Creative Industry's Gone Corporate
Creative Industry's Gone Corporate
Why while most of the working world is pushing against the office, creatives can't stop putting it up on the reference boards?
When I first saw the “office terrarium” set for the AW24 Prada Menswear show last week, I felt disappointed twice. First time — personally, because I am trying to break the habit of unconsciously gravitating towards clothing that belongs in a cubical despite having never worked in a proper corporate office. So far, I am hopelessly losing the battle to pencil skirts with a twist, earthy tones, and dress pants. And second time — professionally, because I can name at least five shows and campaigns off the top of my head that referenced small uniform cubicles, big executive offices with skyline views, and old fax machines in the past year. Why is it that while most of the working world is pushing against the office, photographers, fashion and set designers, and creative directors keep putting it on the reference boards?
At the Prada show in Milan, one of the Prada boys sitting front row, pop star Troye Sivan is having the time of his life. Sam Hine of GQ takes note of how wide-eyed and excited he seems about the set: “I knew there was going to be something special, but like, there’s water under the floor, you know what I mean? It’s really, really incredible.” Moments before or after that, i-D approaches Troye for a quick video: “Have you ever worked in an office before?” “I’ve never worked in an office before, unfortunately, no,” he replies, and a glimpse of regret seems to flash in his eyes as he probably anticipates what the comment section will have to say about that. There is something adorable yet slightly upsetting about a gorgeous young pop star feeling child-like wonder about a set of a major fashion show that resembles a post-apocalyptic corporate office.
It reminds me of the first few times I got to answer emails at my front desk job in college in an office that had dusty gray cubicles and heavy rolling chairs that gave me back pain. It was way before I started looking at my cluttered inbox with a heavy sigh inside the modern open-plan offices with tall ceilings and NYC skyline views. In that sense, the attributes of the old corporate office (that’s still an everyday reality for many) look like a strange but fascinating fever dream to me too.
It also reminds me of a Dazed quote about a different office-inspired fashion campaign — the Balenciaga x adidas collab that tried to position a track suit as the new power suit. Among other models, the shoot features Bella Hadid, sitting in a big leather office chair in a bright red track suit and putting her legs up on a big executive desk. “Bella gives off an air of absolute indifference to the workplace; perched on the edge of a desk, eyes glazed over, colored papers arranges in a busy-looking pile,” Dazed writes. “This is an image of someone who’s never heard the word “Slack” before - and that is perhaps more aspirational than buying a $1000 top.”
Aspiration seems to be a big part of the corporate-creative equation. Even for people, like Kim Kardashian, a big power suit that she is wearing on the cover of GQ’s Man of the Year issue while eating Cheetos puffs, is representative of someone she looked up to her whole life — her father Robert Kardashian. The office reference here is easy to understand, it’s a homage to her dad’s suits from the 90s and a playful take on her achieving success in the male-dominated business world. But two weeks before the GQ cover story went live though, Kim looked very different, staring in another corporate-inspired campaign. Making jokes about the climate change and typing away on a 90s computer in a pair of skinny glasses, she revealed the Skims nipple bra.
The flirty/cunty/”I am just a girl in a big corporate world” imagery and attributes are just as present in creative campaigns as the old-school suits, leather chairs, and cubicles. In a viral video, a fashion designer Mark Gong is showing models at his Summer 24 show during Shanghai Fashion Week how to scan their office badge props at the speed gates installed at the start of the runway. One of the models is holding a couple of coffees and a jacket in a dust bag in reference to Anne Hathaway’s character in Devil Wears Prada. The brand’s IG caption for this look reads: “Miranda, here’s ur no-foam skimmed latte with an extra shot, and the jacket u asked me to pick up from Patrick Demarchelier.” In a Vogue interview, Mark Gong says that despite the many Devil Wears Prada references, his muse for the collection and the campaign was Kim Cattrall’s character in another popular show about the power women of New York — Sex and the City.
Just like cerulean color famously trickled down from Miranda Priestly’s office in Devil Wears Prada into the “tragic casual corner” where Andy Sachs picked up her lumpy sweater, so did the corporate creative inspo. I think I am starting to understand why despite the office moving towards open floor plans and even inside our homes, it’s the old corporate cubicles and oak desks that are dominating the reference boards. As the heavy, uniform office attributes and the big power suits with sharp shoulders shrink into tiny glasses and waisted silhouettes, the sophisticated office imagery that still means something to us thanks to corporate dramas and thrillers, morphs into something fickle and commercial. There is a stark difference between the Prada runway, the man repeller The Row suits, and even the Balenciaga x adidas track suit photoshoot, and the Skims nipple bra launch and the “office siren” trend that’s floating around TikTok.
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Despite the girlies putting 90s Prada, Gucci SS24, and Mrs. Prada’s Miu Miu AW23-24 looks on their Pinterest boards, they doesn’t make me think of anything deeper than Bella Hadid’s and Gabbriette Bechtel’s recent IG pics. The more I thought and read about the Prada’s “Human Nature” show and the closer I got to rightfully yawning at its creative direction, the more meaning I found in its seemingly overdone reference to the corporate world. How long will take for flora and fauna to take over when we are gone? Is the picture of the beach I use as my background image my version of Prada’s ”nature you can’t touch through the glass” because it keeps getting buried under the open windows on my screen? Guess even after all the office references, there is still lots of juice left in the old dusty corporate box.
Loved this piece!!