What does the leather jacket of the new masters of the world hide?
Recently, Jensen Huang, until now CEO of Nvidia, has returned to the headlines following the personal scandal that precipitated his resignation. But, beyond the controversy and the plot twists of his life, there is one element that never changes in his public appearances: his attire. As if it were a uniform, for two decades he has dressed in rigorous black, with a piece that grabs all the attention: the leather jacket. A piece so iconic that in 2026 one of his jackets was auctioned at Sotheby’s for 960,000 dollars. And the fact is that the aesthetics of the great figures of the tech sector, despite their apparent and claimed austerity, is never as casual or innocent as it might seem.
It is curious to observe how many of the great technoligarchs who lead the world today—such as Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, or Bill Gates—began their careers with an appearance closer to that of the nerds from The Big Bang Theory. A way of dressing linked to the homogeneous and casual aesthetic of Silicon Valley programmers, the nerd look. But what happens when the nerd becomes the new powerful elite? Over time, each has forged a very personal aesthetic, without, however, cutting the umbilical cord with their original look: Steve Jobs with jeans, the black turtleneck sweater, and New Balance sneakers; Zuckerberg with the hooded sweatshirt and the gray t-shirt, or Bezos with the tight black polo shirt.
Despite being different from each other, these styles share essential traits. The first is that they have contributed to transforming the image of power. Traditionally associated with the dark suit as a symbol of hierarchy, seriousness, and class belonging, these entrepreneurs have aesthetically distanced themselves from the men of Wall Street and have projected a less authoritarian and more accessible appearance. But power, despite seeming friendlier, is no less power. Aesthetics that even appeal to rebellion against the system, like Huang's own leather jacket, historically adopted by rebellious youth cultures like rockers.
The second shared trait is the desire to project a certain disinterest in fashion. As if they were such brilliant minds and had such busy lives that they could not waste time thinking about how to dress every day. That is why these tech-oligarchs almost always dress without much variation, with a uniformity that projects creativity, innovation, youth, and approachability. However, as the saying goes, time puts things in their place. And in their case, behind this kind and soft power, they have long since begun to show their true colors and reveal their real intentions.
Despite the apparent austerity and aesthetic renunciation, Steve Jobs' black turtleneck sweater was from Issey Miyake and cost 175 dollars. He ordered a hundred of them, for a total value of 17,500 dollars. Huang has Tom Ford as his go-to designer for his leather jackets, which can range between 5,000 and 10,000 dollars. Bezos has turned to Brunello Cucinelli, a luxury firm known for its discreet and high-priced garments. Zuckerberg's monochromatic grey t-shirts and sweatshirts, with an aesthetic close to that of a computer hacker, are also from the exclusive Italian brand. An austerity that contrasts with one of his watches, the Greubel Forsey Hand Made 1, valued at approximately 900,000 dollars.
This aesthetic has a parallel with Apple's famous 1984 commercial directed by Ridley Scott, in which an athlete destroyed a large screen symbolizing totalitarian control and groupthink with a hammer. Technology was thus presented as a force capable of breaking with the established order. In the same way, the image of the nerd also functioned as a visual declaration of a break with the establishment: that of the rebel who did not need to dress like the powerful to become one. But neither does his appearance imply a renunciation of luxury, nor is his power kind or democratic. In a plot twist, those who, like Steve Jobs, even wore sandals and promised to overthrow the established order, far from questioning it, have ended up becoming the system.
