Sharon Stone’s all-white interrogation outfit in Basic Instinct. The razor thin reading glasses worn by Gisele Bundchen in The Devil Wears Prada. If this all feels familiar, it’s most likely your TikTok ‘For You’ has recently filled with workplace-inspired outfits. And you’re not alone.
Welcome to the era of the ‘office siren.’ Overnight, we’ve become obsessed with one archetype: a 90s-reminiscent, hyper-feminine caricature of a woman in the workplace. She is pure fantasy: strutting from 9-to-5 in six-inch heels, immovable makeup and gravity-defying hair. She has also ushered in an entirely new trend; ‘corporate-core,’ which has left us clamoring for pencil skirts, prescription glasses and stilettos.
After almost four years of remote work, an en masse embrace of office attire feels particularly foreign. Some may credit the revival of office-centered soaps like Suits, a 2010s-era TV series based on the inner workings of a dramatic, fictional law form. Others, point to the job market, currently in such dire straits that the very idea of an office role seems kind of romantic. In the meantime, we have been stuck in a cycle of sweatpants, sports bras and Zoom-appropriate tops while head-turning office attire lives only on screen.
For that reason, the office siren’s arrival has felt kind of inevitable. We’ve not only outgrown our ‘all-day everyday’ approach to loungewear that once felt so novel, but also the onslaught of sequins that took over when COVID-restrictions lifted. Over the past year, statement pieces have gone out in favor of versatile essentials, neutrals replaced color and we collectively subscribed to ‘quiet luxury’: expensive, quality (and generally boring) staples. Now, it seems, we’re embracing the sex appeal of the newly popular ‘mob wife’ style while still following the core ethos of quiet luxury — fusing together several conflicting trends at once.
It seems corporate-core is telling us we’re ready for structure…and normalcy. A stable day-job over uncertainty, free weekends over last-minute creative requests, flirtatious banter IRL rather than Snapchat back-and-forth. And fashion, as always, is following suit. As women of the mid-2020s now eschew baggy jeans for feminine silhouettes, waist-high tailored pants and skirts make their comeback. Blazers have never been more popular, nor have reading glasses, and lord knows you need a pointed-toe heel. And, of course, every office siren needs a phone that aligns with her aesthetic. Shop the best, below.
Bring out your inner vixen with the Ming Lee case.
Minimalists rise up — the Star Girl case is made for you.
Perfect for an office flirtation, indulge your inner romantic with Red Gingham Hearts.