How ‘business formal’ became hot again

This corporate dress code is all about working it.

Trousers, blazers, button-ups, pantsuits and vests are flourishing beyond sterile, fluorescent-lighted offices. The long-mandated business casual professional attire has gotten a new, high-fashion take, dubbed “corpcore,” and celebrity style savants like Zendaya are on board.

“What people are finding is going back to classics has longer lasting effects,” New York City stylist and model Bernadett Vajda told The Post, adding that she’s noticed her clients longing for a wardrobe refresh post-pandemic.

She added: “I mean, it’s true for me, too, personally. I just want clean, tailored clothes.”

New data from Pinterest revealed a 950% surge in searches for “corporate chic,” while users show more interest in “geek chic,” pinstripe pants, skirts, vests and blazers.

Now, the social networking platform is predicting “corpcore” will become one of the dominating aesthetics this summer.

A slightly more modest cousin to the sultry “office siren,” the tailored trend is the latest iteration of the age-old cubicle classic — an uncharacteristic choice for Gen Z who have traditionally opted for sneakers, jeans and shorts in the workplace.

“A shirt and tie wouldn’t have been considered subversive 10, 15 years ago,” Laura Reilly, the founder and editor of Magasin, told Coveteur.

“But with the last of the corporate workforce largely freed of their dress codes since remote work became at least partially the norm post-COVID, the building blocks of ‘business formal’ can take on new meaning.”

But, after all, Zoomers are obsessed with ’90s vintage — considered anything more than 20 years old — so it’s no wonder that turn-of-the-century business casual is coming back en vogue.

Some have mused that “corpcore” — alternately known as “corp-core” — is merely a second coming of “quiet luxury,” the minimalist yet chic style encapsulated by The Row and Jil Sanders during an era of the Aritzia-fueled “clean girl” aesthetic.

But as designers go back to the drawing board to reimagine corporate couture, there’s more edge than the long-reigning minimalists have gravitated towards, this time with a bit more skin and sharp silhouettes.

“Trendy young professionals who are in the office for the first time want to dress work-appropriate without compromising style, so we’re seeing more of our office-ready pieces jump off the site,” Caroline Maguire, the fashion director for Shopbop, told Coveteur.

Victoria Beckham, for one, launched a collection in collaboration with Mango last month, offering luxury items at a fraction of the cost: sleek blazers with camouflaged buttons, Oxfords with cut-outs, vests with jutted shoulders and wool trousers with an exaggerated flare.

Prada, and its subsidiary Miu Miu, have become a kingpin of corporate chic, and the label, helmed by Miuccia Prada and co-creative director Raf Simons, also debuted a collection of 9-to-5 ready-to-wear for fall/winter 2024 at Milan Fashion Week, during which viewers were seated in office chairs.

Meanwhile, A-list trendsetters have also been sporting the upgraded 9-to-5 uniform. At Gucci’s Cruise 2025 show in London, Lila Moss, the daughter of Kate Moss, wore a buttoned-up, butter-yellow blazer and matching hot shorts. And, in recent months, both Hailey Bieber and Naomi Campbell have donned pinstripe suits, Zendaya appeared on Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show wearing a gray mini dress in the silhouette of a blazer and Kendall Jenner opted for a green power suit for an appearance.

On the first weekend of Coachella, up-and-coming pop sensation Chappell Roan walked onto stage fashioned in a plaid pantsuit, toting a bejeweled briefcase. And most recently, Tyra Banks celebrated being a Sports Illustrated Swim legend for the magazine’s anniversary edition by vamping up a power suit.

Most notably, the humble blazer has become a wardrobe centerpiece, worn alone as a dress, with jeans or paired with matching trousers as a set.

Unlike the 2010s day-to-night blazers of yore — which only millennials will remember wearing to the club — today’s sport coats are getting a facelift with a defined structure akin to the ’80s fanfare over shoulder pads and cinched waists.

Vajda likened the statement jackets to the design of an Alexander McQueen blazer, the “epitome of structural, feminine, strong.” Partaking in “corpcore” with a bold blazer, then, “makes you stand out by owning one piece or jacket.”

“When you have that, it sets you apart from the oversized, from the person who’s not tailoring their clothes. It just sets you apart when you make those little adjustments,” Vajda said.

“So when you’re buying something with a shoulder pad — it’s like inching your way into defining your personal style a little bit more than other people’s.”