Working from Home Diaries: Navigating the wild and wonderful world of home-office 'fashion'

Without a doubt, the greatest perk of working from home is the ability to do so in one's pyjamas.

For those Aussies instructed to work remotely, the prospect of swapping officewear for the cosy embrace of PJs/leggings/hoodies/no pants at all provided a much-needed salve to the endless stream of tragic coronavirus news.

The days of "but I have nothing to wear" dilemmas, non-elasticised waistbands and ironing were officially over for the forseeable future, and the resulting outfits were about as non-corporate as you could get.

(Well, aside from the token blazer kept in arm's reach in the event of an impromptu video call — business on top, isolation on the bottom, baby.)

Now, several weeks in, it seems there's been a shift. While many are still loving life in their cosiest home clothes, embracing a "PJs all day" mantra, others are finding the novelty is wearing thinner than the waistband on those 'old faithful' trackies.

My colleague Maddison is firmly in the former camp, describing her daily get-up as a "fashion war crime".

"I've accepted that I'd rather be comfy above all else, so trackies and men's shirts have been my go-to," she explains.

"I've never been more thankful for my exes and the many shirts I stole from them."

Meanwhile, Ariane's son has dubbed her home-office look "Hacker Mummy":

For others, activewear is the perfect in-between: sharing the comfort of well-loved (read: threadbare, possibly stained) home clothes, but feeling slightly more structured.

"I find it's comfy to be in all day and still easy to do odd jobs as I work, like hang out washing, etc," says Amy.

"I also feel like if I have to jump into a work meeting, I'm 'dressed' enough to not be like, 'Oh, s--t, I've got to put something nice on."

Heidi, a fellow activewear advocate, seems equally happy with her 'uniform' of choice: "I tried to wear jeans today. Took them off after five minutes."

Aine, meanwhile, has dipped her toe into the luxe world of loungewear.

"I started off wearing traditional 'work clothes' for a week, had one day where I wore my pyjamas (and the boss conveniently FaceTimed me) and then I ordered loungewear, which is my current life," she explains.

Then, there are those, like me, who are progressively re-introducing their "pre-pandemic" clothes into the working from home rotation.

After a solid fortnight in trackies and leggings — a much-needed comfort in the emotionally fragile early days of isolation — I was struggling to mentally separate my work and non-work hours (not surprising, given my 'office' is the living room). I also really missed my clothes.

So, I started dipping back into my 'normal' wardrobe, landing on a happy medium: garments like linen jumpsuits, soft shorts and wrap dresses that feel a little more 'normal', but are still hella comfortable and unstructured. No organ-squeezing waistbands here, no siree.

Karishma is in the same boat, telling me: "I went through an activewear phase, but I found it didn't really put my mind into 'work mode' so I try to wear casual but 'normal' clothes."

As for Carina: "I've worn a button-up shirt the last two days. I feel very professional, up top. Still wearing trackies, though — small steps."

Similarly, James is "getting into people clothes" to put him in the work mindset, including jackets and sneakers.

"I like outerwear. I've got all these jackets and nowhere to wear 'em," he adds. "I haven't ventured into buttoned up shirts yet."

At the extreme end of the home office fashion spectrum are those who preach that dressing for the office — complete with a full face of makeup and high heels — is absolutely essential to get one into "professional mode" at home.

If that sounds a little extreme (frankly, there's a higher likelihood of Scott Morrison pronouncing "barre" correctly than there is of me ever wearing stilettos around the house), you could always try the wardrobe "hacks" people have developed to help them feel more focused on work without having to go full pantsuit-corporate at home.

One friend swears by wearing jeans to work from home, telling me: "I need that little bit of restriction to make me focus."

In my opinion, the even better way to achieve this is by wearing shoes — comfy shoes, but shoes all the same. They somehow make you feel more productive, and the sensation of taking them off at the end of the work day serves as a mental signal that it's time to clock off.

Extra incentive: you're always ready to duck out and grab a takeaway coffee.