You’ve been working from home for the past 10 months, in opposition to working at the office where there are rules, structure and routine. You can’t come in without looking the part, that’s just standard. It’s most likely you’ve either been dressing from the top up for the zoom calls, or you’ve stayed in your pjs all day because if you can stay in your comfies and get away with it, why wouldn’t you? But today, we’re going to look at how you can smarten up your work-from-home dress code, by bringing in your activewear and styling up your tracksuits. Stay comfy but stay smart.
British designer Oliver Spencer has hit the nail on the head with his latest collections, finding the perfect balance between smart and relaxed – the type of clothes we want to be lounging in as well as working. “You get all the benefits of traditional tailored shapes but with none of the uniformity” with soft-shouldered suits, smart sweatshirts and cashmere tracksuit bottoms.
The best thing about looking smart while being at home is the reminder that you are still at work. Rolling out of bed and into a pair of weekend trackies, it probably will be harder to get into the mindset of your next Zoom meeting followed by a nice big stare out of the window. At the beginning of the pandemic, I wasn’t dressing as I generally would have, so it was kind of a mash up of everything in my life happening at once. I’d lost all sense of routine and all my days rolled into one, so maybe for you it is time to start smartening up, even with something as simple as buying something new no matter what it is. This will just bring a little bit of normality back to your life, as it seems working from home is going to be sticking around for quite a while.
"When I’m working at home it’s all about comfort: joggers, shorts, hoodies, that kind of thing," says Lee Goldup, menswear buyer at Browns Fashion. "My current go-to is a pair of Reigning Champ tracksuit bottoms and some Neighborhood x UGG slippers."
I'll have a look for some tracksuits for you, and show what I find next week with the next trend/styling post. Let me know what you're excited to see, below.
IMAGES BY RUSLAM GUMBLE & JOHN LEWIS ©