Zuckerberg and hoodies

I know not everyone is into fashion, or even personal style. I am confronted by it everyday. You see, I am a student of the Engineering Arts. No, actually, it is not an art. You can tell because after walking into the engineering building, a.k.a. my second home, my eyes accosted by hoodies, sneakers, cargo pants, and t-shirts emblazoned with my school logo.

And this is the future of my generation. Sigh.

As the New York Times states, "Mr. Zuckerberg’s famously anti-fashion styling is spawning imitators, or at least has come to symbolize success for a new generation of would-be billionaires" [1]. My Gen Y peers have taken the idea of dressing for the job you want, not the job you have to an unnecessary extreme. Frankly, we are dressing for our retirement before we are employed. And people like Zuckerberg, as well as others, set a precedent for sloppiness as a symbol for success rather than unemployment.

Style you never thought possible. Never.

But it isn't just Marky Zee who is leading this crusade against formal wear in the tech industry. When you think tech industry, what do you think of? Let me give you a hint, they run this blog. And pretty much every fashion blog, because they run blogger. The fabulous google guys who pretty much started the tee shirts and jeans thing.

Larry Page (left),  man after mine own heart in vertical stripes, and Sergay Brin [2]

By googling (a word, possibly) these two fellas, you are hard pressed to find an image of them looking nice. I mean the closest you get is an awkward business casual photo shoot with uncomfortable looking dudes. But they are billionaires in a way that the number zeros after their worth make me dizzy.

But what seems most pervasive is, of course, media. And while Facebook and Twitter and blogs like these are the "new media," I can't see anything presenting a more sartorial view that film. While I plan to expand on film and fashion in a later post *note to self*, right now I need to talk about how the new generation is being presented with "new sartorial standard for success in the Internet age," or that is what David Fincher, director of The Social Network calls it [3].

According to the Daily Beast, while this film is apparently amazing (cue Golden Globes music), "deep down The Social Network is a fashion flick." A fashion flick that shows the true style dissonance in the tech scene. The film presents two styles, the clean cut, up scale Justin Timberlake as Napster, and the Jesse Eisenberg grunge and sloppy Zuckerberg.

Juxtaposition out the whazoo [4].

 

But this is where I get worried. While I am aware that most people don't peruse Style.com or Sartorialist before they get dressed, they do see movies. And when presented with the image of success scoffing fashion, how can we expect them to continue putting in an effort to look their best? Will people become complacent with their college attire and never make the transition to adult clothing with their transition to adult occupations? And if so, what does that mean for people like me, or you?

So the big question for me, how pervasive is this style story? Will my future employers be unwilling to hire me because I show up to an interview in lace blouses and pencil skirts when they expect college alumn tees and blue jeans? Frankly, I can't imagine if it would be worse to be discriminated against because of sophisticated style or expected to dress differently because of my gender. But I know there is really only one thing I can do. Remain strong by dressing with the power I have, and when necessary, take up the Brooks Brothers that my male cohorts have doffed. They look great on anyone.

[1] NYT talks Zuckerberg
[2] Google Guy Picture credit Associated Press 
[3] Daily Beast gives me another reason to see The Social Network 
[4] Social Network still