Workwear Is the New Luxury. And It Looks the Part

Pleated khaki green straight-leg pants, little gold high-heeled sandals, and a Chanel-esque tweed jacket casually rested atop the model’s shoulders. Seeing all this photographed in front of a neutral white backdrop, there is no way of guessing it is the work of Dickies, a century-old American workwear powerhouse. And I’d challenge anyone to be able to decipher who is behind the flowing black skirt paired with chunky leather heels, a loosely unbuttoned cardigan worn above a striped shirt and tie.

For the record, my guess would’ve been Jil Sander, followed by Lemaire. Lord knows how many guesses it’d have taken to get to Dickies.

In fairness, these tasteful ensembles of semi-formal everyday clothing aren’t only the work of the workwear maker. This is a joint effort by Dickies’ Japanese contingent and Japanese retailer Journal Standard (which has a history of turning everyday items into luxurious ones).

For its Fall/Winter 2026 Dickies womenswear collection, the store created a legwear trio building from Dickies’ famed work pants: Below-the-knee double-pleated and double-kneed shorts, draping “cocoon” pants, and a long voluminous pleated skirt.

It’s not your regular Dickies construction gear, and that’s only emphasized by the campaign’s preppy styling.

But Journal Standard’s newest Dickies range is not all pretty womenswear. The other side of the collection, the menswear range, is a little more conventional in that it consists of classic painter pants and the even-more-classic Dickies Eisenhower jacket. However, it’s equally beautiful. Each item, releasing in early August, has subtle updates like the addition of extra rivets, a slightly wider arm on the jacket, and soft pre-washed fabric that takes away the usual rugged stiffness found in all things Dickies.

Again, were it not for the Dickies woven tag on the outside, these’d be easy to mistake for one of high fashion’s many workwear recreations.

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