This dataset consists of 17 transcripts of semi-structured, in-depth interviews with office workers in London, who are required to obey a dress code at work - ranging from ‘smart casual’ to ‘business professional’ attire. Fashion bloggers were also interviewed as they specialised in workwear style and gave the project a deeper understanding of the link between identity and appearance. The research examines the highly political battleground that is the office space, whereby non-binary individuals, transgender folks, and cisgender women’s identities and bodies are often rejected from the space. The interviews cover employee experiences of office dress code discriminations, motivations surrounding choice of dress for different working days, as well as opinions surrounding the link between professionalism and dress. The project sought to demonstrate how strict corporate dress codes, moreover ‘business professional’ dress codes, reinforce certain forms of oppression for those that do not identify as cisgender, masculine-presenting men. Whereas a ‘smart casual’ dress code, that allows for more flexibility in employee gender expression, may actually be supportive for individuals occupying historically marginalized identities.

This dataset consists of 17 transcripts of semi-structured, in-depth interviews with office workers in London, who are required to obey a dress code at work - ranging from ‘smart casual’ to ‘business professional’ attire. Fashion bloggers were also interviewed as they specialised in workwear style and gave the project a deeper understanding of the link between identity and appearance. Fourteen of these participants were gathered using a combination of both convenience and snowball sampling. The other nine participants were recruited via a netnography method by using social media platforms, such as Instagram, to help find fashion blogger participants. This data collection comprises 22 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with a variety of different of employees, from different job sector backgrounds. The interviews explore themes surrounding the bodies relationship with space, specifically the corporately dressed body in the workplace.