Only someone who has never truly experienced the existential dread of a soulless 9-to-5 would romanticize corporate life. Yet, fashion influencers were doing just that a year ago. The "office siren" trend dominated TikTok and was featured in Vogue and InStyle. Sirens were described as wearing skintight pencil skirts, unbuttoned collared shirts revealing ample cleavage, and sometimes a pinstripe vest. This trend was akin to corporate Barbie cosplay, with references to a submissive Maggie Gyllenhaal in Babygirl, where she played a Lean In feminist CEO who enters into a kinky office romance with a much younger intern.
Office sirens celebrated returning to the office post-pandemic while signaling a secret allure. This trend seemed destined to end with an HR meeting, but its appeal lay in its fetishization of corporate culture.
By 2025, however, the trend had waned. Workers, or those who wanted to dress like a cartoonishly sexy version of one, felt less playful. Recession indicators were prevalent, the job market had stalled, and stagflation seemed imminent. The office siren had given way to a more traditional uniform.
Fortune reported that Gen Z was "terrified of layoffs and the spiraling economy – so they’re copying Steve Jobs and showing up to the office in uniforms." On TikTok, young people admitted to mimicking the Apple founder’s habit of wearing black turtlenecks, Levi 501s, and New Balances to signal a lack of interest in frivolous dressing. Women on TikTok shared their conservative go-tos: oversized white boatneck tops, baggy tailored trousers, and sweater sets. One user said, "I recently found a TikTok about finding your Steve Jobs outfit, and I realized, wait, I have one. I live, breathe, and die in Oxford shirts."
Freya Drohan, a fashion writer based in New York, observed a shift in image-conscious dressing. "There’s a move away from outfits that are rooted in self-expression," she said. "People are instead leaning toward safeness in terms of color and silhouette and toeing the line with their outfits. I can’t remember the last time I saw someone commuting or in an office in a bright patterned blouse. Maybe they’re simply too tired to think of putting together unique looks when the news cycle and pace of things is so exhausting."
"Decision fatigue is real," said Isobelle Panton, a 32-year-old from Manchester, England, who leads commercial for a podcast production company. "I used to follow trends, but I ended up with an eclectic mix of stuff that didn’t go together. So I decided to go with a uniform." This includes three blazers, three pairs of pants, and a couple of tops.
The definition of a work-appropriate outfit has always been somewhat vague, but Cierra Gross, founder of the independent firm Caged Bird HR, believes the shift toward more conservative outfits aligns with the US’s overall embrace of conservatism, especially in politics. She referenced the fast-fashion brand Pretty Little Thing, which used to sell eye-catching clubwear but rebranded to sell beige shift dresses and brown blazers that wouldn’t be out of place on Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s press secretary. "Now it’s old money, which is a complete 360 from those very revealing, individualistic looks they used to sell prior to the [Trump] administration," she said.
While the plain, cashmere look might be Republican-coded, it is also inoffensive and apolitical. This explains the rising popularity of Quince, a discount site that sells bland, plain clothing (plus home goods) and appeals to younger shoppers who have grown out of overly trendy fast-fashion brands but not the cheap price tag.
Drohan notes that while corporate sirens may have left the office, they can be spotted after-hours. "Ironically, I think Gen Z women are more likely to dial up this trend outside of their 9-to-5, when they can cosplay in the vein of what they see on the runway, or what they imagine they might wear if they were on Wall Street," she said. "There’s an escapism and manifestation element to the look. I can see them wearing pieces associated with the very sexy secretary archetype not necessarily at work, but on their nights out."
