The Suit is Dead, and So is the "Professional Persona"

Read part 1 - The Future of Work was shifting long before the lockdown

In the 90s, “putting on your armour” was a literal part of the job. You had a work wardrobe that was structured, formal and distinct, and you had a personal wardrobe which, for most, was somewhat different.

When you took off the suit (and in my early days the tie) at 6:00 pm, you were signalling to your brain, and your family, that the professional persona was being shelved for the day. There was a psychological “click” that happened in that transition.

Fast forward to today, and for most of us, those two wardrobes have merged into a single, permanent rotation of “business casual” or “tech-bro chic”.

This relaxation of dress codes is often cited as a win for workplace culture. It’s more authentic, right? However, with a change hat on, I look at it through a different lens: the loss of the “boundary ritual”, particularly on those work-from-home days where both the physical environment and the dress code do not change between work and personal time.

When we look the same at a Saturday morning coffee shop as we do in a Monday morning boardroom, the visual distinction between our private and public lives disappears. The hoodies and trainers that became acceptable in the workplace, pioneered by Silicon Valley in the early 2000s, sent a subtle message: your work self and your personal self are now the same person.

The “seamless self” sounds efficient, but it’s exhausting. Without the “armour” of a formal wardrobe, many employees feel they are never fully off. They are always in a state of semi-readiness for a work call.

The relaxation of the dress code was a physical manifestation of these blurring lines. If we no longer have a “uniform” to take off, we have to find new, intentional ways to signal to our nervous systems that the workday is over.

Read part 3 - Drawing New Lines in a World Without Walls