Remember the version of Mark Zuckerberg who wore the same gray T-shirt, day after day, because he didn’t want to burden himself with unnecessary decisions? That young Zuck feels leagues away from today’s Mark Zuckerberg, who’s now designing his own streetwear-inspired T-shirts, emblazoned with Latin phrases, which he’ll occasionally accessorize with a gold chain.
Zuckerberg isn’t the only billionaire tech founder whose personal style has evolved in recent years, having shed the traditional minimalism and subdued, cool hues we’ve come to expect from business leaders for a louder, flashier wardrobe befitting an A-list artist or entertainer. Jeff Bezos, once a man of clean-cut navy suits and traditional business wear, now dons tight white pants, maximalist print button-ups and shiny leather bombers.
And it wouldn’t be a conversation about tech billionaires without mentioning Elon Musk, whose wardrobe of button-ups and suits has evolved into something more streetwear-inspired. These days, Musk seems more at-home in black skinny jeans, custom sneakers and monochrome MAGA hats (so far seen in canary yellow-gold and black).
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These tech titans’ wardrobes are far from what we’ve come to expect from our richest business executives (can you imagine Bill Gates or Warren Buffett in a silk butterfly-print shirt?). In their own unique ways, Musk, Zuckerberg and Bezos are rejecting the pseudo-modesty of “stealth wealth” or “quiet luxury” — perfectly tailored shirts, designer sweaters, baseball caps the average passerby would never guess costs $700 — introduced to the non-billionaire class in HBO shows like “Succession” and “Industry.”
In those shows, multimillionaires and billionaires adopt this style of “quiet luxury,” defined by Vogue as “a look that will stand the test of time, as it’s essentially a synonym for elevated basics,” in order to subtly express their status among others........