Fashion North investigates why so many young women are challenging office dress codes in favour of personal style and how this might impact their career.
Women have faced challenges when dressing for work for many years, from pioneering the right to wear trousers to cases of discrimination by employers for wearing flat shoes. However, office fashion seems to be evolving in more recent years and Gen Z are pushing dress codes with the help of social media. The emergence of social media trends allows young women to share their experiences and outfits across the world, and with the controversial ‘office-siren’ trend reaching 33.7 thousand posts on Instagram, it is clear that younger women are influenced. Fashion North investigates how Gen Z are pushing work wear boundaries and the impact this could have on their jobs.
Image credit- Thisisengineering, Unsplash
Although dress codes now vary from job to job, traditionally, women’s work attire was business formal. This consisted of knee length skirts, high-neck blouses and closed toe heels. While dress codes have now become more relaxed, women still face similar issues with navigating what is appropriate. This can be a struggle for women as items that suit one body type, may look inappropriate or unflattering on another. For men, a business formal dress code can be clearer cut. A well-fitting suit and smart shoes are the standard office attire, and most men can find a suit to fit them. Darren Tate, employment coach at EPNE, said: “men can wear the same pair of chinos however many times and it’s obviously very different for ladies that wear dresses and skirts.” This inequality in fashion can have an impact women’s confidence, especially for young women that are just joining the workforce. But how is Gen Z combatting this?
Gen Z are a generation of individualistic and unique young people, and it is no surprise that they want to bring this into the workplace through fashion. However, the ‘office-siren’ trend, which consists of young women sporting pencil skirts, unbuttoned shirts and bayonetta glasses in their TikTok hauls, has stirred up lots of opinions on social media. Social media can be a great source for young women that are looking to express themselves through fashion. Young women are no longer interested in conformity and often break the stereotypes attached to women that dress well at work.
Whilst some women find confidence from trends, not everyone agrees with this unexpected approach to office attire. A survey from Slater and Gordon found that 86% of female employees felt under pressure to appear sexier at work. This could be a result of pressure to look good that has been instilled in women from an early age, however ‘office siren’ seems to have stemmed from modern women wanting to feel more confident in themselves in order to succed at work.
Although the rising trend of ’sexy’ work outfits might boost your confidence, they can often damage your career. Zeta Bikova, senior lecturer in health, wellbeing and care in society, said: “I do feel that if you have too much make up or wear clothes that catch attention people do not take you seriously. People challenge you more, people view you as not very clever.” This highlights the fine balance that Gen Z must have when dressing for the office. So, what can Gen Z women wear to work, without being dress coded by HR?
Smart Works Newcastle- An example of an office appropriate outfit that includes some colour
Smart works is a charity that allows women a space to find an appropriate outfit that feels authentic to them. Samara Laboriel who works for Smart Works Newcastle talks about working with women that want to inject their personality into office outfits, She said: “Colour is definitely a big contributor to making an outfit personal to you, so if you’ve got a favourite colour or a colour that really suits you then it’s quite easy to incorporate that into a professional outfit because a lot of people think that professional workwear is black, white and grey but even if you wanted to put on a nice pair of earrings or a pair of colourful shoes I think that’s a good way of putting in personality.”
Smart Works Newcastle
When discussing the confidence issues women can face, Samara said: “I also think from my experience working here and also just being a woman myself I think women definitely often have more confidence issues especially when it comes to like clothing, clothes size, what looks good, what makes you look good so yeah definitely think like the sort of clothing preferences and lines are a little bit more blurred than they are for men.” In terms of the future of workwear, Samara said: “I think over time what is office appropriate has changed I think after Covid people were wearing heels less and people were wearing more trainers.”
Overall, Gen Z women are redefining office fashion by bringing their personal style to professional outfits. While the ‘office siren’ trend has been controversial, it has sparked creativity for young women trying to experiment when dressing for the office. The movement towards casual dressing is becoming more and more popular as inclusivity and flexibility continue to take charge in the workplace and hopefully future generations will be free of expectations and stereotypes of women at work, no matter what they wear.
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