This Wednesday was going nowhere fast. The week is slow, the coffee isn’t hitting, Fashion Month continues to beat me into submission. But then, from the clouds: one perfect Jonathan Bailey fit, my soul to keep. Over in Paris, Jonathan Anderson has just made his womenswear debut for Dior—and Bailey arrived in full corpcore glory.
Sitting front row to watch pretty dresses and tricorne hats sail by, Bailey was dressed like a sexy office drone, the apple of the department’s eye and a prime workplace crush. As soon as I saw it, my fingers flew across my Slack keyboard, typing eloquent and succinct prose: “Oh fuck yes.”
You see, Bailey did something here I believe in deeply: He made an office fit feel hot. Over a standard issue blue shirt and striped tie, Bailey wore a Dior printed navy quarter-zip, which was pulled down just enough to frame the tie. Down below, Bailey sported straight-leg blue jeans and some brown mule shoes that fall neatly into the unsexy shoes trend we’ve been pushing. No shiny leather loafers here, just brown suede and an endearingly frumpy round toe.
Neil Mockford
Separately, the components shouldn’t work. It should be too middle manager, too working professional. It should be too Severance (minus the zeitgeistiness). But, strangely, wonderfully, Bailey made it work. It makes me want to purchase a quarter-zip sweater immediately—and god help whichever FiDi yuppie that tries to stand in my way.
Maybe the true linchpin here is the shape of his jeans, which are wider and slightly relaxed. Or perhaps it’s the bagginess of the sweater and its hoodie-like pockets, which offer a more petulant and youthful air than the typical finance bro pullover. Or, you know, it could be the fact that it’s Jonathan Bailey. Either way, the end effect is my water-cooler fantasy, the subject of Slack whispering and clandestine after-work drinks.
Will the quarter-zip have another resurgence? I’m betting on it.
This story originally appeared on British GQ.