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!
Really love this take. I’m in my early 30s and I’m definitely in the youngest range of people in my office. I die seeing how the trends in actual offices are completely out of synch with how the fashion world is romanticizing corporate fashion because when I feel like dressing nicely some days, my colleagues think I’m presenting to the C-suite. But dress code for offices are also very industry and location specific, I’m a Californian now living in Oslo and I’ve never worked in an office where suits were the norm. (Yet you can always tell who the finance department is in the cafeteria) My point being, more so than literal office fashion, we’re really talking about a specific time/place in our public imagination that symbolizes corporate sensibilities. So while I agree that it’s ironic, is it also maybe something deeper than that? So few of us younger Milennials/Gen z feel we have any access to the power, success, structure, security etc etc that corporate work symbolizes so maybe it’s a bit of an armoring mechanism too? And the same was true when we were wearing business casual to the club in 2009. Maybe this is obvious but I don’t think I’ve read anything that gets at the sad side of it. Or maybe I’m old and there is absolutely no sadness to be felt here lolol
Thanks Katy! I've def had that too when you go into the office looking nice and get the comment "what have you got a job interview or something?" 💀
That is such a great point, dressing to match the traditional idea of success that came with the 20th century office space being romanticised.
Also wonder if there is a bit of rebellion against the kind of office casual that's associated with Silicon Valley given the scary ai tech landscape we find ourselves in now.
Really relate to this! I’m someone who works from home and romanticizes dressing up for the office (Gen Z girly who graduated in the pandemic) yet at the same time it is very lonely. Older people in my family really criticized me leaving my fulltime job to be freelance, because its normal for them to stay 30 years in one job, but at the same time could buy a house at 23 years old, live off of one persons salary in the family, have two children and a holiday abroad each year. Thats not what its like anymore and that makes working so jarring and exhausting because our salaries never catch up with the rising prices unfortunately.
Still I am lucky to do my dream job 🩵 I’d love more days off to be able to travel
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!
The struggle to network is real!
Really love this take. I’m in my early 30s and I’m definitely in the youngest range of people in my office. I die seeing how the trends in actual offices are completely out of synch with how the fashion world is romanticizing corporate fashion because when I feel like dressing nicely some days, my colleagues think I’m presenting to the C-suite. But dress code for offices are also very industry and location specific, I’m a Californian now living in Oslo and I’ve never worked in an office where suits were the norm. (Yet you can always tell who the finance department is in the cafeteria) My point being, more so than literal office fashion, we’re really talking about a specific time/place in our public imagination that symbolizes corporate sensibilities. So while I agree that it’s ironic, is it also maybe something deeper than that? So few of us younger Milennials/Gen z feel we have any access to the power, success, structure, security etc etc that corporate work symbolizes so maybe it’s a bit of an armoring mechanism too? And the same was true when we were wearing business casual to the club in 2009. Maybe this is obvious but I don’t think I’ve read anything that gets at the sad side of it. Or maybe I’m old and there is absolutely no sadness to be felt here lolol
Thanks Katy! I've def had that too when you go into the office looking nice and get the comment "what have you got a job interview or something?" 💀
That is such a great point, dressing to match the traditional idea of success that came with the 20th century office space being romanticised.
Also wonder if there is a bit of rebellion against the kind of office casual that's associated with Silicon Valley given the scary ai tech landscape we find ourselves in now.
Really relate to this! I’m someone who works from home and romanticizes dressing up for the office (Gen Z girly who graduated in the pandemic) yet at the same time it is very lonely. Older people in my family really criticized me leaving my fulltime job to be freelance, because its normal for them to stay 30 years in one job, but at the same time could buy a house at 23 years old, live off of one persons salary in the family, have two children and a holiday abroad each year. Thats not what its like anymore and that makes working so jarring and exhausting because our salaries never catch up with the rising prices unfortunately.
Still I am lucky to do my dream job 🩵 I’d love more days off to be able to travel
Yeah they don't really get how times have changed. Plus we're living longer so we don't get to retire as early 😭
Also your work is amazing! You def made the right decision to pursue your dream 💚
Stunning piece Kayla!
Ilysm Aoife ❤️🐈⬛
Sighed in agreement throughout 👩🏻💻🥀