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With so many recent fashion trends being geared towards the workplace and corporate world, I’ve been wanting to reflect on the role fashion plays in our lives as working women...

For so long, we have been taught that styling ourselves is a frivolous activity that distracts us from ‘true’ productivity. But I often wonder if we can locate or actively curate a positive relationship between fashion and our professional lives.

From ‘Office Siren’ to Simplicity

In an article written this month in the Guardian, journalist Alaina Demopoulos explored the causes of the recession in hyper-feminine dress in the workplace. The infamous 'office siren' aesthetic (also called 'corpcore') that boomed in 2024 on social media platforms like TikTok, marked a departure from the previous wave of trends that fixated on girlhood.

This shift away from pale pink and girlish bows, towards pencil skirts and killer heels is attributed by Hannah Jackson to women’s desire to mature and step away from self-infantilisation. In contrast, 'corpcore' fashion focused on maturity, and aestheticised corporate womanhood, though in a hyper feminine, stylised way that often exuded sexuality.

Demopoulos offered a few reasons for the recent decline in this type of workplace dress. Women, she says, are now wearing less playful attire as they opt for modest, defeminised clothing, including ‘oversized white boatneck tops, baggy tailored trousers, and sweater sets.’ She says that, with recession markers abound, this departure from 'dressing up' and individuality comes from a place of anxiety about job stability, particularly among Gen Z.

Women specifically may suffer from ‘choice fatigue’ about clothing, and opting for simpler work dress helps eradicate this item from our ever-growing list of concerns. As a result, the 'office siren' look is well and truly on the backburner, at least when it comes to the actual workplace. Instead, fashion writer Freya Drohan anticipated that, ‘gen z women are more likely to dial up this trend outside of their 9-5 [...] there's an escapism and manifestation element to the look'.

This final quote is interesting. It gestures to a long-held attitude that 'fashion' as we conceive of it - an intensely feminine activity - is something indulgent that doesn't belong in the workplace. This is a narrative I've heard for most of my childhood, and which became more overt at school, where conforming with clothing was expected and synonymised with productivity.

At secondary school, obvious makeup and elaborate hairstyles could earn you a trip to the head of year’s office. Similarly, in the workplace, many women seem to carry a residual anxiety about not appearing too individualistic.

While the messaging has been clear -that discarding individuality at work makes one a better worker - I think this view should be challenged.

My Journey: From Obligation to Empowerment

I have a background in retail, where clothing choices are more obviously relevant to workers’ performance. As a retail associate, I'm expected to present myself nicely, given that I am constantly engaging with customers about style, and must wear products sold by the brands we stock.

As a result, our dress code is incredibly fashion-centred, so I am used to associating professionalism with fashion, rather than in opposition to it.

Saying that, my relationship to fashion in the workplace has developed a huge amount in the four years I've been working in this sector. I used to view my job as purely an obligation - a way for me to earn alongside my studies.

To me, that required that I remain inside a small shop for nine hours each week, away from the sun and the wider world. I didn't see much point in dressing up for it- after all, if I looked somewhat presentable, my clothes should have no bearing on how well I performed the job.

It was only during university holidays, when I worked more hours, that I realised this was it: my workplace was the wider world, or at least a large chunk of mine, so I must make the most of it. If I was going to spend up to thirty hours weekly inside a store, I'd need to view it as more than an obligation. This shift in attitude led to a shift in clothing choices - instead of just wearing black leggings and a top for comfort, I experimented more.

What I found happened, was I began truly looking forward to shifts, knowing I’d be walking around the shop each day having taken pride in my appearance. The process of putting together a nice outfit and styling my hair, fed me creatively, boosted my confidence, and made me want to engage more with my work. It made things fun.

Confidence, Style, and Professional Identity

Mya Jheeta, one of my fellow writers at Panelle, also expressed her desire to ‘look presentable in a professional setting’ and that ‘liking your outfit comes hand in hand with your confidence and self-esteem’, particularly in her sector of Law.

Recent studies have agreed with our experience; A Forbes article published in 2024 concluded that what one wears to the workplace can have a huge knock-on effect on confidence, which then causes workers to feel they are performing better.

This particularly impacts women, who are faced with exhausting choices of what to wear, more intense scrutiny and unfair expectations regarding their physical appearance. It makes sense that, for a demographic who are taught to care deeply about appearance, clothing would impact our professional confidence.

As a result, fashion can be a useful tool in mentally preparing one for work and combating the imposter syndrome many still suffer from by the simple virtue of being a woman.

However, Mya also commented that, though her clothing choices do affect her confidence at work, fashion is not something she considers extensively either: ‘my personal style is an almost separate entity’.

Instead, clothing is a tool to ‘present myself as smart and professional’. In this way, personal style can equally have nothing to do with professional productivity, and is a distraction in some workplaces.

But equally, it appears that making deliberate clothing choices can help women create a useful work-life distinction. For myself, allowing my individuality to shine through in my style- to acknowledge that my work is my life - causes me to enjoy my profession.

Whereas for others like Mya, fashion can be a tool to help carve out one’s ‘working’ identity. I work better when I feel more like myself, while others perhaps are more productive when other parts of themselves can take centre stage in professional settings.  

The Double Bind: Empowerment or Pressure?

It would be easy to conclude with this, but in writing this article, I’ve had to grapple with the fact that I rely so heavily on fashion to boost my productivity.

My emphasis on my professional appearance can be a distraction, though not from the work itself. I worry that it could easily perpetuate the very gendered pressures I’ve discussed.

Am I simply giving into the demands of beauty standards, or am I truly helping myself to perform better?

While studies suggest that yes, fashion choices can positively impact performance, or even just a healthy work-life distinction, I often still wonder if we would write these sorts of articles about male workers and their clothing choices.

Equally, this rabbit-hole thinking is a debate that men likely do not undergo to the extent that I and other working women do. The constant self-questioning can be exhausting and distracting in its own right.

Fashion can be a Personal Tool for Success

I want to emphasise that this imbalance when it comes to appearance, particularly at work, is one that should be challenged continually for women and other marginalised communities. At the same time, the importance of daily self-empowerment is vital to women’s success in the working world.

For me, this requires allowing my individuality to shine through in my style. For others, it requires using clothing to create a separate working persona. It's important to allow for this variation among women - we can equally celebrate those who don’t foreground fashion at work with those that do.

Either way, it's clear that clothing cannot be viewed as entirely separate from work. It undoubtedly impacts working women and can be a tool for professional development when used in ways that empower us.

So, if you’re loving this new wave of simple silhouettes, wish to carry on reaching new heights in heels, or don’t want to think about your clothes at all, I always encourage working women to do what feels right for them.

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