No one wants to work these days, but we all want to dress like it
Balancing corporate burnout with my love of suiting.
I was on the phone with my sister a few months back and we discussed our growing apathy toward our careers. We’re both child-free by choice with no plans to change our lifestyles, having had the maternal instincts of a cuckoo since childhood.
It seemed back then that if you weren’t interested in having a family, the default path became Career Woman, which we automatically set ourselves upon. We were raised by a single mom who worked tirelessly throughout our school years and entered the workforce shortly after the start of the Girl Boss era. From this modeled behavior and environment, having your career tightly woven into your identity was expected and encouraged.
Our jobs became what we were whittled down to. To this day, when we meet people who know our parents, the opening remark is usually, “Now, are you the vet or the fashion one?” as if we have no other discernable characteristics or personality traits. Sure, that’s just harmless bantz, but would I even know how to define myself outside of my career? Do I even care how to define myself?
No one wants to work these days. By no one, I mean me
Now that I’m in my 30s, I’ve felt my ambition wane. I don’t want to be Career Woman anymore. I’m very proud of what I have accomplished, and since I did sweet FA in school, feel I’ve achieved more than I could ever imagine career-wise (I’ve been in Vogue, so…). However, where my life once revolved around my career, I now want it to be a subplot, with my only goal for the future really being financial security.
For me and my sister, career apathy began creeping in during COVID, as I’m sure it did for many people. I was grateful to still have a job during that time. However, I started to feel that I’d have to keep grinding away even if the four horsemen knocked at my door (can you keep it down, I’m writing about Avant Apocalypse?).
Was this really all there was to life? I was about to turn 30 and my self-worth hinged on either how good I looked or how good I was at my job, neither of which a very healthy human make. I was fortunate enough to relocate from London back to Melbourne to work remotely while living with the person I’d spent a decade loving from afar (hi Joel!).
I don’t know if it's because I’m disassociated from my career aspirations right now (and who knows, that might change) or that LinkedIn has just gotten really unhinged, but corporate culture is feeling so icky right now. I’ve given up caring if I’m “falling behind” career-wise compared to friends and former colleagues, and I definitely don’t want to read five things that taking a dump taught you about B2B SaaS sales cloud marketing synergy.
I can totally empathize with the “no one wants to work these days” rhetoric. I don’t want to work these days, and I’m in a lucky minority where I like my job (even love it at times). Though the “find a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life” ideal is bullshit. You still have to work. Every day of your life. And I’ve just come to hate the act of working.
Meanwhile, every older generation just dismisses the younger ones as lazy, not realizing or caring that we’re burnt out from being paid in pizza parties or having more work piled up because “it’s good for your development” (a classic line constantly thrown around when I worked in buying) as everything becomes more expensive though our salaries don’t reflect it.
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To WFH or not WFH. That is the question
Now, I think working from home is the best thing since afternoon naps. However, I can understand why some folk aren’t into it, especially Gen Zers if they’ve never experienced anything else. I came across this article, WFH ruined my 20s by
, which opens with, “In my head, my 20s were supposed to be all about picking out chic workwear, commuting into a sleek London office, and sipping an overpriced latte like I was starring in my own personal rom-com.”I didn’t start working fully remotely until I was 29 and it was for a company in which I had already established IRL connections. I’d already spent my 20s dressing for the office, attending after-work drinks, boning co-workers and doing the London rat race thing. I understand romanticizing your job, for what else can you do to try and survive under capitalism? However, having been there, done that and being left with massive burnout, my plan going forward is to try and romanticize everything OUTSIDE of my day job.
I’ll cop to that WFH can be detrimental to social skills. I’ve noticed I often struggle to verbalize an idea over Zoom, especially when talking with someone I don’t know very well as most of my conversations these days are limited to singing nonsense songs to my cat.
However, since my job is mainly writing and anyone who says they actually enjoy public speaking is either a liar or a freak of nature, it’s not something I’m too concerned about. I also know I tend to be overcritical of myself anyway, thinking every word that comes out of my mouth or that I write is dumb dumb salad, but that was a pre-WFH curse. The imposter syndrome, she never takes a day off.
The rise and fall of the Office Siren
Considering WFH fashion. It’s very easy for dressing up to work behind a screen to feel pointless, which is why I started doing Silly Little Outfits (plug plug plug) to give the pieces I worked hard for some life and to inspire myself to go into third space more regularly. WFH is supreme, but you gotta have some balance.
I’m a big fan of tailoring and clothes that err on the side of traditional masculinity. Yet lately, a dark cloud is looming over suits for me due to my disillusion with corporate culture. While slobbing around the house in sweatpants doesn’t do much for your sanity either, suits are slowly becoming a bleak reminder that I will probably have to work until I die.
I’ve watched office trends evolve over time, from business casual in the club, trading heels to sneakers during the Normcore/Athleisure boom to the “anything goes” uniform of startup culture. Then post-lockdown, traditional workwear started trending again.
At the end of 2023, Death To Stock reported on the rise of Corplore, detailing how the new generation of workers was rejecting outdated corporate culture and playfully cosplaying as employees while prioritizing their well-being. Corplore was all about “subverting traditional 9-5 lore by embracing the aesthetics and customs of desk jobs with a sense of irony and detachment.”
Then came the Office Siren, rejecting my beloved slouchy shapes for something sleeker and sexier, with slews of icy 90s references from archival Prada and Calvin Klein campaigns alongside Ally McBeal’s wardrobe which I’ll admit initially piqued my interest. Then it all just kinda culminated into the corporate fetish I Am Gia campaign, which several dubbed as anti-feminist.
I’m not going to argue the allure of power dynamics in the office space in terms of fantasy. I’ll consume any media content that features James Spader railing a subordinate. Though do I really want to dress like a sexy secretary IRL? Eh, not really. I don’t care what anyone wears to the office (unless it’s a tech bro puffer vest, then it's straight in the bin), but the I Am Gia campaign fell flat for me. It felt like a one-dimensional, sexed-up caricature of a Girl Boss. While 90s office spaces weren’t exactly reported as misogyny-free; we just seem to look at the past more favorably. Truly, the Office Siren, at the beginning and end of her lifespan, is tethered by patriarchal roots; she just became presented in more blatant packaging.
Is it all just dripping in irony? As DTS asks in their video below, is the influx of 20th-century office aesthetics “glamorizing office culture or mocking existing structures?” Really, is there anything aspirational about working in a bland cubicle every day and sticking to a prescribed dress code? Not in my opinion.
Still, Corplore continues to live on in fashion, despite our hybrid mix of officewear. There was no shortage of suits being pushed on the runway, from Saint Laurent’s reimagining of Yves as a woman to Boss’s interpretation of relaxed corporate attire.
What’s exciting me in suiting
Separating tailoring from the act of work itself, here is what is inspiring me to play with suits once more.
Dark Kintsugi - Inspired by the art of mending broken pottery with gold to highlight the beauty within the flaws, designer Hikari No Yami fuses tailoring with discarded materials to create these breathtaking textural pieces.
The Wrong (insert item) Theory - You’ve probably heard of the wrong shoe theory - pairing styles that don’t typically match your outfit to elevate it. Entry-level here is sneakers with suits, though this theory works across everything. I’m really loving this incorporated into the unexpected to create something new altogether, like JW Anderson’s loafer handbag, which reminds me of the Margelia cordovan loafer shirt front. Or just things worn “wrong” so they look “right” - see Thom Browne Fall 2023.
Oversized everything - Goes without saying. While I’m seeing the 80s power suit experience a revival, the concept of it just feels exhausting for me. However, if it is big, boxy and cocooning for me to curl up inside and cry through another day, then sign me up.
Fuck Yeah Layers - Adding volume and fuelling my desire for oversized everything, there is something just so comforting about layers. For a sleeker look, I’m also a big fan of the dress/skirt trouser hybrid over pants concocted with silky or sheer fabrics (inspo: Ann Demeulemeester SS 2012)
Accessories - Seeing lotsa ties. While I enjoy the Bottega Veneta leather one and the Schiaparelli ponytail, I just can’t get into them. Probably as ties were a mandatory part of my high school uniform, I don’t see the logic in wearing one to the office or anywhere else. What I will wear, though, is sheer tights under oversized pants and silver hardware embellishments. Oh and fuzzy shoes. I have been searching long and hard for fuzzy shoes (promise I’m not a pushing a Muppetcore psyop).
The Olsen Tuck - Though I can’t do this as a proud member of the Fuck Ass Bob club, I am so happy for everyone else who can. I would buy extensions if I ever owned the Margiela FW13 coat with the hair strap.
Unexpected Color Combos - Readers are probably sick of hearing me say this but Choc. Banana. Fucking. Chupa. Chup. That’s what started all this. Also, all of you amazing Substackers have been providing some stellar color inspiration. The multiple components in suiting make blocking different hues to build new outfits ideal. I’m feeling myself slowly wanting to dabble in burgundies/baby blues, baby blues/browns and inky greens/reds.
coordinated pink panther pink with olive green and charcoal and now that’s all I’m thinking about and I don’t even like pink that much (insert predictable joke about having my Melbourne residency revoked).
As always, thanks for sticking with me on this rambling journey. If you take anything away, it's that much like you don’t need to save dressing slutty for Halloween; you don’t need to reserve tailoring for the office. Even though I’ll be manifesting a softer, slower life in 2025, I’d much rather be wearing a suit than head-to-toe Lululemon, and that’s the weirdly specific hill I will die on.
Great article about the evolution of office wear. I have never worked in an office, but I never saw myself liking office attire. But I think people who have never worked in an office romanticized the office culture only for hearing the stories of working at the office from older relatives and watching movies and tv shows.
I totally relate. Personally, for me, it's not really about not wanting to work, but how 'icky' the pressures of the traditional work culture feel right now, as you said... many people just seem superficial on LinkedIn and it makes me not want to participate. At the same time, I acknowledge that it is important to make some connections over there. So I feel a bit confused about it sometimes!