Style Verticals: the tech industry

[Nuisance]

I'm currently returning from CES where I got a concentrated dose of tech industry 'style' from around the world. It's not pretty: ill fitting suits, lots of jeans and fleece, and generally a lot of rampant aesthetic disconnects.

I work in San Francisco where I see the granola-y, very pragmatic, low-key (read schlubby) bay area tech industry fashion sense everyday, but CES has just been an opportunity to be reminded how far that profile extends (in this case mixed rather toxically with the hodgepodge style of Las Vegas). Anyone else here also work in tech or have comments on the industry's fashion mode and how it's so resistant to the penetration of high fashion or SZ-style edginess or really anything that reads "fashion" despite its overall affluence?

[kunk75]

merrell, dockers, american apparel and new balance seem to rule the tech industry

[Nuisance]

For people over 40's it's dockers. Under 40 it's Levi's. And despite all my efforts to resist them, there are a pair of Merrels on my shoe rack less than 3 feet from a pair of back zip reverse bison leather Guidis.

[kunk75]

I think jobs and zuckerberg are the fashion icons of the industry.

[darkbydesign]

I don't agree. I've worked in Tech, BioTech, and Medicine since getting my PhD (10 years now) from age 24 to 34 and have worn SZ-style clothing or even more non-Conformist (for Tech) the entire time, including 6 of the past 8 years in San Francisco. In SF, you can where whatever you want if you are accomplished in your industry. So, if you want to wear SZ-style clothes, then go for it! If you can't pull it off in SF, then you certainly can't elsewhere in the US. Own it and if your "style" is part of who you are, people rarely question in since most people in Tech don't know the difference between fashion and clothes anyway.

However, I do absolutely agree with your assessment of style in the Tech industry. I'm just saying, you can take control of your image at your job and it's typically much appreciated.

[Nuisance]

I agree with this and that's at the heart of why its so strange that so few people in tech actually do dress beyond the schlubtech-style standard. I wear crazy stuff all the time and very much stand out at work. It does have something to do with Kunk's comment about industry icons: it's true that zuckerburg and Jobs are the paragons for many here, but why does that mean emulating the worst of their characteristics (personal dress?) along with their best?

I don't agree. I've worked in Tech, BioTech, and Medicine since getting my PhD (10 years now) from age 24 to 34 and have worn SZ-style clothing or even more non-Conformist (for Tech) the entire time, including 6 of the past 8 years in San Francisco. In SF, you can where whatever you want if you are accomplished in your industry. So, if you want to wear SZ-style clothes, then go for it! If you can't pull it off in SF, then you certainly can't elsewhere in the US. Own it and if your "style" is part of who you are, people rarely question in since most people in Tech don't know the difference between fashion and clothes anyway.

[schuur]

I'm currently returning from CES where I got a concentrated dose of tech industry 'style' from around the world. It's not pretty: ill fitting suits, lots of jeans and fleece, and generally a lot of rampant aesthetic disconnects.

I work in San Francisco where I see the granola-y, very pragmatic, low-key (read schlubby) bay area tech industry fashion sense everyday, but CES has just been an opportunity to be reminded how far that profile extends (in this case mixed rather toxically with the hodgepodge style of Las Vegas). Anyone else here also work in tech or have comments on the industry's fashion mode and how it's so resistant to the penetration of high fashion or SZ-style edginess or really anything that reads "fashion" despite its overall affluence?

maybe im reading this wrong, but are you saying there isnt high fashion techwear? what about brands like acronym or veilance?

[Shucks]

maybe im reading this wrong, but are you saying there isnt high fashion techwear? what about brands like acronym or veilance?

yes, you are. the discussion is on (lack of) fashion in tech industry, not the other way around.

[dji]

most of the guys that work in the industry don't care, simple as that. I wear what I want to work (within reason) which is a privilege I appreciate.

[Fuuma]

Aesthetics are not important in the tech industry, I mean look at the fucking products!!

[kamsky]

NYTimes just published an article somewhat germane to this topic, if anyone cares to read.

http://nyti.ms/1bTcz2G

[Nuisance]

I don't think this is as true as it used to be. Nowadays there's a tremendous amount of lip service paid to industrial design and visual design in the tech industry. It has spawned an entire new school at Stanford (the d.School). Unfortunately the lip service doesn't translate very frequently into aesthetic success and it is very rarely reflected as an individual attention to aesthetics in fashion among tech employees. Paradoxically this is even the case at a company like Apple where product design is absolutely paramount.

Aesthetics are not important in the tech industry, I mean look at the fucking products!!

[kunk75]

its not a matter of it being frowned upon, its a matter if a vertical that largely has no aesthetic sense, the kind of people who don't trim their pubes and have horrific skinny fat guts. I've worked in tech for years and seen about 5 people with a clue.

I don't agree. I've worked in Tech, BioTech, and Medicine since getting my PhD (10 years now) from age 24 to 34 and have worn SZ-style clothing or even more non-Conformist (for Tech) the entire time, including 6 of the past 8 years in San Francisco. In SF, you can where whatever you want if you are accomplished in your industry. So, if you want to wear SZ-style clothes, then go for it! If you can't pull it off in SF, then you certainly can't elsewhere in the US. Own it and if your "style" is part of who you are, people rarely question in since most people in Tech don't know the difference between fashion and clothes anyway.

However, I do absolutely agree with your assessment of style in the Tech industry. I'm just saying, you can take control of your image at your job and it's typically much appreciated.

[schuur]

yes, you are. the discussion is on (lack of) fashion in tech industry, not the other way around.

ah, i thought he meant techwear, not actual tech, sorry. anyways i think its because most people either lean towards being artistic or logical, people that far into the logical fields, whether its tech or something similar, dont as often appreciate art and will just wear whatever is warm/comfortable. and those professions arent as likely to have a dress code.

[Nuisance]

But it's like there *is* a dress code: jeans and an untucked shirt, flannel or fleece. To pay attention to fashion is often to be seen as unserious, superficial, or untechnical.

and those professions arent as likely to have a dress code.