Contributors:

• GRAPHICS: HOLLIE MAE HOMAN
• IMAGES: GETTY AND JEREMY FRENCH

Sheer shirts, exposed underwear, micro minis: no, we’re not talking about partywear, we’re talking about new-gen office wear. On the SS24 runways, the fashion world took a trip… from the bedroom, directly to the boardroom. The brief? Traditional office wear fused with sex-fuelled components. Call it corproratecore. Fashion has gone overboard on what Highsnobiety described as: “business casual at an office that only employs hot people”. It’s business, but sensual. Right now, workwear that is ostensibly, NSFW, is the fashion set’s favourite contradiction.

Think figure-hugging blazers paired with tiny, tailored shorts, library specs and bulky cardigans worn with pants (and nothing else). Suit trousers are worn with bare chests, tailored miniskirts are paired with bras and heavy leather corsets are layered over big black blazers. Silk shirts and blazers were worn open to the naval and sheer skirts replaced traditional suit trousers. From Gucci to Prada, we’re exploring how business got sexy.

Disclaimer: we will assume no responsibility if these outfits get you fired.

And naturally, when talking about the pantsuit, there’s only one name that comes to mind. The self-proclaimed, “pantsuit aficionado” (Racked), Hillary Clinton. In her 40-plus years in public office, Clinton transformed the pantsuit from menswear garment to the feminist symbol it is today. It was the tradition for first ladies to stay away from politics and stick to the traditionally feminine. But Clinton always dressed like a lawyer first, and a politician's wife second. An example of the changing tides of gender politics at the time? Absolutely. But Clinton was also a role model to women everywhere, shucking traditional values and, from the very beginning, wearing the proverbial pants.

And if the trend can be dated back to the noughties, 2023 was the year that gasoline was poured on the proverbial fire of the bedroom to boardroom trend. And the trend is just getting bigger and riskier. The hottest names in fashion have a message: less, is more. Coperni showed skin-tight, white unitards under suede blazers, low-cut bodysuits with slim-fit suit trousers and bras as tops paired with pedal pushers and billowing blazers. Over at Dolce & Gabbana, Vittoria Ceretti opened their SS24 show in a look that made a strong case for going pant-less. She donned a pair of pinstripe pants-as-trousers, an oversized blazer, a polka dot bralette and thin black stockings that reached all the way up the thigh.

And then came Prada. Their AW23 and SS24 shows felt like an ode to the office. But don’t worry, it was much more high fashion than Steve Carrell. At their AW23 menswear show, blue office cubicles were staged, complete with computers lit up with the Prada logo; office chairs swivelled on the runway and the scene was set. And as for the collection? It was pure corporatecore. Skinny ties, classic suits and heavy hitting loafers stormed down the runway. Each look was tailored to a different kind of worker, dubbed by Raf Simmons as: “The businessman, the working man, the thinking man,” in an interview with Vogue. Over in the womenswear department? Blazers were cinched at the waist, cut to thigh-grazingly short hemlines and sheer skirts were paired with classic collared shirts. The centre piece of both these collections? An old school tailored silhouette. These collections start with a centrepiece: an old school, tailored silhouette. From there? Prada revolutionised. Adapting and evolving until the simple became shocking. And the brand is ushering in a new era of workwear.

But no one went harder than Gucci. Sabato De Sarno turned up the heat in a big way for his debut collection at the house. Tailored coats were paired with teeny tiny hot pants and sky-high platform loafers. Shirts, vests and cardigans reinvented the V, plunging down to show scandalous levels of skin. It was business sensual on heat. Case in point? This look which combines a tailored micro mini skirt, a crystal bralette and classic Gucci loafers. In one collection, De Sarno made the case for re-inventing workwear and making it hotter than ever. And he kept pushing the agenda at his AW24 menswear collection. Bare-chested models were sent down the runway in classic suit trousers and skinny ties, heavy tailored overcoats were worn with nothing underneath and simple tailored trousers were worn with glittering crystal mesh. And then came that iconic campaign….

The O.G. proponent of going pant-less? Miuccia Prada. It started with the instantly iconic sparkly-pants-and-a-knit at the Miu Miu AW23 show. By SS24? She’d taken things a step further, casting pants as the main character in a collection that showed pants worn with big jackets (and nothing else), pants worn with tailored overcoats and pants worn with stripey polo shirts. And if you didn’t think it was wearable IRL? The A-Listers are out here to prove you wrong. At the Venice Film Festival, Emma Corrin donned a pair of khaki pants-as-trousers paired with a matching cardigan, Hailey Bieber styled a pair of black pants with a sweeping leather trench, and as for Law Roach? He took things even further, stepping out at the CFDA Awards in tighty-whities layered over fishnets and paired with a suit and tie. Major. But it’s not just the A-listers. Fashion favourites like Lulu Wood, Camille Charriere and Lindsay Vrčkovnik are all pushing the pant-less agenda. Proving you can too.

And the memos on nearly naked workwear just keep on coming. For their Spring 2024 Couture show, Valentino went in on bedroom to boardroom appeal. Pierpaolo Piccioli showed a range of ultra-sexy tailored looks. Think sheer black shirts styled with flowing skirts, cut with sky-high slits; pencil skirts styled with huge sculptural tops and bare shoulders; plunging necklines and blazers that hung open all the way down to the naval.

Over at Ann Demeulemeester? The business ghoul reigned supreme. A (rather apt) symbol of burnout culture, the business ghoul brought gothcore to the office. Thick, heavy-leather corsets were styled over cropped white button-down shirts; skirts and shirts came in sheer fabrics and the layering up of black leather belts felt like an homage to bondage. The business ghoul is moody, covered in tattoos and piercings. Service with a smile? It could never be them. It’s just a good thing they look so good doing it.

Rule-breaking is, integral to the trend. And it’s perhaps most prevalent when you look at the gender-bending element. At the Dolce & Gabbana men’s show, traditional suits were styled with nude corsets, Saint Laurent’s menswear collection showed sheer, ruffled shirts (with nothing underneath, naturally) paired with tailored black trousers. The conventional menswear pieces were paired with conventional womenswear pieces, and vice versa. The womenswear shows equally, borrowed from menswear with conference-ready ties and thick shoulder pads. If workwear once catered to a professional, corporate, male gaze, now, it is catering to no one.

And the trend in and of itself, veers between the sexy to the subversive. Take Miu Miu for example. Their AW23 and SS24 collections showed looks that were awkwardly and unsettlingly, intimate. The bed hair, the waistband of the tights hoicked above cardigans, the forgotten trousers. It’s as if you're catching the models off guard. And maybe that’s the point. A far cry from the pencil skirts of yore, Miu Miu’s most recent collections have followed the conventions of traditional office wear, while entirely ripping up the rule book. It’s subversive, it’s unique, it’s Miu Miu.

Fashion and culture are inextricably linked, with one, always, mirroring and reflecting the other. Imagine the relationship between fashion and office wear then, as a spreadsheet: an ever-mounting cultural document, charting shifts, trends, and an evolution of style. And the bedroom-to-boardroom trend is entirely, reflective of this. And, of a post-pandemic paradigm shift in workwear and, fashion. The pandemic saw us in loungewear 24/7, sitting in Zoom calls with a button-down up top and pyjama bottoms (at best) down below. It shattered the norm for workplace culture and workwear. The fusing of the bedroom and the boardroom then, is hardly surprising.

The trend is a quite literal, mirror of the shifting tides of workplace culture. The Miu Miu models, who looked like they’d rolled out of bed and into a meeting – forgetting to put on trousers on the way – were instantly reminiscent of the lazy girl job phenomenon that has exploded on TikTok over the past year. The #lazygirljob currently has 22.9 million views on TikTok, and the term was originally coined by Gabrielle Judge, who describes the lazy girl job as “a low-stress, fully remote job with little oversight and a good salary” (BBC). Much like the looks on the SS24 runways, the lazy girl job trend is indicative of an ongoing shift in workplace culture. Blame it on Gen Z, but from the office wear to the actual office, the times, they are a changing.

And to all those who oppose boxers-as-pants and bras-as-tops in the office? It’s called fun Karen, look it up.