Perspective | When did businessmen began dressing up in designer clothing?

Clothing is defined by conflicts that somehow seem clear, like this one: Actually, really rich people do not use designer clothing.

Okay, yes there are many Birkin customers and many people are invited to custom cruise shows and special events around the world as a thank-you for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on clothing and bags. But those are individuals for whom clothing, or purchasing, is a passion, a routine — like having a ship or an extremely pricey pony.

Ok, we’re talking about Northern giants of the business. Tech brothers. Media kingpins. Individuals who increase their wealth. They float above the siren call of clothing, preferring that their clothes, either openly boring or somewhat ugly, reflect an unwavering rely on their work.

They do n’t have time for a Louis Vuitton Speedy thrown over the shoulder with Rihanna-esque nonchalance. neither the ability to understand the obscenely slick lines of a Chanel ballet flats or the obscene color combinations of a Hermès cowhide jacket. For these individuals, James Perse T-shirts, Fidelity Denim trousers, and Allbirds shoes are what is readily available at Nordstrom’s least desirable surface. Quilted jackets stitched with their bank’s brand. A sweatshirt — Who made it? Who cares? — while working 15-hour time, wearing whatever shorts are cozy enough to never consider them.

But last week at the Sun Valley Conference, purchase strong Allen & Co.’s monthly mountain of technology, finance, and media’s wealthiest and most effective, something seems to have shifted. Apparently, the entrepreneurs have learned to prevent worrying and to enjoy the vicuña. ( That’s the mouth-wateringly expensive cashmere used by Loro Piana to create its most extravagant goods. )

David Zaslav appeared to be wearing a Brunello Cucinelli coat. Sheryl Sandberg in a Thom Browne sweatshirt. Wendi Murdoch in a Couture T-shirt. Additionally, there are numerous instances of logo-less wearability, such as Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff wearing a medallion-studded cowboys hat, and Clear chairman and CEO Caryn Seidman-Becker looking like Gwyneth Paltrow brandishing her quiet-luxury clothing at her snow trial next spring.

Even Oprah Winfrey was seen sporting Phoebe Philo’s toe-toe figure last year, which launched a nickname company whose mysterious impression of great is meant to appeal to women who have accumulated power through art, music, or other visual endeavors. Between meetings, Winfrey was photographed in a pair of Philo’s$ 1, 700 chalk-white jeans with straps at the knee and a$ 1, 700 fluid white turtleneck, looking like, well, anyone else who pairs a white blouse with white trousers, which is to say pulled together but unexceptional. However, Winfrey ( and the rabid fashion fans who follow Philo’s brand like a cult classic ) was making the most of her alleged secretiveness: If you know, and so very, very few of you know, you know.

” Now I’m finally seeing somewhat of an embrace of,’ Hey, I do have this kind of cash, and I do want to be comfortable and on-trend,'” said Victoria Hitchcock, a San Francisco-based stylist who works with businesspeople looking to fine-tune their style. Her clients and other leaders in the Fortune 500 universe are gravitating toward Dior, Valentino, Hermès, Marni, Gucci loafers, Yves Saint Laurent, a bit of Chanel and lots of Loro Piana, Brunello Cucinelli and Berluti. ” Berluti is it”.

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, may have started this zeal for luxury, despite not being present at this year’s gathering. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year that Zuckerberg is now a fan of Cucinelli’s T-shirts and is wearing items like a statement-making shearling coat and a fancy little cardigan by Los Angeles sportswear designer John Elliott.

Over the past five years, Zuckerberg and Salesforce’s Benioff have worn more and more of Cucinelli’s clothes, suggesting a kind of kinship between the Italian designer’s products and their own — philosophical, emotional, spiritual — that echoes, say, the late Steve Jobs’s taste for black Issey Miyake turtlenecks. It’s a way not only to create iconography, but also to suggest symbiosis between the work of two innovators. Even though what they are doing is making day-to-day errands more efficient or a quicker alternative for moving from Point A to Point B, tech types tend to think of their companies with a godlike reverence. Yes, many people ( cynics and admirers alike ) see fashion as capitalism run amok. So if designers peddling pricey sweaters can feel good about themselves, should n’t people monetizing airport security, too?

However, the iHeart of eMan is experiencing a sartorial awakening. Fashion houses like Cucinelli and Loro Piana, in particular, have spent the past five years courting these customers, including them in high-profile events typically geared toward the media and influencers, such as one-off fashion shows and celebrations.

In some cases, fashion companies have even hosted events just for tech titans: In 2019, for example, tech execs including Reid Hoffman, Jeff Bezos and Dick Costolo gathered at the behest of Cucinelli in the designer’s hometown for what he called a” Symposium on Soul and Economics”. Cucinelli challenged Bezos to consider what kind of impact he would leave in 500 years, according to GQ, and the group had a lengthy discussion about the future of society.

And in Silicon Valley, Loro Piana opened a store in March 2023 that had a unique collection accompanied by NFTs. The store also praised a relatively recent program that allows Loro Piana products to be verified on the blockchain, which is both a plus for the tech-savvy consumer and a way for customers to claim that their nondescript-looking beige pullover sweater is actually a$ 5, 400 vicua knit. ( Earlier this year, a Bloomberg investigation claimed Loro Piana underpaid the workers who labored its vicua wool. )

The desire to look sexier appears to have spread beyond these supposedly do-gooder labels, like Loro Piana and Cucinelli. Vacationing in Lake Como or sailing on yachts with A-listers who dress the part is becoming much more popular than they were five or ten years ago. They are beginning to lead more of a celebrity’s life. People seem to revere them for their wealth, whether that’s right or wrong”, Hitchcock says. They want to be a part of the world before they were n’t as invited to it.

Then again, some Sun Valley participants have always looked spiffy, such as Bloomberg L. P. co-founder and former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg, who was photographed in Nantucket Reds and a brightly coordinating jacket with the Sun Valley 2024 insignia, or media executive Barry Diller and his wife, fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, both dressed in eye-catching prints.

Perhaps their fellow classmates are just getting started. The 0.001 percent of the world’s population need to find a place to spend it because they have more money than ever. A$ 5, 400 sweater sure makes a dent in that pile of cash.