When the Work Uniform Is So Wrong, It's Right
Work uniforms are a company-mandated attack on creativity, limiting personal style through conservative dress. When an employer decides the appropriate length of a trouser, color of a shirt, and material for a shoe, it intentionally cuts out room for experimentation and as such, typically leads to a drab wardrobe.
FreshService, one of Japan’s countless IYKYK fashion brands, proposes a different approach. The label’s SpringSummer 2026 collection is packed with archetypal work uniforms but, by breaking the cardinal rules of conformity, the results are anything but boring.
Take the office drone’s quintessential grey suit as an example. FreshService blows it up into a slouchy oversized blazer with a stripey tie tucked into equally slouchy sweatpants above elderly brown suede moccasins. It sounds preposterous but it has a louche coolness.
Similarly, a professor’s preppy uniform has rakishly whacking proportions and an inspector, clipboard in hand, wears a comically large short-sleeved shirt with an equally wide tie.
And the cast of people wearing these purposefully improper uniforms only adds to the absurdity of it all, with clothes modeled either by kids or the elderly.
All these “wrongs” make FreshService SS26 so right. It’s the rule-breaking features of the outfits that give them personality, the one thing typically missing from a work uniform.
Next time your boss gives you grief for wearing sneakers to the office or for the lackadaisical ironing of your shirt, maybe try pointing them in FreshService’s direction. If FreshService’s stylish cast of oddballs doesn’t change their mentality, it’ll at least put you in good company.
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