The New Business Uniform: 11 Items for the WFH Era
Welcome to the new now: acoustic guitar, plexiglass dividers, fit pics where time is forever stuck in laundry day. At first, we thought aesthetics were going to turn towards the social realism of the Great Depression, but then things just got weirder. Cozy-core happened alongside a revival of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Alanis swept the Tonys. We as a species are confused and nobody is on the same page. At Highsnobiety, we have no answers for you, but we can make things cuter while you find them.
Fashion is either in denial that Covid is happening, or is trying to make masks look sexy. Here, we’re doing neither—we’ve chosen eleven items that represent the weird contradictions of the way we live now. Office space is every space, and our visual culture is divided between what happens in the Zoom screen and all the chaos of man below. We've already shown you how the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G smartphone is shaping the future and elevating how we multi-task in this new age of working. Now we've picked matching fits to carry you through the new desk-couch-bed continuum. Here is the new business uniform.
A group of Highsnobiety staffers got on a conference call to discuss.
Noah Thomas (Digital Fashion Editor): This is a men's loafer. It's also a mule, you can put the back down.
Haley Culp (Assistant Fashion Editor): I think this is definitely going to be a trend. Because you can wear it in your house, you can wear it in the office.
Noah: Literally reminds me of your mom's saying, "Go help me with the groceries."
Thom Bettridge (Editor-in-Chief): Do you guys feel it's too informal to show a full ankle at the office?
Corey T. Stokes (Fashion Director): Yeah, I think it's okay. I just think the idea of going in uniform is going to go way more casual. You don't need the back of your shoe.
Noah: You know how many people haven't worn pants in months?
Thom: Yeah. Totally.
Graeme Campbell (Style Editor): I can just imagine wearing this with New Balance sneakers, and turning up for a meeting.
Herbert Hoffman (Creative Director): Does anyone here own anything by Charvet?
Corey: I used to have an ex-boyfriend's button-down shirt.
Thom: I'm actually not a cashmere sweater fan because I don't like how they get fluffy and pill. But I feel with the silk blend, you get a really shiny, smooth finish that I think is quality.
Herbert: When it's good quality, the strings of the cashmere are really long, so they don't do this frizzy thing.
Herbert: A turtleneck always works. They always look smart. Also in the Zoom call, you look like you have everything under control. You’re always well-dressed when you wear a turtleneck.
Noah: Missoni needs to have more hype around it.
Thom: They sent me a mask and it's by far the best fashion mask I've tried.
Noah: And they were selling them for free.
Herbert: Thanks for not telling me.
Christopher Morency (Editor-at-Large): This is the Zoom-call shirt if there ever was one. It's business on top. Party down below. I would have it on this fucking Zoom call, but you guys wouldn't really know.
Thom: One detail I like about this is that it has a PJ collar. It's not a normal shirt collar.
Haley: So everyone basically has tripled their screen time, am I right? So this is for cancelling out blue light, from the computer. I think this is essential for every person, especially in media.
Corey: That's real talk.
Thom: It's also a great excuse to wear glasses if you don't need them. "Oh, they cancel out the blue light".
Thom: I text Corey every three weeks and be like, "Should I buy these? What do you think?"
Noah: I love Stubbs. Especially when they're worn in, they look so good.
Herbert: I think this is very, very borderline perverted. It's a weird, sexy. It's almost like one toe is hanging out on the sides.
Thom: I like the idea of coming back to the office and being the social distancing hall monitor with my loafer. I think that's the vibe that I want to go with here.
Herbert: When you do home office, it's a nice thing to sit there knowing that you have some kinky pants on in a business meeting without revealing what's there.
Thom: I really like the straight leg. Because I usually associate a leather pant with it being skin tight. But I feel doing a straight leg on a leather pant is kind of cool.
Graeme: How noisy are they?
Thom: I would kind of want like a bit of a squeak if I had a leather pant. Just to let people know.
Corey: Sweater vests are coming back and having this moment. They're versatile, so you can wear it just by itself, or you can layer it on top of a shirt. You actually don't even need to get it from Nanushka, you could probably find it at a consignment shop or Salvation Army.
Graeme: This kind of looks like a cricket vest. So maybe that's the next sport that's going to go supernova.
Herbert: I think it's a good moment for v-necks. One thing I can totally imagine is wearing a quite fluffy white shirt with this vest on top really tight.
Noah: It's just a cozy trouser. It has a waistband. So everyone is not as thin as they were before this.
Corey: How do we feel about dress trousers with elastic waistbands.
Noah: Into it. I used to hate it, now I'm kind of into it, the idea.
Corey: I don't mind this, because there's no visible drawstring.
Noah: If you're doing a twill pant with an elastic waistband, you're disgusting. But I think if loose like this—like thin wool where it has the same flow as a track pant—then yeah, let's do it.
Christopher: I used to always associate these with old dudes. Then it was obviously the Patagonia finance bros. I feel we're going into this third tier now where it actually just looks expensive as fuck. It's a mix of street. It's a mix of stealth wealth. I can imagine wearing these with sneakers. I can imagine having a cigarette in my mouth, with these.
Noah: I would buy this because I would wear it the way the bros would not wear it.
Thom: I feel there's a whole market in fashion of, let me make the thing that you wear anyway, but the more expensive fashion version. I'm sure there's a Silicon Valley guy whose going, "Sick, they have my Patagonia thing in the 2.0 fancy for when I go to the conference or something." You know what I mean?
To accompany the new business uniform, try the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G.
