When it comes to the “out-of-office” dress code, there are two main camps. There are those who make an effort, heeding Diana Vreeland’s advice that “you gotta have style. It helps you get down the stairs. It helps you get up in the morning. It’s a way of life. Without it, you’re nobody.” And there are those who don’t, who follow the example set by John Cheever, who admitted that “a great many of my stories were written in boxer shorts”. In his early career, the American author would put on the only suit he could afford, head to a windowless basement room, hang up the suit, and then write until nightfall.
Whether it’s boxers or Berluti, what the “Skype set” wear to work is increasingly relevant. The number of self-employed people in the UK increased from 3.3m in 2001 to 4.8m in 2017. Remote working is on the rise, boosted by new technology such as group messaging and collaboration “hub” Slack, and set to be facilitated further by 5G. Then there’s the boom in co-working spaces, shared offices where one must work hard to strike the right nonchalant note.
Emma Gannon, author of The Multi-Hyphen Method: Work Less, Create More, and Design a Career that Works for You, insists on some formality in one’s home-office wardrobe. “We need to get rid of the stigma that working from home is just people sat at home putting a load of washing on and stroking the cat,” she says. “It’s important to take yourself seriously. Get dressed and put on something nice! It doesn’t matter if you’re the only one who is going to see it, it can totally transform your motivation levels.” Domestic guru Marie Kondo also counsels against the habit of demoting outdated clothes to “loungewear”, warning that “what you wear in the house does impact on your self-image”.