In this report, writer Skyli Alvarez explores how young corporate goths are bringing their style to the workplace and challenging the idea of traditional office wear.
On the eve of her first day of work as an administrative paralegal in April, Zoe McKeown, 22, felt near-catatonically nervous. She worried about the possibility of appearing underqualified amongst her coworkers-to-be, a feeling many young, new hires know all too well. Thus, McKeown took black dye to her once-colorful hair, forwent painted nails, and hoped for the best. As soon as she attended her first department meeting, however, she noticed coworkers tattooed up in casual clothing, and any fears regarding dress codes quickly dissipated.
As a young person, gauging how to dress in the workplace is no easy task to conquer, especially when wanting to infuse a sense of individual style and comfort into a so-called representation of competence and professionalism. “I think that COVID-19 and hybrid work have really changed people's attitudes towards office dress," McKeown tells Teen Vogue. "There’s a lot of intimidation coming in the door as a new or younger individual, but it’s probably bigger in your mind than it is in reality, [since] your aesthetic worldview is also something you’re being hired for.”
In our post-pandemic work scape, the distinctions between personal and professional wear continue to blur and, at times, playfully fuse into one. The appeal and novelty of dressing up have found new meaning amongst young workers, particularly those who gravitate toward more alternative styles. So-called officecore, for example, takes cues from preppy corporate wear of the aughts and has made its rounds on TikTok, with uniforms often consisting of thrifted white ruffled button-ups, low-rise slacks, and paper-thin, yet pronounced, brows.
A similarly related style is that of corporate goth. Consider the current iteration of corporate goth to be the older, ‘edgier’ sibling of officecore, where you can take the aforementioned button-up blouse, dye it black, and style it with teased hair, your favorite pinstripe pencil skirt, and “Bayonetta” glasses (which have caught the attention of fellow “ghoul girls” Bella Hadid and Amelia Grey, among others).
Through niche trends such as corporate goth, style enthusiasts have been able to bring their wardrobes and interests to the office and bring the office to their wardrobes.
“‘How do I take my personal identity and my professional identity and make a secret third thing?’” McKeown asks herself often. “That’s what I like to call ‘business ghoul:’ pulling the pieces I have in my closet that are eclectic or weird and then pairing them with traditional business clothing, like suits and pointed-toe heels.”
By juxtaposing workwear-associated attire with more stand-out pieces of personal significance, the feat of navigating dress code restrictions has led several “goths at work” to innovate their daily uniforms.
“I have been giving myself little challenges to put together an outfit that is both work-appropriate and something I like and feel confident in,” says Quinn Luong, 23, who is an art gallery assistant and recent college graduate. Like McKeown, Luong takes sartorial inspiration from a plethora of subcultures and styles, most notably Japanese pop culture of the nineties and, as of late, corp-gothness.
Luong recalls a recent exhibition reception their gallery hosted, where they greeted guests, curators, and artists who entered the space. A group of younger attendees approached Luong, intrigued by the assistant’s tattoos that were covered with a mesh long-sleeve blouse. “They observed small things about me that set me apart from perhaps a more traditionally dressed corporate worker," they say. “It just made me happy [knowing] people notice and that even when I'm working, I can still express a part of myself. That’s the fun of [identifying] with a subculture: the curiosity of discovering it.”
Oftentimes, in stricter environments especially, the key to bringing self-expression to the workplace lies in the details. As her job progressed, interior designer Nh Yang, 25, gradually came into her own corp-whimsigoth-esque style by steadily incorporating small details and elements into work attire. “It all started with my hair,” Yang shares. She describes it as “drapery” that informed the long, sweeping silhouettes much of her wardrobe follows, with which she styles accessories from rings to piercings and brightly-colored cosmetic contacts.
Whether it be through distinct silhouettes, layered garments, or unlikely accessories such as tattoos and contacts, this current era of corporate goths is finding — and inventing — fresh ways to change up age-old notions of business wear. “I think they’re very innovative, [these] slight means of self-assertion,” McKeown adds. “It’s about what you bring to the table. It's not about what you’re wearing at the table.”
