From Mark Zuckerberg’s Bruno Cucinelli T-shirts to Jack Dorsey in Dior Men, how Silicon Valley style – where comfort crosses luxury – has found itself on trend
- Silicon Valley fashion has always been about comfort – think hoodies and jeans – but now ‘tech bros’ are upgrading the look with luxury items
- A nice pair of sneakers and dressy jeans good for both the office and conferences are absolute necessities in today’s tech world, a stylist says
Just as fictional finance crook Gordon Gekko had his signature braces and gauche business shirts, and modern finance guys love their company-branded Patagonia fleece vests, so too is Silicon Valley known for its style stereotypes.
The world of tech has long been dressed in nondescript hoodies, jeans, plain T-shirts and logo-free sneakers, a look brought to the small screen in the 2014 HBO show Silicon Valley. The show’s costume designer, Daniel Orlandi, told Esquire that the “all-encompassing hoodie [is] the blazer of Silicon Valley”.
That style, or perceived lack of it, is for some a way of dressing to sit outside the system and yet also signal that you’re part of a tribe.
Zuckerberg was likely inspired by the almost monastic approach to fashion of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, whose signature uniform included black turtlenecks from the Japanese designer Issey Miyake (Jobs reportedly owned hundreds of them), Levi’s jeans and New Balance sneakers.