‘Business Casual’ Gets a Lot Less Casual. A more formal take on workwear is redefining how women dress for the office.

For years, Anais Fritz hadn’t felt the need to deviate from her “standard corporate uniform” of white button-up shirts, black or navy pants and plain lace-up sneakers. That is, until this spring, when Fritz, a London-based legal director for a private-equity firm, walked into a meeting and got a sartorial wake-up call.

“The women around me dress up for work in a way I never noticed before,” said Fritz, who realized her peers were showing up in Victoria Beckham dresses with jackets and high heels. Fritz observed an especially pronounced shift toward punchier, more ambitious ensembles among higher-level executives. “The more senior the women’s position, the more they dress up.” Seeing her counterparts move well beyond complacent takes on “business casual” led Fritz to reconsider her own closet. “It makes me feel like I also need to look sharp.”

Since the pandemic’s work-from-home norms took hold in 2020, Golden Goose trainers, cashmere hoodies and other pieces barely removed from sweats have become cubicle staples. A chorus of fashion experts proclaimed suits and stilettos DOA (dated on arrival). After all, who’d voluntarily revert to pinched waistbands and peaked lapels after years of loungewear? A lot of working women, it turns out. As they spend more days in the office and designers give tailored staples a needed jolt, they feel the desire to renegotiate (and reinvigorate) the rules of business casual. Result: Workwear is skewing considerably less casual.

“What we’re seeing is that in most cities, women are dressing up for work one step above what was being done before the pandemic,” said Sali Christeson, founder and CEO of Argent, a workwear brand based in New York. Some credit the influence of recent runway collections that offered odes to tailoring (notably, the Spring 2025 Saint Laurent looks that the label’s designer Anthony Vaccarello based on its namesake founder’s iconic suits). After seasons of slouchier skirts and dresses, models at Bottega Veneta, Max Mara and Tove marched out in longline blazers and well-cut pants seemingly designed to cow underlings. Mid-market brands like the Frankie Shop and COS, many led by women, were similarly smitten with traditional blazers and slacks.

“Today, there are more business clothing options for women than ever, and the key is that they’re comfortable - you don’t have to squeeze into something obnoxiously tight or settle for a stuffy uniform that doesn’t speak to your style,” said Lisa von Weise, a New York personal stylist. Her most pivotal tip: Invest in a “cool, slightly oversize” blazer. “A structured shoulder will do so much to give you a sense of presence.”

Data supports a growing demand for smart workwear: At LTK, an influencer-guided shopping platform, searches for “blazers” jumped 174% over the last 90 days, while those for “office outfits” rose 123% over the same period.

Some high-end tailors report that more women are craving custom suiting. The runway trends “give people more of an idea of what to ask for,” said Molly Anderson, a tailor at Savile Row’s Richard Anderson, which has made a record 28 bespoke suits for women in the past year and increasingly counts women among its clientele. They “want their clothes to reflect their positions and power. When you wear something that is tailored properly, you can walk into any room.”

The look of Karine Schnapp, an executive vice president at Assouline, the New York luxury publishing company, exemplifies the more formal remix of jeans-and-tees style. Now that she’s in-office five days a week, Schnapp describes her style as “basics with an element of uniqueness.” She might wear decade-old Saint Laurent tuxedo trousers by the designer Hedi Slimane with a white T-shirt, or dark denim with a button-down Sézane shirt and blazer, always finishing the outfit with a red lip. “I feel like business casual has been elevated,” she said.

“It’s mixed based on industry,” noted Christeson, the Argent founder. The tech sector, for one, still relies on pieces like recycled nylon track pants and Bode x Nike sneakers. While Christeson’s New York customers want full suiting looks, in the tech-heavy Bay Area, she’s seen more interest in blazers that play well with denim. Still, she said, “women are making bolder choices post-Covid in a way that’s really refreshing.” In von Weise’s view, this hunger for tailoring is rumbling in today’s office because it’s no longer an either/or proposition. You can get dressed up and still feel lockdown-level comfortable. “It has everything to do with women’s empowerment.”

After her workplace-style awakening, the London-based executive Fritz ordered a made-to-measure suit in a subtle navy tartan from Knatchbull, the first women’s tailor with a shop on Savile Row. Fritz says the new formality has turbocharged her confidence. “It just looks so much better than anything I’ve ever worn to work before.”

By Emily Cronin | Photographs by Melissa Isabel Quiñones for WSJ

Oct. 11, 2024 at 12:30 pm ET

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