In most offices, the right pair of shorts will take you a long way | Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion

Can you wear shorts to work? If your office dress code is the laid-back modern sort, the short answer is probably yes. If you can wear a T-shirt rather than a shirt, or a dress without tights, if jackets are optional, then yes, you can wear shorts to work.

But that doesn’t answer the question. Take me, for instance. The Guardian offices are pretty much dress-code-free. There is absolutely nothing stopping me from wearing shorts to work. But can I? Would I? That’s a whole different question.

And it is one that more of us are asking. An unpredictable climate is blurring the lines between clothes for the summer months at home and holiday pieces, and there are sound economic and environmental reasons to have a wardrobe of versatile pieces that can multitask. On the high street, I’m hearing that the dresses selling best this summer are those that can be dressed up for a wedding or down for a holiday dinner, for instance. So why should shorts be off-limits just because you are on-duty?

But there is more to dressing well for work than being able to follow a dress code, just as there is more to being good at your job than not reneging on your job description. Being good at your job – or at anything, actually – is about standards, as much as it is about skills. I think this is one of the reasons why wearing shorts in the office feels tricky. We associate shorts with activities for which we deliberately dress down, perhaps because whatever you wear will get grubby or sweaty – sport, walking, gardening, lolling about on the grass.

Look, I’m not saying shorts are slobby; I’m just saying that “polished” is not the first adjective that springs to mind when you think of them. And then there’s the age issue. At work you need to be a grownup. That’s what you want in your colleagues, right? You want them to be grownups. And we associate shorts with childhood, which makes them feel like a weird way to caption yourself.

In other words, if you wear shorts to work, you need to think it through. Let’s be honest: your shorts will be the first thing people notice when you walk through that door. But it’s worth doing, because if you walk in and your boss or co-worker immediately thinks, “I wasn’t sure if shorts would work in the office but now I realise they can”, that is not just a win, but a win-win.

Wearing something surprising to the office works in your favour if you make it clear that it’s a choice rather than the result of forgetting to set your alarm. A work wardrobe that never changes can make you look a little sleepy, which isn’t a good office vibe. So if you turn up looking sharp in shorts – which we have established is not easy to do – you look ready to tackle anything.

There are two formulas to making shorts look professional. You can choose smart, tailored shorts and dress them as you would a pair of tailored trousers. I would recommend a crisp shirt, a belt, loafers and socks. It will look a bit preppy, which is fine, but keep everything in neutral colours so you don’t look like you are about to crew a boat – and don’t team shorts with a polo shirt, which might be preppy overload. And no jacket: you might think adding a blazer will make you look more sophisticated but actually it will make you look like a toddler pageboy.

The alternative – as seen here – is to wear shorts that feel more like a summer skirt, and pair them with a blazer. Floaty shorts feel as if they would be a more daring choice, but I’d argue they are the easier route. They blend into the summer-dress landscape rather than shouting about being shorts, if you know what I mean. Add a blazer and you have a smart summer outfit that is SFW and can be reprised for a weekend lunch. To answer the question: yes, you can wear shorts to work. But don’t let your sartorial standards take the day off.

Styling assistant: Sam Deaman. Hair and makeup: Sophie Higginson using Hair by Sam McKnight and the CurrentBody Light Therapy Mask. Blazer, H&M. Shirt and shorts, Nobody’s Child