The Fashion Police Are Judging You On Zoom

(This op-ed was first published in CNN on February 22, 2021.)

Richard Thompson Ford

For many people, one of the few upsides of sheltering-in-place since the pandemic struck a year ago has been not worrying about what to wear every morning. On Zoom, no one can see your shoes or your sweatpants. But they can see your torso, as well as your office, living room or kitchen. We thought we got a break from professional dress codes, but it didn’t take long for the tyranny of judgment to assert itself.

Indeed, now we need to make ourselves and our homes presentable while also managing the new demands of kids learning remotely from home.

(Continue reading the op-ed on CNN’s page here.)

Richard Thompson Ford is a professor of law at Stanford and author of “Dress Codes: how the laws of fashion made history.” The views expressed in this commentary belong to the author.