While the rest of us graduated from pyjama tops to “business casual from the waist up,” one Google manager took a different route entirely. Anchal Mirza, 36, never really let the pandemic take a dim view of her corporate outfits. She wore the corporate attire even when she was working from home. She kept the makeup. And she says it made her better at her job.
Mirza works in strategy and operations for Google’s data-centre optimisation objectives. She told a section of the media that she performs better when she is dressed up, whether she’s at home or in the office.
The habit, she said, carried over naturally from her pre-pandemic office days.
When workplaces shifted abruptly to remote work in 2020, Mirza initially stuck to makeup and at least a polished top. That alone already put her ahead of half the Zoom calls happening in India at the time. But she eventually returned to full outfits, not because her routine demanded it, but because it made her feel better, and that feeling translated into performance.
She said dressing up helped her maintain authority and presence in virtual meetings. It allowed her to command the digital room, she explained, a phrase that would make most WFH veterans look guiltily at their unwashed coffee mug and crumpled kurta.
To avoid decision fatigue in the mornings, Mirza keeps it simple. She rotates between two go-to combinations: jeans with a polished top or sweater, or smart slacks with a more casual shirt. Neutral colours keep everything interchangeable. Essentially, she cracked the Indian aunty wardrobe philosophy but made it corporate.
The idea is that what you wear shapes how you think and perform. For Mirza, dressing up is not about vanity. It is about showing up with clarity, confidence and intention.
Her experience also pushes back against Big Tech’s famously relaxed dress culture, the world of Patagonia vests and jeans.
Dressing well, she said, made her more successful, motivated and productive. Sometimes the smallest rituals carry the loudest impact.
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