Why Caftans Are My New Work-From-Home Uniform

I am not a sweatpants girl. The only acceptable pair of sweatpants I own I bought on March 10th, 2020 as the salesperson laughed at me for “quarantine shopping.” Despite seeing friends and coworkers sporting cute sweats left and right, I could never bring myself to actually purchase another pair. But I was in need of a comfortable outfit that felt like something I would actually wear in my “normal” life.

Then in early April I decided to swap out all the winter clothes in my closet for my warm weather pieces. Although this is a task I thoroughly dread season after season (how did my summer wardrobe seemingly multiply while tucked away under a bed?), I was rewarded with a great discovery: the caftan. The roomy dress was the work-from-home attire I’d been searching for all along.

You see, before quarantine, my morning routine consisted of throwing on a dress and rushing out the door. So I put on a floor length, linen number that coordinated nicely with my slippers and swear my outlook on working from home changed completely. Maybe it is because the sun was shining, but I was productive from 7am to 7pm, straight for the first time since working from home. There was something about wearing a dress -- albeit one that was totally unstructured -- that just made me feel more me. I jumped from zoom call to zoom call without worry that my too-casual bottom half might appear in the frame and felt like a character in a Nancy Myers film as I effortlessly whipped up breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Unlike the humble sweatpant, putting on a colorful caftan helped me find a semblance of my typical wardrobe without sacrificing any comfort.