Now that we’re all back in the office, I’m wondering how to navigate work wear this summer. The office is “business causal,” and people wear anything from a suit to jeans and a T-shirt, but what I don’t see is shorts. Why not? Are they really that different than a skirt? — Caitlin, Washington, D.C.
To give you a … well, short answer: not at all. Shorts are often longer than skirts these days and often more conservative. There is no reason a woman shouldn’t wear them to the office. It’s a little more complicated for men, even considering the success of Thom Browne, because of our more complicated feelings about men’s legs. But that’s a whole different story.
If there’s any hesitancy about women, work and shorts, I think it comes from our deep-seated associations with the garment, which generally have to do with summer, weekends and childhood. Shorts are what we wear when we aren’t at work, so it can seem uncomfortable, or even subversive, to wear them in the office.
In our psychographic wardrobe, they represent leisure, and sports. Opting to wear them in a professional capacity for anyone who isn’t an athlete is as much a mental choice as a fashion decision. Which may be why they seem to be the last frontier of dress code revisionism. We’ve abandoned the tie, accepted the hoodie, but shorts … well. The jury is still out.
In practical terms, however, there is no reason not to wear shorts to work — or at least a certain style of shorts. As with any garment, it’s the kind of shorts you wear that matter and how you dress them up.
Very short shorts, no matter how tailored or office appropriate the fabric, should be avoided, just like very short skirts. So should rompers. (No one will take you seriously in something called a romper.) So should anything resembling bike shorts. Demi Moore wore them once with a brocade skirt to the Oscars, but the resulting derision is all you really need to remember about that.
Instead, opt for shorts that reach almost to the knees or fall below the knee, so they have more in common with their sartorial ancestor, short pants (or at least capri pants), than, say, underwear. Not to mention Bermuda shorts or walking shorts. Then, said the stylist Karla Welch when I asked for her recommendations, add a T-shirt (tucked in and belted), a blazer and “conservative shoes”: platform loafers, say, or kitten heels or even pumps. Another option: an oversize button-up shirt.
Shorts add a bit of surprise, and cool, to what could otherwise be a fairly staid look, transforming the stiffness of a suit into business casual almost by definition. Also, they make walking, not to mention reaching for anything on a high shelf, a lot easier. And in a heat wave, they are just more comfortable to wear.
The good news is, fashion has been pushing exactly these kinds of shorts for a few seasons now, with Burberry, Dries Van Noten, Emilia Wickstead and Victoria Beckham embracing the idea most recently. Still, the fact that it has taken such repetition, and that this question keeps coming up every summer, reflects the ambivalence many consumers feel about office shorts. It may be time to give them a new name to reflect their new status, a sort of portmanteau of pants and shorts, though no combination of those words trips off the tongue. (Try it. You’ll see what I mean.)
Still, the more we see the whatever-you-want-to-call-them, the easier it becomes to imagine wearing them off the catwalk and into the conference room. Someone has to be first. Why shouldn’t it be you?
Your Style Questions, Answered
Every week on Open Thread, Vanessa will answer a reader’s fashion-related question, which you can send to her anytime via email or X. Questions are edited and condensed.
Vanessa Friedman has been the fashion director and chief fashion critic for The Times since 2014.
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