At Home in Style

We are officially entering the next season of Quarantine, and an old haunt from 2014 Hypebeast twitter has resurfaced to spread brain poison through a world continuing to struggle with dressing up to work from the couch. Rav Matharu, also known as Clothsurgeon, is a London-based designer and early DIY influencer who broke ground for Nav and Logic fans worldwide when he turned four pairs of grey Nike sweatpants into a single-breasted suit jacket and pair of cropped, single-pleated slacks. Sportswear had officially jumped the shark with this “bus-leisure” monstrosity, and checks-over-stripes twitter couldn’t be happier. With thousands of young people now graduating into the ranks of us attempting to operate as professionals from the comfort of home, so many minds are more vulnerable than ever to the siren songs of Allbirds sneakers and sportswear brands weaseling their way into your professional attire. By understanding the relationship between professional and comfortable clothing, you can look good and feel good without getting confused for that guy selling grills in the middle of the mall.

Make no mistake about it—whether you’re pitching a corporate merger to some billion dollar Viacom lizards or sitting on your porch posting your recently delivered Dune paperback to your Instagram story, comfort is key. If I need to explain why being comfortable at home is good, you’re a psycho. But comfort on the job is arguably even more important, as being physically comfortable in your clothing frees the mind of distractions and insecurities while projecting confidence in any scenario. Seen by some as competing interests, the need to look professional and be comfortable has spawned all sorts of stretch fabrics, sneakers disguised as dress shoes, and other garments designed to hack professional attire. The common thread of all these designs is the implication that you’re not comfortable in the image you’re seeking to portray—you’re cheating. There is no bigger cap than faking your way through a look because to do it authentically would be uncomfortable. And with sportswear edging increasingly toward more elevated fashion, like the New Balance x ALD polo shirts or that god awful Jordan x Dior necktie, the chances of getting lost in the land of work and play have never been higher. Clothing that is fit for both leisure and business should be more like a black and white milkshake than an orange soda poptart. That is to say, the seemingly dueling elements should come together for how they compliment eachother, not for the mere sake of borderline sacrilegious experimentation.

Jim Merrett’s is the latest in the now omnipresent internet fashion trend of profiling stylish stay-at-home celebrities to teach us commoners how to feel at home in style. The strength of Merrett’s selection over the unattainably zany New York millennial content creators featured on GQ listicles or quarantine-fit Instagram accounts is his focus on classic styles which are functional, comfortable, and can survive our return to in-person meetings, whenever that may be. Steve McQueen and Marlon Brando look more comfortable in a linen button down, slacks, and worn-in loafers than I feel in my own bed, and either of them look just as ready to discuss their next project as they do lay down and crush a crossword puzzle.

Uncomfortable as the current circumstances are, working from home allows many of us the opportunity to dress down and enjoy certain at-home privileges normally unavailable in the office. But if your WFH uniform is wearing a button down and sports coat with sweatpants on a zoom call, not only are you a liar and a cheat, but you’re also robbing yourself of the opportunity to begin crafting a more comfortable professional style that can survive your return to the office. The societal norms surrounding work and life have been shaken up, affording us the opportunity to re-imagine why we choose to wear the things we do in a variety of new and exciting ways. Quarantine is going to end eventually— probably sooner than is responsible— and many of us will emerge from our social distance cocoons cleaner and wiser than before. I congratulate those who show resilience and adaptability, which will be obvious through a graceful and confident return to work in fine linens, terry cloths, and summer weight wools indicative of a style pairing comfort with credibility. To those thinking a Nike swoosh stitched on the reverse-weave cotton lapel of your homemade sweat-blazer is the future— best of luck landing that Off-White internship, I can already tell Virgil is going to really, like, vibe with your vision.