A new report from the University of Sydney Business School highlights the importance of appearance in the office and the refashioning of professional attire in the age of remote work.

It may have been a novelty to wear pyjamas during work hours at the beginning of the pandemic, but over the past two years decisions around what to wear when working from home have evolved.

As organisations push to see people return to the physical workplace, sartorial sensibilities are set to change again.

Wearing a suit and tie or dress was once the norm in many professional work contexts, yet even pre-pandemic, dress codes were gradually morphing from formal into business casual.

In this age of remote working, does appearance at work really matter anymore?

New research confirms that since COVID-19 there has been a definitive shift to casual fashion alternatives when working from home.

A national mixed methods survey (n=1155) was undertaken, asking about people’s experiences of getting ready for work before and during the pandemic, and their perspectives on work attire and perceptions of professionalism in their industry.

Beyond the COVID fashion cliche of ‘business up top and party on the bottom’, connections between professional appearance, work environment and workplace gender equality warrant further attention – particularly the gendered impact of remote working on women’s careers, and the emergence of new place-based workplace cultures tied to work attire.

While there was consensus among respondents that appearance is important, women were more likely to remark that appearance plays a role in how they are perceived at work. Despite this, women, more so than men, reported dressing more casually at home, with the prevalence of activewear in their daily wardrobe rotation.