The story behind Steve Jobs's black turtleneck
In the early days, it was a . Later (during the of the iconic Macintosh computer, for example) it was a bow tie and button-down shirt. But without a doubt, Steve Jobs鈥檚 most iconic look has been his black mock turtleneck, Levi鈥檚 501 jeans, and New Balance sneakers. He sported that outfit for more than a decade, since shortly after he returned to Apple in 1998 as interim chief executive officer, until his final 鈥淪tevenote鈥� address in June 2011, where he unveiled iOS 5 and iCloud.
So where鈥檇 his look come from?
According to Walter Isaacson, Jobs's official biographer, it all started when Jobs visited Japan in the early '80s. Isaacson's book, simply titled "Steve Jobs," won't hit shelves until Oct. 24, but Gawker has an excerpt ahead of time that details how Jobs's iconic look came to be.
On his visit to Japan, Jobs met Akio Morita, the chairman of Sony. At the time, everyone in Sony鈥檚 factories wore uniforms, and Morita told Jobs the practice had begun 鈥渁fter the war, [when] no one had any clothes, and companies like Sony had to give their workers something to wear each day.鈥� Then, over the years, the uniforms became a way for workers to bond with the company and to express the company鈥檚 style.
Isaacson explains what happened next: "Sony, with its appreciation for style, had gotten the famous designer Issey Miyake to create its uniform. It was a jacket made of rip-stop nylon with sleeves that could unzip to make it a vest. So Jobs called Miyake and asked him to design a vest for Apple, Jobs recalled, 'I came back with some samples and told everyone it would great if we would all wear these vests. Oh man, did I get booed off the stage. Everybody hated the idea.'"
Okay, so Apple-wide nylon vests might not have been a great idea. But Jobs apparently got stuck on the concept of having a uniform for himself. According to Isaacson, he wanted both the convenience of not having to pick out a new outfit each day, and the 鈥渁bility to convey a signature style.鈥� Jobs had become friends with Miyake, and the designer had a black turtleneck that had caught the Apple CEO鈥檚 eye. He asked Miyake to make him some of them, and the designer sent him 鈥渓ike a hundred.鈥� Isaacson reports that Jobs kept them stacked in the closet, and just like that, the iconic look began.
Admittedly, Jobs鈥檚 choice of outfits made him something of an iconoclast among Silicon Valley folks. (In 2010, Fast Company even gently poked fun at him by a 鈥淪teve Jobs fashion timeline鈥� graphic that showcased his identical outfits from 1998 through the present.) But then again, it was also odd that Jobs himself took the stage to demo new products, rather than handing the responsibility to one of the company鈥檚 vice presidents. The outfit was just one more thing that set the tech titan apart. (See video below.)
