The staccato sound of a Jimmy Choo stiletto and the baritone beat of an Oliver Sweeney Oxford brogue are the constant soundtrack to a working day in the City but ever since the earliest days of the dedicated workspace – for which we can thank the ancient Roman tabularium, an office used to house public records, and medieval monks’ writing rooms known as scriptorium – office attire to ‘suit’ the profession has evolved dramatically.
The Beginnings of the Office Suit
The evolution of working attire began in the 1600s when professionals such as civil servants, lawyers and accountants in the major European business hubs of London, Amsterdam and Paris started working from offices.
What we know today as a suit, two-piece or three-piece, morphed from 17th century formal wear. Knee-length breeches, a shirt frosted with lace at the cuffs and the neck (a precursor to the modern-day tie), a doublet, (a short-waisted, tight fitted jacket worn over the shirt) and a cape to cap the ensemble. Then as now, wealth and position were conveyed by the cut and quality of the fabric and ornamentation. It’s also worth noting that before the invention of the cotton gin, clothes (and most everything else) were made entirely by hand.
As always, specific trends came and went but the basic elements of office attire remained unchanged for centuries until the start of the Industrial Revolution at the beginning of the 19th century. Clothing that was painstakingly handmade (and therefore very expensive) could, from the 1820s, be mass-produced thanks to a combination of the cotton gin and the availability of cloth, later patterned and dyed fabrics. Tailors then saw the benefits of producing ‘ready-made’ suits that didn’t cost three months’ wages, didn’t take three months to make and were available to more than just the City’s upper echelons.
From Dandy Regency to Austere Victorian
Beau Brummell, considered to be the arbiter of men’s fashion in the early 19th century toned down the foppish, overtly opulent style of late 18th century Georgian equivalent of today’s corporate employee for beautifully tailored clothes which by this time included the modern suit and tie.
Going to work in an office in Victorian England was considered a serious business so therefore what they wore also had to be serious. The Victorian age was one of austerity, a rejection of physical pleasure and individuality to reflect the sombre mores of the time. Office wear was predominantly a black knee-length frock coat with severely-cut narrow grey trousers, a waistcoat, stiff-collared shirt and tie with the obligatory gold pocket watch and top hat.
As the eponymous monarch of the Victorian era died, so – happily – did the age of austerity and the dramatic changes to social customs in the next two decades led to a more relaxed, flashier look.
From Pre-War Sense and Sensibility to Post-War Mad Men
Office attire remained broadly conservative but fashion-wise, there were more places to go both from a physical shopping standpoint and a personal style standpoint. The pre-war Roaring Twenties was when one started to ‘dress for success’. What you wore determined not just your status but also your ambition. The business suit was the epitome of bourgeois masculine attire – to some, a targeted symbol of conformity and of bowing down to ‘the man’ – but as we moved from the immediate post-World War II shock into the more relaxed 50s, the workplace became less concerned with exacting dress codes and more focused on a cultural conformity.
From Hippies to Yuppies
The 60s and 70s were a riot of colour, counter-culture, ethnic influences and a ‘we can do what we like’ attitude. That said, the business suit – albeit with flared trousers and Travolta’s Tony-Manero-Saturday-Night-Fever wide-lapel, three piece – stayed relatively true to form.
As the Filofax-holding, red 911-driving, multi-coloured braces-wearing, Quaglino’s-reserving City wide boy started leveraging disposable income, the penchant for sharp, double-breasted Italian power suits with built-in shoulder pads, handmade shirts, silk ties and French (often awfully sockless) loafers knew no bounds. Money was no object in the pursuit of success, or more to the point, the look of success, a la Patrick Bateman in American Psycho.
But Today, It’s Different…
Thanks to sartorial superstars such as Giorgio Armani and Donna Karan in the late 80s and early 90s, the ‘sharp City suit only’ armour was broken and the door to business casual opened. Finally, there was an alternative to the business suit. Still required to be a wardrobe staple but no more the everyday uniform, Gap khakis and a Ralph Lauren Oxford shirt was smart enough for dress-down Friday and soon for the other weekdays.
In 1994, co-founder of Electronic Arts Bing Gordon famously said, ‘If you don’t have anything to say, wear a suit’.
While the big banks and law firms cling on the last vestiges of tradition, even they are realising that – unless staff are in a high-profile, client-facing role – dress codes no longer need to be so rigidly formal.
In 2019, Goldman Sachs announced they were relaxing and revamping their dress code. The CEO, President and CFO noted that ‘the changing nature of workplaces were generally in favour of a more casual environment’ and that there was a desire to build a ‘cohesive culture across the company’ but in reality Goldmans and the other City giants are now competing with the big tech firms for the best young talent, many of whom have never worn a suit in their lives and have no intention of doing so.
Over To You…
Of course what you wear to the office depends on the type of office you work in. Flip-flops, cargo shorts and baseball caps may well be OK if you’re in a Shoreditch media agency but most certainly not if you’re an associate at Clifford Chance.
Here at BDG Sparkes Porter, it’s very much substance over style. We’re more concerned with offering our clients a service they know and trust rather than ensuring we’re suited from Savile Row. That’s not to say some of the chaps don’t have a Savile Row spectacular hiding in an aluminium and glass wardrobe somewhere in the NW1 or W9 postal areas but it’s not de rigueur.
For fashion advice as well as all your central London property requirements, please contact us on 020 7629 1088 or email info@bdgsp.co.uk.