people wear shouldn’t matter as long as they are productive.
Dress-wear traditionalists are appalled, and even some fans of shorts at the office say it still feels wrong.
“If it’s blazing hot and I don’t have to be at an event or in meetings, I’ll wear shorts,” said Chris Barca, communications director for the Queens borough president in New York City. Barca, 33, started wearing knee-length neat shorts to the office last summer and had donned them four or five times so far this season.
“If it’s 98 degrees [fahrenheit] outside (36C), it should be OK to prioritise someone’s comfort,” Barca said.
As a department director, Barca has more legroom. His colleagues haven’t followed suit, nor have they said much about his choice, save his work best friend, who exclaimed, “Look at you in shorts!”
‘Pull it together’
In-office reactions are largely muted. The debate over shorts at work, however, is loud online. On social media, workers are decrying office shorts as another sign of society’s decline.
The high-fashion industry and mainstream retailers, including Banana Republic and Loft, see an opportunity and are pushing shorts for the office. Earlier this month, Vogue.com posted an article on Bermuda shorts, calling them “more comfortable and cooler than a pair of trousers in the heat, but still appropriate enough for most offices”.
GQ in June shouted out dressy shorts as one of seven “red-hot summer trends”.
Tim Gunn, the fastidious fashion author and academic, best known for co-hosting Project Runway and Making the Cut, isn’t buying it.
“Unless you’re a lifeguard, or you’re working around a swimming pool or beach, I just feel it’s not correct,” Gunn said.
He doesn’t care if the shorts are billed as “tailored” or “dressy,” scoffing, “They’re still shorts”.
The comfort argument doesn’t move Gunn either.
“I’m assuming your offices are airconditioned? Yes? So the whole heat aspect for me goes away,” he said, adding that clothes were also about respect.
“What if the boss shows up?” he said.
“When you’re out navigating the world, pull it together.”
Dress-code wiggle room
Business casual was taking hold more days of the week than Friday before the pandemic, and after millions of people worked from home wearing elastic-waist pants, tees and sweatshirts, some companies ditched dress codes entirely, giving employees discretion to consider what’s appropriate.
Tom Jessop, a 46-year-old senior mortgage loan consultant at New American Funding, started wearing shorts to his office in San Clemente, California, on some summer days, post-Covid.
He said it all depended on his schedule. Client meeting? He’ll wear pants. And he keeps his look neat and respectable among other colleagues who usually wore more traditional office wear.
“At least on top I wear a polo or a nice T-shirt, not like something grubby,” he said.
The number of hiring managers who said that having dress-code guidelines was important dropped to 31 per cent down from 49 per cent five years prior in a Harris Poll survey commissioned by Express Employment Professionals, a staffing firm.
In a separate survey of more than 1000 US adults, about a third of workers said adhering to a dress code was important, down from nearly two-thirds five years ago.
Workers with dress-code wiggle room are betting long on shorts.
“I was definitely nervous about it, obviously it’s unconventional,” said Gabriella Garcia, 27, who started wearing shorts to her marketing job in Somerville, New Jersey, on particularly hot days this year. “It almost looks like a skirt.”
The office she works in has a business-casual dress code that bans shorts, but Garcia said the way she paired sleek, brown mid-thigh-length shorts, with a tucked-in linen button-down shirt and dressy sandals, did not violate it.
“They are more like a dress-pant material, which is why they’re so good,” Garcia said.
Human resources hasn’t called her in for questioning.
Dressy shorts, no cargoes
Shorts are tricky, according to HR specialists, because now there are dressy shorts for women with blazers that look like a suit.
“So is that acceptable over a man coming in a pair of shorts?” asked Robyn Hopper, a knowledge adviser at SHRM, a trade group for HR professionals. “It’s really mixed feelings.”
Even in offices where bosses had said shorts were OK, some employees said it still seemed wrong.
“It still feels kind of like I shouldn’t be allowed to do it,” said Rachel Sheets, a 30-year-old development director for a not-for-profit, who lives in Middletown, Ohio.
Sheets is used to working in more traditional office environments, but her organisation’s casual stance has women – and men – wearing shorts at work. But there had been days when not everyone got the shorts memo. “My boss will be wearing a blazer and a button-up shirt and I’m there in shorts and a tank top, and I’m like, ‘this feels so weird’,” she said.
Professional stylists generally frown on shorts at the office. Women tempted to try shorts should opt for longer, tailored versions that look more polished, said Naina Singla, a Washington-based personal stylist whose clients consisted of executive women.
“No loud prints or patterns,” she said.
Pairing with a tucked-in, button-down shirt or matching blazer can help elevate the shorts.
For men, “no sports shorts, no cargoes, and absolutely nothing more than two inches above the knee,” said Julie Rath, president of Rath & Co. Men’s Style Consulting, based in New York and Palm Beach, Florida. Pairing shorts with a collared shirt and closed-toe shoes helps them look more professional.
Josh Stough, a purchasing agent in Dover, Delaware, said he wished he could wear shorts to his office. He is feeling the summer heat, especially when he walks to and from his car every day.
“Ladies in the office always have the option of wearing pants, skirts, dresses, but guys always have to wear pants,” he said of the desire to let legs breathe. “Why can’t guys have that option?”
The Wall Street Journal
