No idea what to wear to the office? Legendary designer Giles Deacon might have the answer
Giles Deacon has created a capsule collection for the post-pandemic workplace. By Prudence Wade.
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Your support makes all the difference.Maybe you’re slowly getting back to the office, or there’s a return date looming on the horizon. If so, you’ll probably have a burning question: what should you wear?
This is something designer Giles Deacon – creator of Billy Porter’s showstopping Oscars outfit in 2020 – has tackled with a new workwear capsule collection, which takes into consideration how our approach to fashion has changed over the pandemic.
Office clothes might seem a bit removed from Deacon’s normal fare. A regular at London Fashion Week, he also designed spectacular wedding dresses for Pippa Middleton and Abbey Clancey.
But he says he approaches every project with “the same rigour and vigour” and his fashion is “about making really brilliant and hopefully exceptionally well thought out products”.
Always one to do his homework, Deacon studied market research from real office workers. What he discovered was people “didn’t want to return to work just wearing casual clothes, they wanted to return to a sense of smart, comfortable, practical, business-type clothes that weren’t in the traditional format”.
Deacon’s designs look fairly formal – including suits and sack dresses – but he incorporates “softer fabrics, softer construction, softer tones, muted elements” to better suit our new normal.
As with any collection Deacon does, colour choices are thoughtful – and he didn’t want to fall into the trap of monochromatic workwear. He chose white for a “sense of purity, a kind of cleanness”; washed out greys; khakis, “which are calming and all empowering colours” and red accents for “organisation”.
Well aware of the power of fashion, Deacon says: “The way we feel and what boosts our confidence, from colour, cut and fabrication and the value of what it is you bought, the good that it can be doing – [it] all adds up.” All he wants to do is make sure “the sense of style and fabulousness isn’t sacrificed”.
Deacon might be focusing on practicality and comfort, but he still brings his signature flair – be it an unusual red bow or a perfectly tailored pair of suit shorts. “They still have that sense of my world of statement within them and a conversationalism to them. You want that confidence, you want that sense of someone to comment on what you’re wearing, and to have that sense of wow – and that right percentage of difference,” he says.
“The thing I also wanted for the pieces was to be able to operate within this environment [the workplace] – it wasn’t about me making a suit with the back of the jacket that goes 15 foot long.” (That’s something he assures us he’ll look into “next time”.)
The collection includes non-binary options. “I’ve always believed in absolute inclusivity,” he says with a shrug. “From when we were doing runway shows in London, I always had the most diverse cast – this is long before diversity was even a consideration, and we used to get ridiculed for it. It used to really infuriate me, and I absolutely believe in equality and the inclusivity of all. I just think it’s hugely important to put that out as an offer – and it’s just a proposal, it’s not a dictum.”
Deacon also closely thought about the environmental impact of the clothes, well aware that it’s something many of us have been considering over the past year.
The pandemic has “given us that sense of time to consider our choices”, he says – and the designer has personally been taking a bit more time to think about every purchase he makes.
The collection, he says, has been “locally produced, the fabrics are all organic, they’re not using harmful dyes – all of that is really important… I think it gives people that sense of confidence that what you’re wearing is actually doing some good, as opposed to do some harm.”
Yes, it’s different to what Deacon normally does, but he loves a challenge. And by that, we mean he really loves a challenge – the idea of pushing his creative boundaries and trying something new makes his eyes light up.
That’s why Deacon is so exciting to talk to: coming up to 30 years in the industry, he still loves his job. “I love the sense of creativity,” he muses. “I love the sense of being able to have an idea in the morning, and it’s 2D in the afternoon” – and soon after, it’s a 3D outfit.”
This ethos meant Deacon was consistently busy over the pandemic, with private clients still demanding his designs – even if things were a bit quieter than usual. As the world starts to open up, he predicts there will be a full return to fashion force.
“There’s always that sense of spectacle that people really love,” he reflects. “I genuinely think it’s going to be more considered – not in a boring way, but considered in quite an exciting way.”
And who knows, maybe the epicentre of this style revolution will be in the office?
Deacon has teamed up with IWG, the world’s largest flexible space operator with brands including Spaces and Regus, to envisage what workwear will look like in the new hybrid working world. To find out more visit iwgplc.com or @spaceworks on Instagram.