Corporate Core: The Romanticism of the Working Girl

As people head back to school or work this September, there’s a flurry for new wardrobes, new looks, and new stationary to accessorise your ‘upgraded self’.

This was always an unspoken thing each year, like clockwork, in whatever way possible, girls would ‘upgrade’ their working self. Because as Edith Head said, “You can have anything you want in life if you dress for it”. But now, we see this becoming an actively advertised attitude towards young women. We see it in the bayonetta glasses, the wine red kitten heels and the grey pinstripe suits, redefining the items that were often left untouched in Zara’s sales before.  

So why have we glorified the everyday?  

It’s no secret that this conversation is largely centred around working women, so for the majority of this piece, that is who this conversation will be on. 

I asked my followers on instagram what they thought of trends such as the ‘office siren’ and received a mix in responses. 

One said “I think that the office siren trend, specifically, is a tactic used by Gen Z to express personal creativity within the work space and reinforcing the idea that workwear doesn’t need to be boring. But it sparks debate within conservative environments, where such bold expression is seen as performative or inappropriate.” followed by another remarking that “Some outfits are too inappropriate for work if they are taken to the extreme”. Considering an alternative perspective, a third opinion offered that it “Makes the workplace more relaxed,” and that “more items of clothing can be worn by men and women…as ties become less fashionable and suits are less common”. Gen Z has definitely introduced more creativity to the workplace, straying from ties, or even ‘reclaiming’ them in their own contemporary styles.

The ‘office siren’ trend is largely targeted towards women but some men have certainly taken their own spin on it. I think it’s interesting the directions both have taken it in. Where women strive for ‘modern empowerment’ and men dress in more traditional work clothes — the opposite aesthetic of this modern mindset — idolising individuals such as Patrick Bateman, the satire sociopath…fantastic choice gentlemen. I respect that style-wise, his tastes weren’t bad, but if we really consider what he was doing, I’m afraid it just involves basic hygiene and fairly standard suit arrangements.

The point that “these trends have put pressure on money and people are more inclined to buy expensive clothes” was also raised. The office siren exudes elegance whilst seeming sensual. So how does she balance the sex appeal whilst not seeming cheap? 

By not being cheap. It’s a balance that not many people will be able to achieve but that’s what makes it more desirable. To therefore ‘guarantee’ this status to working women, advertisers will justify their prices with this image for women. 

Fitting into the workplace…the woman and her wardrobe

The first records of working women in the UK date back to 1870 (how progressive!), when the Post Office took the initiative to employ female clerical workers, much to the dismay of their male counterparts. Paid less than their male colleagues at around 14 shillings a week, which by male standards was far too much, met with much opposition for the ‘unreasonable earnings’, women had finally broken the ceiling. Ten years later, women were then able to use newly developed typewriter machines, and by the 1900s, women were advancing further than ever before.

The Education Act of 1870 declared education as compulsory for both girls and boys. Another working environment where women had finally been accepted. But the question of whether they had been respected was, and still is, a separate matter. So we aim to achieve this respect by ‘dressing the part’, but not primarily as a worker, but as a woman — leaving much room to question to what extent is this empowering?

The advertising of the ‘ideal worker’ is not exclusive to women. For example, the infamous ‘American dream’ largely directed at men as the breadwinner: welcomed home by his loving, obedient wife and his adoring children. That’s the working man, the one who has it all. But the working woman? She is all. She doesn’t have the same support in her picture perfect life, she’s fierce and independent, mysterious but known, and with a hint of sex appeal — she doesn’t have the support from others, she supports herself.

Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing all the outfits women wear to work to present themselves how they want. Yes it absolutely can be motivating, and fun and fabulous. But I want to stress that it’s not required. It’s not required for you to look the part, so long as you are the part. We don’t need to continuously hold women to any kind of standard to prove that they in some way aren’t enough. 

So as we see these pin-striped pin up girls, it’s important to remember that we don’t have to buy into making ourselves presentable or ‘attractive’ for work. We’ve only been allowed into these working environments for 155 years, going into work with the same outfit twice in one fortnight will be fine — if Steve Jobs can do it why can’t we?