Tailored skirts, skinny glasses, white shirts and loafers may sound like boring staples you need for a conventional office job. Gen Z, however, has pivoted these basic pieces to tap into a new trend known as “corporate sleaze”. By doing things like shortening skirts, unbuttoning shirts and adding in pairs of sheer knee-high socks, traditional pieces have been given a sexy makeover in the latest aesthetic to become a viral TikTok trend.
A relative of “indie sleaze”, which was popular from around 2008 to 2014, corporate sleaze grew from 2023 catwalk shows that saw designers add dimension to the “quiet luxury” trend by giving minimalist pieces a more figure-hugging silhouette, resulting in a look dubbed the “office siren”. The fusion of these two aesthetics created corporate sleaze. Fashion model Bella Hadid was an early adopter of the style, with her two most notable looks being a micro-mini grey skirt suit teamed with platform Gucci loafers; and a more relaxed interpretation incorporating a striped, unbuttoned shirt, grey tailored trousers and a slim-fit leather blazer.
She topped off both outfits by keeping her make-up natural and wearing skinny wire-framed glasses. Movie star Jennifer Lawrence and supermodel Kate Moss have also both been seen sporting the look. TikTok users are going one step further by wearing buttoned-up shirts with ties, and styling them with oversized trousers for a more contemporary edge.
The sudden popularity of this look is down to how.
