debtOr, for those accustomed to the realities of balance sheets, deliverables, bad office coffee, and awful office parties, the corporate world may seem like a strange place to look for creative inspiration, but the office is now making a comeback in surprising new ways — and fashion is embracing it by embracing office attire in a big way.
“Co-op core” is a fresh take on the usual nine-to-five attire, with executive style, featuring sharper suits and more directional pinstripes, becoming more popular.
Scandinavian brand Ganni’s latest ad sees actress Christina Ricci dressed in a suit taking an important phone call with no room for error, while Prada’s models sit in rest zones or on landlines in a paradigm-shifting take on the Italian fashion house’s latest campaign.
At John Lewis, the “corpocore” edit includes “edgy office wear” such as asymmetrical vests, studded Mary Jane flats and heeled loafers. At Whistles, tailoring is next season’s big trend, pinstripes give suiting more substance and office silhouettes are made in edgy leather. A spokesman said sales of vests this year are 20 times higher than last year, while jackets and trousers are up 25%.
Resale site Depop lists “9 to thrive” as a key category for summer, explaining that “fashion fans are taking a page out of Office Siren’s book… cosplaying in business looks more suited to a bar than a boardroom.” Searches for blazers are up more than 30% since January, while white shirts and kitten heels are up 67% and 66%, respectively, in the same period. Some of these clothes will actually be bought to wear to the office, but they’ll probably look edgier than before. But many will never even see a copy machine.
Ties are in fashion with women, young people and Miuccia Prada, suits are ubiquitous and smart office shoes, the most prevalent of which is the loafer, now with various twists and interesting sock styles, becoming the footwear of choice not only for the boardroom but also for weekend brunches.
The fashion has been around before, and is surprisingly recent: In 2017, designers combed through spreadsheets of office wear, offering up a host of executive looks in high-fashion iterations: double-breasted suits, starched collared shirts, ties, big executive bags. But what was thought of as ’80s retro then seems very much on trend now.
This office-inspired moment of enthusiasm and creativity goes far beyond fashion: Taylor Swift performed in an office-like set, complete with swivel chairs, during her Eras tour. A second series of Emmy-winning sci-fi and dark workplace thriller Severance has been announced for release in 2025. Industry, a drama about life at fictional investment bank Pierpoint & Co, returns for a third series on BBC One on 1 October.
FKA Twigs’ latest video, released last week, is set in a grey office, where a quirky tale of modern corporate culture unfolds: keyboards click, staplers tap, landlines slam. The choreography seems to play into the idea of a zombie workforce, as the team squirms to meet their bosses’ expectations, culminating in workers pulsating around their office chairs.
Laura Smith, costume designer for the current series of Industry, believes corpocore is gaining popularity because “office spaces are changing and the way we interact with them is changing”.
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“Zoom calls are a window from work to home space, and there can be a flow from public to private, so people need to adjust how they look at clothing in a different way than they’ve done before,” she says. For Smith, a key piece that epitomizes this is the gilet, or waistcoat. “Technical gilets and funnel-neck jumpers have become staples, and statement colours look great on a small screen,” she says.
According to corporate styling expert Charlotte Broadbent, corporate attire may also be popular outside the office world because “corporate has a fashion aesthetic that conveys class, success, confidence and class – and it’s an incredibly easy style to emulate.”
This comes against the backdrop of a corporate culture in flux: It’s one thing to idealize office culture when physical offices are mostly empty, but as occupancy rates rise and employees trickle back, whether by choice or mandate (Amazon this week mandated that employees be in the office five days a week), it remains to be seen whether the office will continue to be inspiring in terms of creativity and fashion.
