Workplace culture is changing due partly to a resurging fashion trend called “office siren,” which aims to bring stylishness to women in the corporate world.
Composed of professional main pieces, such as blazers, slacks, pencil skirts, sheer tights, and heels, the office siren look combines professional women’s wear with flared statement pieces, such as thin glasses or designer accessories.
The office siren provides an interesting duality since it is considered a sexy or alluring style for women who want to look attractive while they work corporate jobs. Together, professionalism and sex appeal in an aesthetic make the style stand out.
The office siren’s primary inspirations are corporate styles from the late ‘90s and early 2000s. The trend takes pieces from media released during that period such as “Secretary” and “The Devil Wears Prada.”
The office siren aesthetic had a large resurgence on TikTok in late 2023 and early 2024 after different fashion influencers began picking up the trend and modeling sleek looks.
Celebrity culture also helped fuel the fire. Celebrities like Bella Hadid, who often wore thin-framed glasses and sleek blazers, became models for the style. Kim Kardashian even showed off the style for a Skims ad where she typed at an office desk wearing her line of clothes.
Many people believe that the aesthetic brings a sense of power to women in a few ways. For the past few years, the mainstream idea of femininity has been a very light, delicate and innocent look.
With the “coquette” aesthetic (consisting of pink, bows, frills, and childlike motifs) that has dominated Generation Z culture and is slowly on the decline, the office siren style provides an opposite end of the spectrum due to its maturity.
Office siren focuses on career women and women in the workplace. Riley Clark, a junior studying journalism who works for VariantMagazine, said has been coming for a long time due to recent trends.
“I think typical feminine fashion is more colorful, playful, and innocent,” Clark said. “So when the word girlboss got [popular], it kind of became this more corporate idea of how women dress.”
Vogue’s article, “When It Comes to the Office Siren Trend, Are Women In On the Joke?” discusses the aesthetic and believes some ways being an office siren can actually hurt women instead of helping them due to the suggestive nature of the style.
“Wearing a power suit doesn’t inherently grant the wearer power,” author Hannah Jackson wrote. “Some of the images I've seen circulating of women in pencil skirts and clear rectangular glasses are a lot more submissive."
Trends that lean into sexualizing women can sometimes create harmful expectations where women are seen more as something appealing to look at instead of real people.
“A lot of the [office siren looks] are super sexualized, and it plays out some kind of fantasy about hooking up with your boss or being the hot girl at work,” Jackson wrote.
The office siren aesthetic also aims to dismantle the traditional corporate dress code, in which most employees are expected to dress similarly and plainly.
Many students, such as Liv Urlage, a junior studying retail and fashion merchandising, appreciate the idea of dismantling the idea of strict dress codes for women.
“It feels like it's like high school all over again,” Urlage said. “I don't know why women can't wear what they want to the office because ‘it would make men uncomfortable.’”
Negative opinions have emerged regarding the fashion trend, however. Some people believe the trend is unfit for a corporate environment. One TikTok user reported in a comment that she was allegedly fired from a high-paying job on her second day for dressing as an office siren.
“Losing 6 figures a year because of a fashion trend is crazy. Why do people not know how to be professional anymore?" a TikTok comment with 42 thousand likes said in response to the controversy.
With Gen Z slowly joining the workforce, expectations for office culture may begin to shift to fit the generation’s attitudes. Clark believes the trend isn’t outwardly inappropriate and still aligns with professional values.
“A lot of (office siren) fashion is very, very covered,” Clark said, regarding the modesty of the style. “It's just a little more playful, like a business casual, but more playful.”
Many students, like Urlage, just want a dress code that allows them to feel comfortable and confident.
“If I have a good outfit on and I feel comfortable in an outfit, I feel like I'm going to succeed more,” Urlage said. “Hopefully, we're moving towards a more creative and personalized dress code.”
