OUTFITS: Formulas for your ideal work 'persona'

Or: how to dress for the job you want.

After last week’s workwear edit, a few of you got in touch to ask how to inject some personality into your 9-5 wardrobe. It got us thinking about work ‘personas’: the character we adopt in order to deal with the unique pressures and politics of our job.

Clothes are an integral part of this identity metamorphosis. Like personas, clothes help protect us and shape us into the version of ourselves we need to become to get the job done. What we wear to work can be a powerful statement of intent: this is who I am, and also who I can be!

Take it from the legendary Bill Cunningham: fashion is, indeed, the armour to survive the reality of everyday life. And what could be more of a daily reality check than the need to show up to work?

So, this week we’ve curated five shoppable outfits to suit five different work ‘personas’. Whether or not you have the title, LinkedIn bio or tax return to match it yet is irrelevant.

In this newsletter, you’ll find outfits + product links suited to five key ‘personas’:

1. The Visionary — takes risks; Jenna Lyons energy; has opinions on AI

2. The Award-Winning Exec — booked; brilliant; a truly terrifying Google calendar

3. The Summer Intern — clocks every podcast; matcha drinker; 9-5 / 5-9

4. The Boss — Uber Green; mic drop energy; subscribes to daily AFR newsletter

5. The Trusted Advisor — Sent From iPhone; good in a crisis; even better at a party

This week’s newsletter is for paid subscribers. You can become a paid subscriber in a couple of clicks! A subscription is $8 a month. Your support helps us keep writing these newsletters and building this wonderful community.

For all our free subscribers, and anyone here for a stickybeak, you can also check out our Pinterest page on workwear below.

Ok, on to those outfits…