Due to the rise of GLP-1s and cosmetic surgeries, professionals who weren’t usually subject to high beauty standards are facing new pressures
In 1975, John T Molly’s book Dress for Success became a national bestseller. It promised the American workforce “scientific” proof that certain clothes could “increase your income” and “boost your status”. It offered searing advice like: “Sweaters give out nothing but negative impulses … they say ‘lower middle class’ and ‘loser.’”
For those with office jobs, the workplace has long been a place where fashion counts. Molly’s book gave rise to ideas like power dressing and the adage about “dressing for the job you want, not the one you have”. But a new casual office culture, spurred by San Francisco tech companies where hoodies are the norm, plus the work-from-home revolution, was supposed to ameliorate some of those pressures.
Instead, things have gotten worse, as appearing on camera and keeping an active social media presence has become the norm. Now, the focus is no longer just on appropriate attire for the professional class, but a wide range of beauty and body standards for people in professions who never previously had to worry as much about what they look like. In the social media age, there is no such thing as having a face for radio.
A slew of recent studies tell us that hot people make more money. There’s a term for this workplace phenomenon: “lookism”, or a bias against people perceived as unattractive. One 15-year survey found that hot MBA candidates had a higher probability of holding more desirable jobs than their “plain-looking counterparts” – the authors called this an “attractiveness premium” corresponding to over $2,500 in higher salaries. Another 2018 report called attractiveness “an enduring, positive labor market characteristic”.
Visible, successful people now sport ubiquitous features that increasingly come courtesy of needles and scalpels: airbrushed skin, impossibly high cheekbones, thinned noses. We expect this of celebrities, but filler, semaglutides and cosmetic surgeries are now commonplace for people in professions from childcare to administration. Ageism is a big factor: in a survey last year, for example, 15% of people over the age of 45 said they would consider cosmetic surgery to get on at work, a figure which rose to 20% for Botox and fillers.
Below we spoke to welders, home builders and lawyers – all of whom say they never thought the way they look would influence their work this much.
43, divorce lawyer at Hembree Bell Law Firm and owner of My Confident Divorce, a law firm that represents only women, Austin, Texas
Looks matter more now than they did 10 years ago, 1000%. Along with being a lawyer, I’m trying to grow as a thought leader for women in the divorce space – that means more forward-facing, PR-type things. Whether you like it or not, social media is a big component of growing a brand or company. I work with a stylist, I have hair appointments all of the time, and I go to a medi-spa for all the aesthetics one gets when they’re 43. I’m spending four figures a month on things like Botox, filler and beauty appointments.
There’s a pressure to always be on as a woman. I go on morning news shows to talk about divorce stories and trends. Now, when I go on vacation I have to think about the clothes I pack, the hair tools I bring, in case I need to shoot content while I’m away. That’s another thing I wasn’t dealing with 10 years ago. Literally right now, I am vacationing on the beaches in Delaware with my family. I got a call from my PR team to go on TV in New York. I had to have some clothes shipped from my house, and I went on a shopping trip, to get something appropriate to wear. That took time away from my family.
27, social media consultant, Jacksonville, Florida
If someone likes looking at you, they’ll hire you. I’ve known this from the start of my very first job, at the [chain store] Rue21. I was 16 and essentially the cute personality hire. They had me standing at the front of the store selling perfume to bring people in, and I did nothing else. I was the only person who ever had that job, in front of the store, to this day.
Two years ago, I made a TikTok about pretty privilege – the idea that people treat you better if you’re attractive. It really took off and became one of my best viral videos. (I now have over 247,000 followers on TikTok.) I made a scale of pretty privilege, with levels from one to four, with the treatment getting better based on someone’s looks. People in the comments were asking me what level they were. There were so many comments. I was bored at home. So I was just like, “alright, Cash App me $5” and they would get a reading on my personal thoughts of their pretty privilege, or where they were on the scale. I was not expecting people to go through with it, but it took me weeks to get through everyone and I made a few thousand dollars off of it. It was proof of concept that I could make money off of nothing, or just from my personal opinion.
I think people saw me as an authority on this because of my delivery. When you’re in the consulting business, looks absolutely matter. And being attractive gives you a level of confidence that people are attracted to.
When I was in a front-facing positions such as restaurants, I was spending maybe $500-$600 on my presentation: different hairstyles, nails, lashes. Now, I work from home, so, even though I am still visible on TikTok a lot, I find I spend a lot less. Not doing as much has made me appreciate my natural beauty more. My nails don’t break because I’m not in the salon getting them drilled off all the time. My lashes are longer because I’m not having something glued to them all the time. My hair’s not breaking off. Everything’s healthy, and I’m not trying to look good for other people, so I feel pretty all the time.
