Adam Mosseri wants you to free the knee.
As summer temperatures rise, corporate workers may be tempted to swap their khakis for an easy pair of shorts. It’s stirred up a long-running dispute around corporate etiquette: are shorts in the office a sign of freedom, or just plain indecent?
The head of Instagram stands firmly with shorts-wearers. On the podcast “Throwing Fits,” Mosseri said that there was a “hot debate” in the company’s office.
“I’m pro,” Mosseri said. “But not everyone can pull them off, and not all shorts are created equal.”
He doubled down: “I’m definitely pro. When it hits, it hits. But, when it misses…”
One of the podcast’s hosts interjected. “You’re sent home, and you have to change,” he suggested.
Shorts were once widely considered a no-no of the workplace. In 2017, Business Insider advised that men can “get away” with shorts — if “you don’t care about your career.”
Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Then came the COVID-19 pandemic, when dress codes relaxed for the Zoom era. People wore their pajamas to work; shorts were the least of their worries. (Often, they weren’t even visible, as the camera only showed the worker’s upper half.) As workers returned to the office, some brought their tailored shorts.
In 2023, The Wall Street Journal polled its audience about the apparel. 60% of respondents said that shorts were acceptable at work. Millennials were the most approving, at 75%. Baby boomers weren’t as gracious, with 57% of respondents over age 58 calling shorts “unacceptable.”
While Instagram is owned by the tech company Meta, it has a fashion tilt. It’s the platform of lifestyle influencers and affiliate marketing; it hired Eva Chen.
Does Instagram have better style than Meta’s other brands? Mosseri said the app’s staff dresses better. When he joined Instagram in 2018, he remembered thinking: “Oh man, I kind of need to up my game a little bit.”
It wasn’t a universal rule, he said. “Different strokes for different folks.”
