Margaret Cirino
Appearances
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
Oh, okay. So Rashida's not a fan. Definitely not. So I actually didn't reveal to her that I am a fan and that I wear all these fake glasses to the club because... I wear glasses.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
I needed to be told that. And, you know, maybe things will swing the other way, too. Here's Avery Truffleman again.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
Okay, I want you to picture like a tight white button up, lots of hair gel, you know, like the hardest, tightest, slick back bun looks painful you've ever seen. Pencil skirts, little kitten heels. It's like a devil wears Prada, kind of like early internet culture feel to it, basically. I'm obsessed with it. Other people are too, though. It's really popular.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
I've definitely seen the trend. It's made the rounds. Yes. You know, I've also seen, though, that these kind of aesthetics have permeated into the rest of culture over the last few years. Like you see it on TV shows like Severance, Industry. You see it in music. You know, The Dare, who's a musician. He's kind of exclusively wearing like the skinny ties. Suits and skinny ties. FKA Twigs.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
You know, she has a whole office themed music video for YouSexua that kind of went viral, basically.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
I want to make a distinction here. It's not just office wear. It's kind of like a play on office wear. People are having like a little bit of fun with it. It's an acknowledgement of these costumes, really, that we wear. And there's a subversion to it, you know.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
So people are getting sexy and ravey with it and sometimes a little deranged take on office fashion, which I'm calling the freakification of office wear. Okay. I like that. Freakification. Yeah. Yeah. Like I've even seen office themed raves in the ether. Have you ever been to one? I've been to one that had an explicitly corporate dress code. I did deliver. Yeah.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
But also like in any context, I'm seeing people wearing business wear to the club, even without that kind of explicit dress code. And in fashion, you know, this style, it's being shown on fall 2026 runway shows. So it's lasted a really long time when, you know, as we know, most trends these days, they don't really last that long.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
Yeah, so our workplaces have undergone really drastic changes in the past few years. And they're continuing to evolve in ways that might feel a little scary to some people. And I think that's really being reflected in our fashion and in our pop culture. So what drew you to this style? Okay, I will be honest with you. I originally was not thinking that hard about it.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
I was kind of just like, oh, all the other fashion girlies are wearing skinny glasses. Like, I need to go and buy some. But thinking deeper and sitting with it, I think this style has really stayed with me because it feels, Like alien. Like I've always kind of turned to fashion to create, you know, different versions of myself that are really outlandish or like wouldn't otherwise exist, basically.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
Why do you say that version won't ever exist? Yeah, I've really never seen a pre-COVID workplace, so. Oh. Yeah, I feel a little unfamiliar with like the traditional quote unquote office norms and customs as they were. So I put on this costume and I'm kind of like, I'm living the fantasy.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
I learned that office wear has kind of, it's been costumey from the very beginning. Oh. Yeah, I talked to journalist Avery Travelman about it. She's the host of the fashion history podcast, Articles of Interest. And here's what she told me.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
Yeah, apparently so. I also did not know this.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
It's kind of Chippendales dancer. Very much so, yeah. And, you know, we saw cultural icons put their own spin on this in the 80s. Here's Avery again.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
And honestly, I'm seeing that echoed a lot in modern day fashion too. You know, if you look at Chapel Roan for The Giver, she's in this, like, boxy, oversized suit that just feels so 80s to me. Or Dochi, too. You know, what she wore to the Grammys this year. Again, this, like, very masculine suit dress.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
Yeah. And the other time I think office wear was really big was in the late 2000s. You know what I mean? Right. I was too young for this, but maybe you remember.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
I'm thinking about what was happening around then as well. As you probably know, millennials were entering the workforce, but during a recession.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
Yeah, I would guess that had to play a part in why it was fashionable to wear like button downs and khakis and blazers to the club.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
I think I need to steal that phrase because, yeah, honestly, that sounds like what a lot of me and my friends feel now.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
I didn't even know about this Malice at the Palace fight, but that makes a lot of sense.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
It's like a play on power that acknowledges that power's sex appeal and danger. Stick around.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
Yeah. So I talked to Kat Zhang. She's a culture writer at The Cut. And she previously wrote about this and said something that I keep thinking about.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
It's not just between repression and liberation. When the trend started, I think people were really dealing with return to office mandates after the pandemic, high inflation. People were feeling bad about the economy generally. It's now even more salient, you know, with economic instability due to tariffs and, you
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
Government threats around DEI programs or lost contracts or grants due to doge cuts. There's all these massive changes to the corporate world and fashion is really emotional. So it's not surprising to see people trying to embody nostalgia for a type of power that feels really out of reach at the moment. I talked to culture writer Amelia Petrarca about this. Here's what she told me.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
I have been having a lot of fun with it, but I will admit to you, I've been making some questionable fashion and beauty choices. I over plucked my eyebrows. I'm six months out still working through that decision. So that's great. I also on Amazon ordered... Three pairs of fake glasses that I do wear.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
Yeah, when I say freakified, I am thinking of this one scene in the You Sexual Music video when FKA Twigs is... like finally freed from the shackles of her office work, like corp core dystopian vibes. We pan out on her row of cubicles and she's on the ceiling of her office and she has this like incredible shaved, spiky, multi-directional haircut and is crawling and writhing around up there.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
And the set is crumbling apart around her. And I kind of go back to this visual a lot when I'm thinking about how other people are pushing the limits of the office siren trend. They're just like getting freakier and freakier with it. Right.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
For example, you might wear a pencil skirt and blouse or a suit, but then also incorporate a weird haircut or a makeup look or maybe club boots or lots of piercings or these, like, bondage-inspired couture pieces to go along with the office clothes. It's kind of explicitly sexy, too. Like, it's called Office Siren for a reason.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
It's like a play on power that acknowledges that power's sex appeal and danger.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
Yeah, I've been thinking about this a lot. I think there's something about the office siren that's a little bit taboo. Here's Amelia again.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
If you follow that thought through about a sexy office environment, it maybe ends up feeling kind of icky. People are really wearing this when they're trying to turn a look. So you might see it in a more fashion-forward work environment or at the club, especially when it's not cool to wear in more conservative office environments. That makes a lot of sense.
It's Been a Minute
Trend Alert: The girls are making office fashion sexy again
I talked to one fashion archivist about this, Rashida Renee. Love. Rashida. I've held her on Tumblr for years. She's the best. Love. Yeah, she's like the encyclopedia of fashion deep cuts. And this is what she told me.