Why corporate cosplay is taking over fashion
Hi, and welcome to Glossy’s Weekly Recap, where Glossy editor-in-chief Jill Manoff breaks down a big industry conversation and highlights five of the latest must-read Glossy stories. Sign up here to get Glossy’s daily, in-depth coverage on the businesses of beauty and fashion in your inbox every weekday morning.
The office is having a (fashion) moment.?
Both mass and designer brands have turned to traditional office decor — most often, that associated with the 1980s — when designing the backdrops for their latest runway shows and campaigns.?
On February 25, Aritzia rolled out a campaign for a new collection of suits, collared shirts and smart separates. The included videos featured the British Fashion Council’s Model of the Year, Alex Consani, accessorized with a mug stamped “Word’s Best Boss” while leading a boardroom meeting in a corporate office. Along with The Big Boss, she plays The Personality Hire and The Office Siren, among other common office roles, while embracing office speak. “This experience is not moving the needle,” she says, before stressing the need for “data-driven decisions” and describing a potential move as “low-risk, high-yield.”
A week later, while promoting its H&M Studio S/S 2025 collection on March 4, H&M announced on its Instagram that “Power dressing is back.” A video featuring the collection, which includes wide-shoulder blazers and wool-blend trousers, is set in an office, where a model walks between desks while talking on a cordless phone (with an antenna).
On Wednesday, during Paris Fashion Week, Stella McCartney proved that the look translates to high fashion when she debuted her “Laptop to Lapdance” Fall 2025 collection from a space mimicking a corporate office with an open floor plan. Days prior, the brand teased the show’s theme with Instagram videos featuring a 1980s-era office answering machine picking up a call and a Xerox machine printing copies of scanned accessories. On show day, traditional office chairs, PCs and water coolers flanked the runway, while notebooks were reportedly placed in attendees’ seats. It was a fitting setting for the debut of a collection featuring double-breasted suits and other takes on ‘80s power dressing.?
And finally, on Sunday, Duran Lantink, best known for his innovative, sustainable designs, debuted his buzzy collection between old-school cubicles housing what appeared to be call center employees — each donned a headset.?
There are many reasons why the office is suddenly being championed. For one, Saint Laurent’s Anthony Vaccarello decidedly set the mood in September when —?for Spring 2025 —?he debuted consecutive women’s looks featuring oversized suits, menswear ties and glasses. Bella Hadid was among the runway models sporting the look. Since then, neckties for her have become a big trend.
There’s also the fact that more fashion brands are, in fact, going back to the office. It helps if the office is a hot place to be.?
While unpacking the tie trend, Airmail reporter Laura Antonia Jordan theorized that it could be a response to Trump-era misogyny.?
But option 1 is arguably the best bet: The workwear-office trend is simply about designers leaning into an opportunity to be onboard a vibe shift, so to speak, and —?at the same time —?grow sales. After years of living in activewear, athleisure and the like, consumers are clearly hungry for something new. And brands, seeing the Saint Laurent effect, are taking advantage of the chance to return to growth.?
Catch up on the week’s 5 most-read beauty and fashion stories below.
This week, I checked in with beauty brands advertising and activating around Sunday’s Academy Awards. This includes L’Oréal Paris and Kiehl’s, both of which invested in cinema-inspired commercials that ran during the show. Meanwhile, brands like Oribe and 111Skin marketed through artist-focused gifting suites, and Therabeauty invested in proximity marketing.?
Legacy value hair-care brand Suave is back with new offerings inspired by the luxury hair-care market. Glossy sat down with Rachel Behm, svp of marketing for Suave Brands, the recently-formed parent company relaunching the 88-year-old heritage brand after being sold by Unilever in 2023. As a mainstay in America mass, value and drugstore retailers, Suave’s team is focused on a new generation of shoppers through luxury dupes and competitive pricing.?
Makeup artist Violette Serrat first built her French girl beauty brand online with viral products and simple tutorials. Now she's taking her business to one of beauty's largest retailers: Sephora.?
The traditionally DTC company is set to launch in dozens of new wholesale retailers this year, including Anthropologie. To celebrate, Universal Standard is unveiling this week an exclusive collection with Anthropologie, taking 13 of its best-selling styles and introducing unique colors and patterns sold only at Anthropologie and exclusively online.
Over the past year, Substack, which houses content reminiscent of old-school blogs, has become the place to be — for the fashion community, former editors, all kinds of creators and, now, brand founders. While brands struggle to find their place on the platform, be it as advertisers or publishers, founders are finding success.?
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