Sweatshirts are getting trendier (and pricier), from puff sleeves to cropped lengths to quarter-zip styles. Can they actually look polished for work, and if so, what’s the best way to wear them? — Yael, New York
Between the explosive rise of streetwear, the trend toward celebrity merch and the re-emergence of quiet luxury, the sweatshirt, once that most basic of wardrobe staples, has experienced a hyper-speed evolution.
This is, according to GQ, “the golden age of hoodies,” with one for pretty much every personality and occasion. (I swear that the magazine has a sweatshirt correspondent, it covers the garment so much.)
Not long ago I was at a Fear of God presentation and found myself coveting a sweatshirt with a wide faux turtleneck that seemed to be exactly the kind of sweatshirt that Audrey Hepburn would have worn if she was a sweatshirt-wearing type. Back in her day she obviously was not. But she might be now!
Whether there are sweatshirts that can be worn to work is a different story. As always, it depends on the job and the message you are trying to convey. Office dress codes are as much about peer groups and signaling where you belong in a hierarchy (or want to belong) as they are about actual style.
“A sweatshirt is sort of the final frontier of business casual,” said a friend who works for a tech company. “But recently the emphasis has been more on the business part and less on the casual.” This is especially so now that there is more pressure in the job market and people want to look serious and employable.
Whether you like it or not, and no matter how fancy they may be, sweatshirts are essentially coded casual and youthful. Even student-y, much like the backpack. They are not generally coded corporate, even if they have a corporate logo on the front.
Joseph Rosenfeld, a personal stylist who works with executives on both the West and East Coasts, said much the same.
“When it comes to sweatshirts, I don’t focus on whether they’re ‘luxurious’ or ‘designer,’” he said. “I look at whether they undermine authority in the context in which the wearer would use them. A sweatshirt’s default behavior is to dissolve structure. In most professional contexts, that works against clarity, confidence and discernment, especially for people in visible or senior roles.”
The real question you should be asking yourself, Mr. Rosenfeld said, is not, “Can I get away with this?” It is, he said, “Do I want to give up visual authority on purpose, and if so, what do I intend to say instead?’”
Maybe you want to signal membership in a group, or a department. According to my friend, the only people in her company who wear sweatshirts are the engineers, or coders, and that is as much a visual cue about what they do, and where they belong, as it is about personal taste.
Mark Zuckerberg, perhaps the most famous sweatshirt wearer (at least other than Senator John Fetterman), wore them in part to suggest that “he prioritizes his brain output over personal presentation,” Mr. Rosenfeld said.
Besides, he continued, “he holds so much power that he might even try to neutralize it rather than project it. It’s a flex without any effort.”
But, he said, this would work only “for the very few people who, like him, have a level of unchallenged authority.” Besides, even Mr. Zuckerberg has pivoted away from hoodies and toward a more structured wardrobe.
If you want to try a sweatshirt in the office, dressing it up is crucial. Wear it with tailored pants, a blazer and sophisticated shoes and jewelry. The point is to make it look as little like a sweatshirt as possible — which may take more … well, work, than it is worth.
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.
The post Can I Wear a Sweatshirt to Work? appeared first on New York Times.
