When the weather turned cold in December, Cindy Luo started to wear her fluffy pajamas over a hooded sweatshirt at the office. Wearing cozy sleepwear to work became a habit and soon she didn’t even bother to wear matching tops and bottoms, selecting whatever was most comfortable.
12月天气转冷时，辛迪·罗（音）开始在办公室里穿加绒睡衣，里面是连帽运动衫。穿着舒适的睡衣上班成了一种习惯，很快，她甚至懒得穿配套的上下装，只选择最舒服的。

A few months later, she posted photos of herself to a “gross outfits at work” thread that had spread on Xiaohongshu, a Chinese app similar to Instagram. She was one of tens of thousands of young workers in China to proudly post pictures of themselves showing up at the office in onesies, sweatpants and sandals with socks. The just-rolled-out-of-bed look was shockingly casual for most Chinese workplaces.
几个月后，她在类似小红书上一个标题为“上班恶心穿搭”的帖子里发布了自己的照片。中国有上万名年轻员工自豪地晒出自己穿着连体衣、运动裤、凉鞋配袜子出现在办公室的照片，她就是其中之一。对大多数中国工作场所来说，这种好像刚从床上爬起来的装扮太过随意了。

“I just want to wear whatever I want,” said Ms. Luo, 30, an interior designer in Wuhan, a city in Hubei Province. “I just don’t think it’s worth spending money to dress up for work, since I’m just sitting there.”
“我就是想穿什么就穿什么，”30岁的辛迪·罗说，她是湖北省武汉市的一名室内设计师。“我只是觉得不值得花钱穿得漂漂亮亮去上班，因为我就是坐在那儿。”

The intentionally lackluster outfits became a social media movement when a user named “Kendou S-” posted a video last month on Douyin, the Chinese sibling service of TikTok. She showed off her work outfit: a fluffy brown sweater dress over plaid pajama pants with a pink, light-quilted jacket and furry slippers.
上个月，一位名为“Kendou S-”的用户在抖音上发布了一段视频，令这种刻意显得平淡无奇的着装成了一场社交媒体运动。她展示了自己上班时穿的衣服：一件蓬松的棕色加绒连衣裙，下穿格纹睡裤，搭配粉红色薄棉袄和加绒拖鞋。

In the video, she said that her supervisor at work told her several times that her outfits were “gross” and that she needed to wear better clothes “to mind the image of the company.”
在视频中，她说老板多次告诉她，她的着装“太恶心”，她应该穿更好的衣服，“注意点公司形象”。

The video took off; it received more than 735,000 likes and was shared 1.4 million times. The hashtag “gross outfits at work” spread across multiple Chinese social media platforms and it unleashed a competition of whose work dress was the most repulsive. On Weibo, China’s version of X, the topic generated hundreds of millions of views and sparked a wider discussion about why young people are not willing to dress up for work nowadays.
这段视频迅速走红；获得了73.5万个赞，被分享了140万次。“上班恶心穿搭”的标签在中国多个社交媒体平台上传播开来，并引发了一场谁的工作服最恶心的比赛。在微博上，这个话题获得了上亿浏览量，并引发了一场更广泛的讨论：为什么现在的年轻人上班时不愿好好着装打扮。

“It’s the progress of the times,” said Xiao Xueping, a psychologist in Beijing. She said young people grew up in a relatively more inclusive environment than earlier generations and learned to put their own feelings first.
“这是时代的进步，”北京的心理学家肖雪萍（音）说。她说，与前几代人相比，年轻人在一个相对更包容的环境中长大，学会了把自己的感受放在第一位。

Mr. Xiao said the outfits may be a form of responsible protest, because people are still doing their jobs. It’s also a sign of how countries re-evaluate values and priorities when they reach higher levels of prosperity.
肖雪萍说，这些服装可能是一种负责任的抗议形式，因为人们仍在做自己的工作。这也表明，当国家达到更高的繁荣水平时，它们会如何重新评估价值观和优先事项。

People’s Daily has refrained from scolding young Chinese for what it called “being ugly” at work. The publication said that the trend was a form of self-mockery, and that it was “unnecessary to magnify it to become a problem of principle” as long as the employees dressed appropriately and had a good work attitude.
《人民日报》并没有指责中国年轻人在工作中的“恶心穿搭”。该媒体称，这种趋势是一种自嘲，只要员工穿着得体、工作态度端正，“没必要上纲上线”。

Working from home during the pandemic changed workplace dynamics around the world. In the United States, many companies faced resistance to a return-to-office push, and the five-day-a-week commute is no longer a given at many companies. After three years of living under China’s stringent Covid restrictions, Chinese employees don’t mind going to the office — but many want to do so on their terms and in their comfy clothes.
疫情期间的居家办公改变了世界各地的工作场所格局。在美国，许多公司都面临着重返办公室的阻力，一周五天的通勤在许多地方已经不再是硬性规定。在中国严格的抗疫限制下生活了三年之后，中国员工并不介意去办公室工作，但许多人希望按照自己的意愿，穿着舒适的衣服去上班。

Most of the responses to the “gross outfits at work” posts came from women. In China, like many places around the world, women are held to a higher standard for office wear, while men’s outfits often require less thought. For the almost entirely male top officials of the Chinese Communist Party, the choice of what to wear is pretty simple — “ting ju feng,” or “office and bureau style.” It’s the bland and understated look of a typical midlevel bureaucrat, a style preferred by Mr. Xi.
大多数对“上班恶心穿搭”帖子的回复都是来自女性。与世界上许多地方一样，在中国，女性的办公室着装有着更高的要求，而男性的着装往往不需要太多考虑。对于几乎清一色男性的中共高层官员来说，着装选择非常简单——厅局风。这是一种非常具代表性的中层干部的平淡低调风格，也深受习近平的青睐。

A colleague of Joeanna Chen, a 32-year-old translator at a beauty clinic in Hangzhou, posted pictures of her wardrobe to social media with the caption: “Guess how long it will take for the boss to speak to her?” (Ms. Chen’s colleague had her permission to post the photos.)
32岁的乔安娜·陈（音）在杭州一家美容诊所做翻译。她的一位同事在社交媒体上贴出了她衣橱的照片，并写道：“猜猜老板找她讲话还要多久？”（乔安娜·陈的同事发布照片前经得了她的同意。）

Ms. Chen was wearing a mango-yellow, hooded down overcoat with a white knit hat that covered her ears. On her arms were mismatched blue and beige sleeve covers adorned with cows. She wore black pants and pink-and-blue checkered socks with furry, granny-style loafers.
陈女士穿着一件芒果黄色的羽绒大衣，戴着一顶遮住耳朵的白色针织帽。她的胳膊上戴着不配套的蓝色和米色袖套，上面印着奶牛的图案。她穿着黑色的裤子和粉蓝色格子图案的袜子，脚上穿着毛茸茸的老式乐福鞋。

Ms. Chen said she recognized that the outfit, her usual office attire, wasn’t very stylish, but she didn’t care because it was comfortable. The sleeve covers were made by her grandmother. The sweater was a hand-me-down from her mother, and the hat once belonged to her son.
陈女士说，她知道这身打扮不时髦，但自己并不在意，因为穿起来很舒适。袖套是她奶奶做的。毛衣是她妈妈传给她的，而帽子曾是她儿子的。

She said that her boss once asked her to wear something sexier to work, but that she had ignored his request. In addition, she has for the first time started to turn down work assignments she doesn’t want to do.
她说，她的老板曾经要求她上班穿得性感一点，但她没有理会他的要求。此外，她还第一次开始拒绝自己不想做的工作。

After going through years of unpredictable lockdowns, quarantines and the fears of getting sick during the pandemic, Ms. Chen said all she wanted now was to live in the moment with a stable job and a peaceful life. She is not worried about promotions or getting ahead.
疫情几年下来，在经历了不可预测的封锁、隔离和对染病的恐惧之后，陈女士说，她现在唯一想要的就是活在当下，有一份稳定的工作，过上平静的生活。升职或出人头地都不是她要考虑的。

“Just be happy every day and don’t impose things on yourself,” she said.
她说：“每天开开心心的就好，不要把事情强加给自己。”

For Jessica Jiang, 36, who works in e-commerce sales at a clothing company in Shanghai, her “gross” look is more about her messy hair and lack of make up.
36岁的杰西卡·蒋（音）在上海一家服装公司从事电商销售的工作，她的“恶心”形象更多是指她凌乱的头发和素颜。

Ms. Jiang said she didn’t have enough time in the morning to get ready because of her hourlong commute. She said she dressed by throwing on clothes randomly. On a recent day, the result was a sweater that was too short to cover her thermal undershirt. “Everyone is focused on their work — no one cares about dressing up,” Ms. Jiang said. “It’s good enough to just get the work done.”
蒋女士说，早上没有时间弄这些，因为通勤时间长达一个小时。她说，衣服是随手拿的。不久前的一天，随手拿的毛衣太短，盖不住保暖内衣。“每个人都专注工作，没人在乎打扮，”蒋女士说。“只要把工作做完就好了。”

But Lulu Mei, 30, a bank clerk in the eastern city of Wuhu, said she had to wear a uniform everyday: a navy blue blazer, matching slacks and a button-down light-colored shirt. She said that without the requirement, she too might eventually stop dressing nicely because “all work is tiring.”
但东部城市芜湖的银行职员、30岁的露露·梅（音）说，自己每天必须穿工作制服：一件深蓝色的西装外套、配套的休闲裤和一件系扣的浅色衬衫。她说，如果不是必须这么穿，自己可能也不会把心思放在穿着上，因为“工作都很累了”。

Ms. Luo, the interior designer who wears the fluffy pajamas to work, said there were days when she dressed more conventionally — like when going out with friends after work, or when her pajamas were in the laundry. She loves fashion, she said. At work, she listens to the runway music from the most recent Chanel show from Paris Fashion Week.
穿着毛绒睡衣上班的室内设计师罗女士说，有时候她会穿得更符合传统一些——比如下班后和朋友出去玩，或者睡衣洗了没干。她说，她热爱时尚。工作时，她会听最近一季巴黎时装周香奈儿秀展的走秀音乐。

When she joined her company three years ago, she wore overcoats to look more mature and prepared her outfits the night before. Over time, she got tired of it and started to question the practice.
三年前她刚进公司时，为了让自己看起来更成熟，她会穿大衣，在前一天晚上把第二天的衣服准备好。随着时间的推移，她厌倦并开始质疑这种做法。

“I feel like I don’t know what I dress up for,” Ms. Luo said. “I just want to live a little more of my own way.”
“我觉得我不知道为什么要打扮，”罗女士说。“我只是想尽可能多按照自己的方式生活。”

Claire Fu报道中国新闻，主要关注该国经济和社会议题。她常驻首尔。

Daisuke Wakabayashi是时报驻首尔亚洲商业记者，报道区域经济、公司和地缘政治新闻。

翻译：纽约时报中文网