New business-style models: the shirts worn by the new magnates of the digital era
Who are today's businessmen? And how has the stereotypical business man look changed in the digital era? After the phenomenon of Steve Jobs, who most decidedly revolutionised the way we all saw big business men, with his famous speech in black turtle-neck. Jobs shone a bright spotlight on the whole Silicon Valley model, a new aesthetic vision that has slowly made its way into business style. Hybrid looks that see T-shirts paired with denim shirts, while the classic white shirt continues to be a popular choice, worn under a blue blazer, as chosen for more corporate appearances, but always in a lazier, more comfortable version, and most of the time, worn unbuttoned at the neck. Much of the credit here goes to Victoria Hitchcock, famous designer from Silicon Valley, who has been helping these super nerds to get out of their T-shirts and sneakers and into a style that is a gentler compromise with the Wall Street look.
The shirt according to Mark Zuckerberg
And the tie knot? If we take Mark Zuckerberg as an example, the founder of Facebook follows the trend of programmers, who may be strict with their codes but not with their wardrobe. In fact, we might say that the more complex the pyramid he tops becomes, the less the famous President of Meta is suited to the bespoke style of Savile Row, preferring to stand out for his red hair, blue T-shirt and matching shirt, worn open over the top. Someone might call this a workwear crisis, when in fact all we are seeing is a workwear transformation, where there are new opinion leaders to show the way.
From Zuckerberg to business casual by Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos
Between one spat and the next on the pages of the summer’s newspapers, between the boss of Meta and the boss of Tesla, Elon Musk, all about their gladiatorial combat that, luckily for us, came to nothing. The year that is about to come to an end saw two antagonists on the podium of global success who in actual fact, have a shared sense of casual business style that fits right in with Made in Italy. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, often seen in blazers, with the great classics, the white, light blue or oxford shirt, mostly worn without a tie, but always with excellent style. While the boss of X tends to prefer a classic black or midnight blue shirt with blazer in the same shade, it is never hard to see Jeff Bezos, with his own brand of self-irony, in shirts with all-over prints in every colour combination, or with a timeless denim shirt and an elegant tweed jacket as an alternative to a leather jacket and a slim fit polo shirt that shows off his increasingly evident biceps.
