The fully buttoned-up shirt used to be a work outfit. But it's now a Saturday night look, too
You may have read about The Merge. It's the Silicon Valley term for the way technology is blurring the divide between home and work, the post 9-to-5 reality of a world in which it is acceptable to leave work at 5pm to be home for your kids' bathtime, because it is taken for granted you'll pick up where you left off on email by 8pm.
Fashion reflects the times we live in, and what you see here is the first Merge trend. The fully buttoned-up shirt is a traditional symbol of the working day; the loosening of that collar a reflex action of signing off. But now that there is no sign-off moment, the rules are changing. The buttoned-up shirt collar is now a Saturday night look. The very same shirt you would have worn with the top two buttons undone – soft denim, starched white cotton, paisley silk, it doesn't matter – just do up all the buttons, and voilà: you are à la mode.
All you hipsters out there have of course been doing this for at least two years, and are now rolling your eyes at my tardiness. But I make no apologies, first because I partly blame you youngsters for starting this whole Merge business by spending too much time on Facebook in the office. And, second, because there is a very good reason I am reporting on the collar issue now. Until quite recently, a fully buttoned-up collar was still the slightly avant-garde choice, and two undone buttons a perfectly acceptable look for the mainstream-fashionable man or woman. But we have now reached the tipping point. The unbuttoned collar is the new bootcut jean. It is now a faux-pas.
There are lots of reasons to love this look. You can shop it from your own wardrobe, for a start, although of course you might prefer to have a browse on asos.com when work starts to drag at about 4pm. It is a high-impact styling trick, because it is in the very small area of your outfit that everyone sees, even when you are in the street with your coat on. The downside? Well, isn't that obvious? It's uncomfortable as hell. And I say this as a woman who wears high heels every day. I'm not sure I'm happy with the way fashion is going. And I blame the Merge.
• Jess wears shirt, £390, by 3.1 Phillip Lim from www.my-wardrobe.com. Skirt, £250, by Carven, from Matches, matchesfashion.com. Shoes, £49.99, by Zara, zara.com.
Photograph: David Newby for the Guardian. Hair and makeup: Dani Richardson at danirichardson.co.uk using MAC Cosmetics.