The New Rules of Summer Workwear

Casual Friday used to imply that the other four days of the week had a clear-cut dress code. There was a shared understanding of what "looking professional" meant—and, just as importantly, what it didn't. That consensus no longer exists.

Hybrid work blurred the line between office clothes and everything else. Startup culture challenged the idea that authority requires a uniform. Gen Z made corporate cosplay feel outdated. At the same time, women's lives have become less compartmentalized. The same person likely now moves between meetings, errands, social plans, travel, or a second shift of unpaid parenting at home—in less than 24 hours.

Summer simply makes those realities harder to ignore. The practical considerations of getting dressed—staying comfortable in the heat, navigating aggressively air-conditioned offices, finding shoes that can handle a full day, carrying everything you need, and dressing for schedules that don't abruptly end at 5 p.m.—collide with the lingering expectation that women should look put-together but approachable, stylish but not distracting, comfortable but never careless.

Rather than offering another list of officewear dos and don’ts, we wanted to understand how people are actually navigating their version of the workplace. So we asked 12 women across fashion, beauty, design, media, and business what they’re actually wearing this summer. Some spend their days in meetings. Others are sourcing, consulting, creating, traveling, building businesses, or managing teams. What they share is the need for clothes that can keep up without flattening their personal style.

Shorts at work are tricky, but not impossible. Start with proportion, says global sourcing and personal shopping expert Gab Waller, especially if you’re petite: the wrong length can swallow you up fast. From there, it’s about the pieces around them. Waller likes a collared shirt, structured bag, and Chanel ballet flats to shift the tone. Jeanelle Teves, chief commercial officer at Bugaboo and founder of Work Lunch, approaches shorts the same way she approaches any other part of her work uniform: with intention. “The question is less, ‘Do these shorts work for the office?’ and more, ‘Does the overall outfit communicate professionalism, executive presence, and confidence?’” she says. The takeaway is to treat shorts like summer trousers: choose pleats, structure, a higher waist, and a neutral color, then style them with the same pieces you’d wear to a meeting—a striped button-down, lightweight blazer, classic belt, loafers, or a low heel. Save distressed denim, graphic tees, flip-flops, and anything too tight or too short for the weekend.

Work shoes used to be judged by how they looked. Now they're judged by how long they last. Stylist Amanda Kraemer says comfort is no longer something to hide or apologize for—it's the starting point. Elizabeth Giardina, design director at Another Tomorrow, agrees. She spends her days commuting, moving between fittings, and running from meeting to meeting, so she's not interested in suffering through discomfort or carrying a second pair of shoes. Her litmus test is simple: a comfortable shoe feels good when you first put it on, but a truly wearable one still feels good eight or ten hours later.

That has changed the shape of the office shoe itself. The pairs that make the most sense now are softer and easier to move in: loafers that don’t need breaking in, mesh or ballet flats that can handle subway stairs, fisherman sandals that still work with trousers, and slim sneakers that don’t read as gym shoes. The best pair is the one you don’t think about again until you take it off.

The biggest shift in workwear isn't that women stopped wearing tailoring—it's that they stopped wearing it so literally. The power suit hasn't disappeared; it's just been broken apart. Today's version is more likely to be an oversized blazer, relaxed trousers, and a tank than a matching set. In summer, that often means swapping crisp button-downs for lighter layers and choosing natural fabrics that breathe.

Angela Vranich, co-founder and chief product officer of Little Spoon, is especially focused on fit: wide-leg trousers need the right hem, and an oversized blazer works best with something more fitted underneath. Emilie Rose Hawtin, founder of Clementina, takes a similar approach to styling. She prefers tonal separates over anything too coordinated, with one strong accessory—a bag, shoe, scarf, or belt—to keep the whole thing from feeling like a uniform. The result is tailoring that still has authority, just with more room to move.

The desk sweater has become a permanent office resident. Whether it’s a cardigan, blazer, shawl, or grandpa sweater draped over the back of a chair, most people have some kind of backup layer within reach. Interior designer Julia Costanzo calls hers an “emotional support sweater", but her best advice is to keep it neutral enough to work with almost everything.

A summer workday can mean a freezing subway car, a sweaty platform, an office that’s either freezing or unnecessarily hot, and a sunny walk home. “The layer has become just as important as the outfit itself,” says shoe designer Marina Larroudé. That’s why the desk sweater isn’t really a styling trick. It’s more of a survival strategy. And it doesn’t have to be a sweater. Writer Arabelle Sicardi recommends “a chic scarf that can pull double duty for anything,” which is exactly the point: keep something close that can help you adjust without ruining the outfit.

Ten years ago, a work bag just had to get you from home to the office and back. Now it has to survive an entire day: a commute, meetings, errands, maybe dinner after. “The perfect work bag has to keep up with all of that,” says Joyce Lee, creative director of Parker Thatch and author of Time Less. Her checklist is practical: laptop, charger, water bottle, beauty pouch, and a smaller bag tucked inside for dinner.

Rory Satran, a writer, editor, and consultant, says your work bag should be “big enough for a laptop, obviously, but not so big that it evokes the ‘ludicrously capacious bag’” from Succession. She looks for unfussy bags with little branding, a tight structure, and ideally a zip—especially if trains or planes are involved.

In summer, that doesn’t always mean leather. Hairstylist Kadi Lee relies on oversized totes, raffia bags, and vintage woven baskets that can handle a laptop, lab samples, house calls, and even the beach. The best work bags no longer exist in a separate category. They’re just good bags that happen to make it through the workday.