Interpreting the Mythos of the Office Siren
She wears black plastic glasses with narrow rectangular frames; whether they’re prescription or not is unclear. Her blazer covers a button-up shirt with the top button undone. Her skirt falls to her knees but clings to her hips in just the right way; maybe a slit up the back or side reveals a sliver of skin. She’s the office siren—at least, that’s what the Internet would have us believe.
Like many contemporary fashion phenomena, the “office siren aesthetic” exists mainly in collective fantasy. Unless you live in New York or LA, you’re more likely to see it in a TikTok fit check or a magazine editorial than you are on the street. Still, it’s continued to captivate the public consciousness—in recent months, the label has been applied to Sabrina Carpenter, Bella Hadid, and Gabbriette, to name just a few stars. Who is the office siren, and why did we dream her up?
To unpack the archetype of the office siren, let’s first examine the term itself. I’m not entirely convinced that anyone had ever uttered the phrase “office siren” before this trend took off. Try to imagine it mumbled by a man in a tie—“There goes Brittany; she’s the office siren.” Doesn’t sound quite right, huh? The word “siren” leaps out, more common in ancient poetry than in the modern lexicon. Used colloquially to describe a woman who is dangerously alluring, it originally referred to the beautiful creatures who lured sailors to their deaths in texts such as Homer’s Odyssey.
The choice to use a word with roots in mythos speaks to the fact that the “office” itself has become a bit of a myth in the current era. During the COVID-19 lockdown, virtually all workplaces went virtual; Zoom was the de facto boardroom, and monitored Slack channels became the sole outlet for chatting with coworkers. Since the dark days of 2020, some companies have reopened in-person spaces—but remote work is becoming more common, with Upwork predicting that 32.6 million Americans will be working remotely by 2025. The notion of the office as a theatre where archetypal characters act out precarious social dynamics, played for laughs in comedies like The Office and Parks and Recreation or drawn out for suspense in workplace dramas in Mad Men and Suits is slowly becoming less relevant. Still, it has an inexorable appeal—especially in a society where third places are growing increasingly rare. The office siren aesthetic allows a woman to imagine herself as an object of fascination in such a setting, where her beauty and charm might be observed face-to-face rather than mediated through a screen.
The office siren must also be considered in light of the cultural fixation on “girlhood” that has swallowed the past few years. “Girl dinner,” “girl math,” “hot girl walks,” “hot girl summer”—all of these trends use “girl” as a signifier of femininity, indicating either youthful silliness (as in the former two cases) or youthful desirability (as in the latter). Perhaps the apex of these trends in terms of both popularity and girlishness—all of which have been adopted by legions of women in their 20s and 30s as well as teens—is the “coquette girl aesthetic,” which relies upon bows, frills, and sometimes even schoolgirl staples such as pleated skirts and Mary Janes. While it can be fun to get in touch with your “inner child” and embrace styles that your younger self would have also loved, it’s safe to say that the impulse to pout at your phone camera and post, “I’m just a girl” (or worse, “I’m just a 25-year-old teenage girl”) might be based, to some extent, on the fear of growing up—especially in light of insecurities about aging, loss of innocence, or inadequately performing femininity. The reign of the office siren shows that we as a society are getting tired of this game of pretend. The office siren look is a step away from the metaphorical purgatory of the “girl” industrial complex and toward adulthood. Rather than banking on nostalgia, it’s aspirational, allowing its wearers to project an image of sophistication, competence, intelligence, and sexiness. The office siren reminds us that we needn’t cling to toddler chic as adult women—maturity can be hot, too.
Of course, there are also psychological reasons why we find the office siren aesthetic compelling. In a 1961 interview, philosopher Marshall McLuhan dissects why we find bespectacled women attractive. When a woman wears glasses, he writes, the onlooker has to study her more closely to develop a mental image of her—and this heightened engagement can create a feeling of intimacy between the perceiver and the perceived. Through sartorial choices that strike a thoughtful balance between modesty and exposure, the office siren cultivates an air of mystery–and mysteries can be fun to solve.
In some sense, it’s surprising that an aesthetic associated with clocking into a cubicle should excite us, but myths have always concerned themselves with the every day, and the office siren is no exception. Eventually, as with all trends, the tides will turn—but right now, the waters are choppy, and this siren’s call is music to our ears.
Brittany Menjivar is a cultural critic and the author of poetry and prose collection Parasocialite.