The average person spends about a third of their life at work. Which means that if your job doesn’t come with a prescribed uniform, that’s roughly 90,000 hours—10 whole calendar years—that you’re responsible for dressing yourself professionally. Do you really want to squander all that time by mailing it in, blending into the walls of your cubicle in an endless cycle of shapeless stretch chinos and anonymous golf shirts? Or would you rather look and feel like yourself—your best, most expressive, most locked-in self—as you fearlessly carve a fulfilling career path?
We’ve dedicated the latest installment of our Dos and Don’ts series to helping you achieve the latter. (Catch up, if you haven’t already, on the first two entries tackling general style and wedding attire.) The office is no place for slacking off sartorially, no matter how overrun your Google Calendar might get each week or how conservative your company’s dress code might seem.
On that note: We understand that it might seem silly for us fashion freaks at GQ—who work in an office with no discernible dress code, where you’re as likely to clock a pair of leather jeans or dainty ballet slippers as you are a nice knit polo and trousers—to be doling out edicts for appropriate workplace style. Which is why we’ve called in back up from a handful of stylish professionals* from a wide spectrum of industries—from tech and finance to politics and advertising—to help us develop rules and strategies for dressing better that apply to the broadest possible range of office workers.
It’s time to shed the corporate cocoon and dress with purpose and conviction. These are GQ’s Dos and Don’ts of Office Style.
*Several names changed to allow for total honesty and good-natured ribbing of swagless coworkers.
Do you really need every stranger on the subway to know where you’re employed? Do you really not have a better windbreaker or ballcap than the one you got for free at your onboarding session? You’re not a star high-school athlete and that hastily embroidered Patagonia vest is not a varsity jacket. There are better ways to build team culture.
If you’ve got a high-profile meeting or presentation on the GCal, you probably already know to dress accordingly: steam your best shirt, lint-roll your favorite jacket, match your lucky socks. But you won’t regret also doing so on the days when you plan to go somewhere nice after work, whether it’s a dressier industry event or a date night at the theater. That also saves you the embarrassment of changing clothes in a bathroom stall.
If it’s made of a sweat-wicking technical fabric and looks like it belongs on the fairway (where, quite frankly, you can also do better style-wise), it absolutely does not belong at the office. Especially not when there’s a wealth of top-notch actual polo shirts—both in knitted and pique form—out there for the taking.
The desire to maximize your efficiency in the morning by simplifying your wardrobe choices is totally reasonable. What’s not OK, however, is if your chosen daily regalia feels thoughtless, sloppy, or just plain boring. “Everyone wants to be a uniform dresser like Steve Jobs,” says Byron, a sales executive at a major tech company, “but misses the part about his turtleneck being Issey.” You don’t have to call up one of the world’s greatest design minds, of course, to assemble your ideal everyday ensemble. You just need to give some real thought to who you are and the image you’re trying to project at the office, and then make sure your clothes reflect that as accurately as possible.
It’s basic manners to smell clean and fresh for your coworkers—but a spritz or two of fragrance is all you need. You don’t want to be responsible for triggering migraines across the open floor plan.
You don’t want it to start looking like Billie Joe’s Stratocaster.
Sean, a litigator in his mid 30s, has seen a distinct shift in his firm’s dress code in recent years. “Pre-COVID, it was far stricter,” he says. “You’d never see jeans or tennis shoes in the office.” The older attorneys returned to work in the same sharp suits they’d always worn, but the younger crowd were less willing to give up the relaxed standards they enjoyed during the WFH era.
“It does them a pretty big disservice,” Sean says, “because I have to go out and convince clients, usually much older than I am, to entrust me with [their cases]. If I show up looking like a 22-year-old who can’t figure out how to iron a shirt, I’m never going to get that work. It’s undermining their ability to grow and get the experience they want. I would feel more comfortable bringing younger people who work for me into client meetings and onto Zoom calls if I wasn’t wondering, ‘Is this person going to look presentable?’”
You could blow your budget on a whole slew of dirt-cheap DTC duds that’ll fall apart in time for a new season’s worth of work clothes, or you can spend a little more on time-tested classics that’ll last you somewhere between a few years to a lifetime. “It’s about buying things with integrity,” says Michael Hill, the creative director of Drake’s. “Buying things that are well made by people who genuinely care about the garments.” Hill points to the value of investing in quality footwear especially. “I see all these guys in these pointy shoes with cemented soles,” he says. “Get yourself a pair of properly made, Goodyear-welted shoes, and they’ll only get better and better with time. And they’ll literally last you forever, because you can take the soles off and replace them again and again.”
Neville, an A&R executive for a record label, works from home full-time—his company doesn’t have an office in the city where he lives. But you’d never know it from his highly regimented morning routine. “I make a point to shower and get fully dressed and ready every morning, no matter what I have going on that day,” he says. “And I never wear sweatpants, which I don’t think anyone over the age of six should be doing. It’s important for me to feel presentable when I work—even just combing my hair makes a difference.”
You might not be able to rock that one conversation-starting vintage sweatshirt you love to your formal workplace, but you can wear a timepiece with a cool backstory—whether that’s a more personal history or an obscure reference with a fabled past. See who takes the bait in your office: Maybe you’ll make friends with a like-minded collector or, even better, enchant a colleague into falling down the horological rabbit hole themselves.
There’s a scourge of elastane-infused, yoga-pant-adjacent bottoms claiming to be “chinos” sweeping the offices of America. “They’re tight, synthetic, and almost always a color of gray or khaki not found in nature,” as tech sales exec Byron puts it. And they must be stopped at all costs.
Fellas: You don’t actually need to be able to do a full split in your work trousers. And truthfully, if you find a great pair of real pants that fit you properly—that sit comfortably at your waist and are cut fuller through the leg from wool or cotton—you’ll look miles better and feel far more comfortable than you ever did in those glorified joggers.
There’s no such thing as stupid questions—only stupid graphic T-shirts. A savvy work pal will be able to steer you straight.
Ideally one that isn’t a backpack (especially not one of those heinous leather “dress” backpacks) and definitely not anything with wheels. A traditional briefcase works just fine, if that’s your thing. But we’re living in a golden age of men’s totes and “It” bags—and you’d do well to embrace the moment.
There’s one wardrobe rule at startup founder Tracy’s office: Absolutely no flip-flops. And it’s not (only) for the reasons you might think, like a distaste for seeing gnarly toes or a fear of potential odors. “It’s the noise,” she says. “I don’t want to hear your sandals slapping against your bare feet as you walk by my desk. That’s too much.”
As Lil Wayne once put it: “Real Gs move in silence like lasagna.” Even in a casual office, you should be wary of extra swishy track pants that sound like someone loudly raking leaves any time you cross your legs at your desk. And the wrong sort of clicky, rotating watch bezel—the horological equivalent of a fidget spinner—can cause auditory havoc during a meeting.
Chi Ossé was primed to shake things up when he became New York City Council’s first Gen Z elected official back in 2021, not least of all in the civil-servant style department. The former party promotor turned now-second-term councilman, who represents the city’s 36th District covering Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights in Brooklyn, has been known to rock a pair of business-casual short shorts in the summer months and prefers black Solomon sneakers or Doc Martens to dress shoes. He is staunchly against tech vests or anything that feels too formal or stuffy, and prefers to layer a denim jacket over his usual polo or Oxford shirts. But he still likes to wear a necktie: “Ties make me feel like I’m doing my job, even if it’s a more relaxed day.”
Whether he’s running all over the city or posted up at City Hall, his wardrobe needs to stay nimble. “If you’re wearing something uncomfortable, you’re not gonna be in the best mood,” Ossé says. “And I feel like especially if you are an elected official, you kind of have to be in a good mood if you’re interacting with people all day.”
You don’t look like Johnny Rotten with that button undone and your neckwear loosened. You just look sloppy.
It has a chunkier knit, a more substantial collar, and doesn’t resemble anything you’d see on the sideline of a college basketball game.
Just because it feels good. Tom Ford once likened suits to armor—and in the modern-day feudal system that is the corporate hierarchy, they’re still the fastest way to look like menswear royalty.
Remember the J.Crew shirt so ubiquitous it spawned its own Instagram page? We do, too—and we’re just as guilty of helping it get there. Learn from our mistakes: be the change you want to see in your company’s HQ.
Contrary to tech-world proselytizing, the algorithm doesn’t know what you need—and getting dressed is only, like, 25% about what you “need” anyway. Resist clicking on the blazer your feed served to you and 15,000 other lost souls; do your research, try a bunch on, and pick the one that makes you happiest when you glance in the mirror.
Watch guys are notorious for never setting the time on their watches, but according to noted vintage dealer Eric Wind, that’s the worst thing you can do at work. “You don't want that subliminal or direct message that you're not responsible with time,” Wind says. “No one's doing the Andy Warhol”—who famously wore a permanently unwound Cartier Tank—“in an office setting.”
Perhaps you’ve heard: there are no good men’s haircuts. If you think yours is the exception to the rule, the least you can do is ensure that your personality is half as intriguing as your fashion mullet.
Are you the proud owner of approximately 15 white Oxford-cloth button-downs and exactly one (1) floral-printed camp shirt? If so, excise the latter from your work rotation immediately. The day you finally wear it to the office is the day your boss’s boss finally makes an impromptu visit to your floor.
Sure, we’re all cogs in the machine, but does that mean we have to dress like one? For some, the uniformity of an office-culture-dictated dress code may be a source of comfort—not having to think about what you wear everyday can be a relief—but I’m willing to bet that you, dear GQ reader, are down to deviate from the herd. Hell, if everyone at your office is wearing a gray fleece vest, why not scroll eBay for a slightly cooler ’90s-vintage Patagonia version? At the very least, rocking a slightly offbeat loafer or swaggier trousers could boost your aura; at best, your bosses might actually appreciate the effort.
Save the freaky flares and ultra-wide cuts for your off-hours—and leave the skinny jeans in 2013 where they belong.
“People always say you should dress for the job you want,” says Neville, the record label executive, “but I really think you should dress for the job you have. If you’re an intern, for example, it’s best to look neat and tidy, because those are attributes people are hoping you’ll deliver in your work. If you dress too flashy or lavishly when you’re still at an entry-level position, it might attract the wrong kind of attention.”
The aforementioned watch dealer Eric Wind agrees. “I've heard from many people that they have to be sensitive about what they wear to the office,” he says, “because they don’t want to outshine their boss who might have one decent—but not very expensive–watch. If the guy under him has a crazy watch collection, it might raise some uncomfortable questions.”
As the costume designer for Industry, HBO’s hit drama set at a London investment bank, Laura Smith has developed a certain fondness for a much-maligned garment beloved by finance bros on both sides of the Atlantic: the quilted vest—or gilet, as it’s known to Brits. The problem, as Smith sees it, is that most folks are simply wearing the wrong kind of vest.
“If you look at the Italian way of dressing, a lot of men in Milan wear gilets brilliantly,” says Smith, who prefers the sleeker, more elegant versions from labels like Brunello Cucinelli and Luca Falconi. “It gives you the illusion of broader shoulders if you choose the right one, which is always attractive, and it will accentuate your waist a bit more. A good gilet offers a clean, streamlined shape and a strong, graphic look—very sharp.”
For some demanding careers, looking the part is quietly linked to your success. “Honestly it's thinking about the game of who I have to be in front of that day," a Morgan Stanley insider tells GQ. “I think that you have a duty to represent yourself as best as you can.” In these cases, special finesse is needed when it comes to blending status-quo pieces, like the ubiquitous fleece vest, into a look of your own.
Some might argue the omnipresence of the Finance Bro Vest is a tradition and an obvious way to align yourself within the Fortune 500 community, but it’s okay not to rely on it. “[The vest is] sexy when it’s sexy and it’s not when it’s not,” the insider says. “It's universally understood that this is acceptable. This is how you can communicate. This is how you can convey a message and still be seen as a part of the culture.”
The workplace is the domain of long-sleeve button-ups, suits, and sweaters—all of which can be easily ruined by the unseemly sight of your 46mm pilot’s watch pitching a yurt with your fabric. Join the tiny timepiece revolution, at least while you’re on the clock.
That standby layer you keep slung on the back of your chair for those days when the AC is cranked beyond comprehension? It needs to be more distinctive and distinguished than the “too smooth and way too thin” pullovers that Byron sees all over his tech company’s offices. Use it as an opportunity to inject whatever you’ve got on with a little more texture and character—think cable knits, flecked wools, or fuzzy mohair.
It doesn’t matter what shoes you swear by—sneakers, loafers, bench-made British brogues: they’ll look (and feel) better when they’re thoroughly protected from your crusty feet, ideally in a pair of dressy ribbed half-calfs.
Come on, man. You’re better than novelty Chewbacca-print hosiery.
A single bracelet or signet ring is a nice, understated accent; any more than that and you risk looking like Cris Angel.
Across big swaths of the tech industry, according to our source Byron, Nike Dunks splashed in wild colors have replaced Allbirds and Common Projects as the office sneakers du jour. “They’ve become a strange sort of placeholder for ‘I still get it! I’m hip! I even listened to Astroworld!” Byron says. “But they’re really projecting the opposite, especially when slapped onto the end of an otherwise anonymous business-casual fit.” It’s perfectly acceptable to signal your sneakerhead credentials at work from time to time—you just never want to do it in a way that feels distracting or desperate.
The same way lapels, trousers, and ties are all wider today than they were a decade ago, the dress shirt collars of the moment are slightly bigger, longer, and more imposing than the trimmed-down ones you might be used to. Ideally, you want a strong, classic point collar that frames your face handsomely and can stand up to the more traditional, non-skinny tailoring that you’re hopefully onto.
You’ll never feel more confident stepping into work than you will in freshly shined oxfords—and it’s way easier to do than you think.
Your computer has your emails covered and we can tell you exactly how many steps you’re getting in at the office: not many. Certainly not enough that you need your biometrics mapped out. You’re sending a deck to the marketing department, not engaging in high-level sport—no matter what your heart rate says.
For Vogue Runway’s fashion news editor José Criales-Unzueta, getting dressed for work is a special pleasure. “I was extremely bored sartorially until I started at Vogue and I was like, thank God,” he says. But it hasn’t been anything-goes: He’s spent the last couple years dialing in his office attire, reworking his favorite pieces into combinations that are elevated and professional. “I like to have a church and state,” he says. “I don’t dress the same to go to the office as I do to hang out with my friends.”
In a work environment, intentionality is key. Criales-Unzueta avoids outfits that feel overly casual, an inclination he credits partially to growing up in Bolivia: “Latinos in general have a very specific concept of elegance,” he explains. He prefers a hard-bottomed boot to a rubber-soled sneaker, balances out casual pieces (such as a concert tee) with dressier pants, and reckons he’s never worn a hoodie to the office—or, for that matter, a pair of short shorts, as much as he appreciates them. “I wear short shorts all the time to work out [or] on the weekends,” he says, “but I’ve never, like, shown a thigh at the office.”
As a general rule of thumb, most dress shirts are cut a little longer to stay politely lodged beneath your pants. Wear them as designed. But if your shirttails naturally hover an inch or two below your waistline, feel free to let ’em fly.
Many of our interviewees say their coworkers don’t seem to know how their clothes should actually fit. Typically, especially in tech and finance, they are too small and tight. “You can still carry yourself with confidence if your quads don’t look like someone put a 10-pound honey glazed ham in a tube sock—I swear,” says Byron, the tech sales executive. Meanwhile, at the high school where he teaches English, Bret says many of his colleagues veer too far in the other direction, shrouding themselves in shapeless, blousy shirts and baggy slacks. “Everything they wear is too wide and too long,” he says, “and not in a fun way.”
Fashion trends, of course, cycle between slimmer and looser silhouettes every few years. But the middle ground—that is, properly-fitting clothes—is enduringly flattering, which is precisely what you should be aiming for with your office wear. Just look, for instance, at these two older Italian gentlemen that Byron clocked on a recent trip to the island of Favignana: their clothes are neither sprayed on nor falling off, they’re comfortable enough to ride bicycles in, and they look as sharp in 2024 as they would’ve in 1953. That’s real style.
The barriers to dressing up nicely for work are myriad: limited time for ironing in the morning, sweaty commutes, etc. But self-consciousness about taking a big swing on a big, buttoned-up fit shouldn't be one of them. One way to look out for your fellow colleagues stepping out on a sartorial ledge? Avoid paying them undue attention or dropping stray commentary, such as the dreaded (if jokey) “Ooh, got a job interview today?” when you see them in a suit. If a coworker looks more dressed up than usual, skip the “Well, you look awfully fancy today” and instead opt for a less-loaded compliment. A simple “I love your outfit” never hurt.
Additional contributions by: Eileen Cartter, Nick Catucci, Yang-Yi Goh, Avidan Grossman, Samuel Hine, Noah Johnson, Martin Mulkeen, Cassandra Pintro, and Cam Wolf.