There was a time in my life when I wholeheartedly believed that comfort and office clothes were mutually exclusive. If I was heading to the office, that meant that I was sporting a stiff pair of slacks, shoving my feet into a far-too-small pair of pointed-toe heels, and staring at a closet of clothes that I absolutely dreaded putting on in the morning.
Though no one asked for it, 2020 introduced a lot of us to the previously foreign concept of working from home. For me, that included being introduced to the idea that if I didn’t want to wear pants while brainstorming my next project, I simply didn’t have to. After a over a year of rocking oversized college sweatshirts, my coziest joggers, and rotating between two of my favorite pairs of slippers, I am on a mission to find office-appropriate attire that makes me look put together but still feel like I’m rocking one of my go-to WFH outfit formulas. If you’re on the hunt for office-friendly attire that you could just as easily work in as you could nap in, these low-maintenance, comfy AF office clothes have your back:
Blouses, tees, and knit tops:
While I’ll always reach for my oversized Tybee Island tourist tee before anything else, on days when we’ll be back in the office, I’ll be opting for flowy blouses, comfy fitted tees, cozy knit tops, and oversized button-up shirts that I’ll actually look forward to being in all day long.
No-hassle dresses and skirts:
Not only are dresses and skirts a super low-maintenance pick for a morning of running late, but they also happen to be a super comfortable solution as opposed to tight slacks or work-appropriate jeans (the horror!). Flowy dresses and skirts are the keys to looking cute with minimal effort (read: it’s about as close to working from home sans pants as we’re going to get).
Oversized blazers and cozy sweaters:
When we’re working somewhere that’s not our home, we don’t have the liberty to crank up the heat, swaddle ourselves in our comfiest Barefoot Dreams blanket, or control the A.C. as we normally would. Next to bringing our snowsuit, incorporating layers in the form of oversized blazers and cozy sweaters is the perfect way to make sure that we’re comfortable in the office, no matter what the office thermostat is set at.
Linen trousers and relaxed pants:
After months and months of wearing our comfiest joggers, we simply can’t fathom slipping into our most structured, restrictive pair of slacks like we used to. Though it’s not professionally acceptable to rock our favorite cotton trousers in the office (one can dream), we can reach for linen trousers and relaxed, stretchy pants, which are the next best thing.
Broken-in loafers and leather sneakers:
I’ll miss wearing my slippers more than I’ll miss most things about working from home, so when we return to the office, I’ll have my leather loafers and office-approved sneakers broken in and ready to go. To my slippers, it’s not a “goodbye,” it’s a “we’ll reunite after 5:30 p.m. and I’ll see you later.” Until then, we’ll be strutting through the city in these comfortable alternatives.
