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Business Daily

Is office wear dead?

Business Daily

BBC

Business

4.4816 Ratings

🗓️ 30 August 2021

⏱️ 17 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Many of us are preparing go back into the office but after more than a year of working from home for a lot of people, have we forgotten how to dress professionally? Or are we chomping at the bit to put on the armour that is traditional office wear? Or it time to entirely rethink the whole concept of office dress codes? Presenter, Elizabeth Hotson strolls down London's Saville Row to meet tailor Richard Anderson and stylist Lizzie Edwards gives some us tips on how to dress to impress. Deirdre Clemente, a historian who specializes in clothing and fashion at the University of Nevada tells us why March 2020 marked a huge shift in sartorial expectations and photographer Victoria Rose describes how her approach to fashion shifted during the pandemic. Plus Vivienne Nunis and Anastasia Wanjiru in Nairobi, Kenya explore shifting norms in workplace clothing. (Picture of a suit fitting via Getty Images) Producer: Elizabeth Hotson

Transcript

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0:00.0

I'm Elizabeth Hotson and in today's Business Daily, we're looking at back to the office fashion.

0:07.5

As many of us are heading back into physical places of work for the first time in over a year,

0:12.8

how have our attitudes to work where changed?

0:15.9

There'll be a lot of women that will be trying on their heels again and thinking,

0:20.2

I'm not going to wear that anymore.

0:21.8

And could differing ideas around what's acceptable to wear cause friction between employees

0:26.9

and their bosses.

0:28.6

Is someone going to walk in and fire that employee because they won't stop wearing their ripped jeans?

0:32.4

This is cultural change, man. This is what we're talking about.

0:35.4

This is Business Daily from the BBC.

0:40.5

Lights. Lights, models, guest list. Just do your best, darling.

0:47.0

Well, Business Daily listener, somehow we're on the cusp of September.

0:51.6

A time where even for the adult population, there's a certain back-to-school

0:55.8

feel.

0:59.5

And walking down Regent Street, traditionally central London's clothes shopping hub, I'm seeing a lot of

1:05.1

reminders that many companies are asking staff to return to their desks for the first time,

1:10.1

often since March 2020.

1:20.0

But in many ways, these window displays of crisp shirts and tailoring seem rather alien after 18 months of wear what you like on the sofa for a lot of us.

1:29.5

So have we forgotten how to dress professionally?

1:32.4

Or are we chomping at the bit to put on the armour that is traditional office wear?

1:36.8

First, let's hear from someone who works in an industry where image is everything.

1:46.9

I'm Victoria Rose and I'm a brand photographer for Flaunt and Flourish.

...

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