5 ms·

"Zuckerberg explained: “I really want to clear my life to make it so that I have to make as few decisions as possible about anything except how to best serve [F

by pcurve 9y ago

"Zuckerberg explained: “I really want to clear my life to make it so that I have to make as few decisions as possible about anything except how to best serve [Facebook’s] community." Most likely he just doesn't enjoy fashion. Some people love fashion, shopping clothes, figuring out what do dress, and derive tremendous joy from them. Zuckerberg and Obama aren't one of them. At least Obama is being more honest about the reasoning, while Zuckerberg is just spinning it.

diegoprzl 9y ago
Pragmatism is a good principle but as you say there are persons who enjoy clothing itself as a form of art and self-expression. Casual/minimalism (as jeans+tshirt only) in clothing is not the rational choice for everyone. As an example: Someone who doesn't particularly enjoy music could advocate that as a means to make fewer decisions and not waste time in non-adaptive behavior he doesn't listen to music. If the ingroup has similar tastes then it's converted into a "truth" and non-conformity prejudiced. Overall I think that the intelligent thing is to dress according to what is expected/acceptable. A lot of people seems to think that the move to casual dress is some kind of new achieved freedom and that we're growing out of being biased against other's persons clothing. The reality, as posts here can attest, is that it was simply a change in dressing code. There is still a bias, now it's just placed in the more "formal" clothing. I personally prefer tailored/formal clothing. But as casual dressers were discriminated in the 60s-70s so I would be in the current workplace if I dressed as I desired. The solution is simple: Dress as expected in work and as you like in your personal life. We as a species have not grown out of groupthink yet.
- coldtea 9y ago
  >I personally prefer tailored/formal clothing. But as casual dressers were discriminated in the 60s-70s so I would be in the current workplace if I dressed as I desired. Would you though? Because tailored suits are a casual hipster staple nowadays too. You can meet a guy with huge victorian mustache and beard and a fine suit and they're a graphic designer or something....
  - ghaff 9y ago
    I agree it's not quite the same thing. At one point not wearing the required jacket and tie was just grounds for dusmissal. Now "overdressing" in some manner is just eccentric. Of course, not everyone has the luxury of being eccentric.
    - coldtea 9y ago
      I guess in those cases the tuxedo t-shirt is the best compromise...
- pionar 9y ago
  I, too, dress more formally than my peers. I'm in that weird Generation Y (mid 30s-early 40s) that started working in the late 90s/early 00s where business casual was expected but before casual became the norm.
dajohnson89 9y ago
Americans are generally not as concerned with fashion, period. It might be extreme to wear a black turtleneck everyday, but Steve Jobs didn't invent this, and I'm not sure he could get away with it in say, Paris.
- coldtea 9y ago
  >and I'm not sure he could get away with it in say, Paris. He could. Low-brow fashion may be about keeping up with the latest trends, but fashion sense in the way they'd appreciate in say France or Italy is mainly about the personality shown in your attire -- and such a personal uniform would be totally acceptable (at worst viewed as eccentric in the good sense).
  - dajohnson89 9y ago
    It's so interesting that you'd say that. I work with lots of Italian and French people, and am a bit obsessed with the French culture and language. I observe that the opposite holds -- fashion-conscious Europeans sometimes let their personality be defined by their fashion choices. The personality, whatever that means, is secondary. Not to say that they are superficial at all, but rather that looks and presentation are so important to them (not a bad thing!) that it becomes a bigger part of who you are. For example just today -- an Italian colleague struck up a conversation with me while we were grabbing coffee in the kitchen. He was wearing a blazer, nice dress pants and nice shoes. I was wearing jeans, hoodie, t-shirt. He asked me what cologne I like, and literally fanned the scent from his neck onto me, so I could smell his good taste in fragrance. His cologne did smell really good, but I was still jarred by the whole experience.
    - hueving 9y ago
      >but rather that looks and presentation are so important to them (not a bad thing!) How is this not bad? I don't think the saying is "judge a book by its cover". Wasting so much energy on superficial things has to take it from somewhere else.
jdietrich 9y ago
A remarkable number of fashion designers have adopted their own Jobsian uniform. Carolina Herrera almost always wears a white dress shirt with a pencil skirt, Karl Lagerfeld has his peculiar gothic suits and high-collared shirts, Marc Jacobs is rarely seen without a kilt. It's something of a trope within the fashion world - the designers who work to push forward the boundaries of fashion often stick with the same basic style for decades.
- jononor 9y ago
  Hard to lead if you're busy following everyone elses whims all the time (fashion).
- erroneousfunk 9y ago
  It's also harder to be criticized for your fashion choices if you wear the same thing all the time, which is nice if you're likely to be highly scrutinized for your fashion choices. No one's going to call out Anna Wintour for having a stupid haircut.
supernovae 9y ago
I don't know why we have to presume or assume anything about anyone. Zuckerberg is just as valid as Obama in why THEY choose to dress the way they do. I'm a honey badger when it comes to clothes. I just wear free crap i get from conferences and buy jeans/shorts as needed. I don't spend any brain power on doing anything other than making sure i'm comfortable and fit the season(s). I spend money on quality - i don't want my clothing failing when mountaineering but "Fashion" is the last thing on my mind and i tend to get 10-15 years out of my REI / North face outdoor clothing A focus on fashion or appearance in the scope of work is a distraction. Where whatever you want to wear but don't assume others have any interest or admiration of such.
criddell 9y ago
If I were Zuckerberg, I would just hire somebody to manage my wardrobe. Give them access to my calendar and have my clothes ready when I get up.

by pcurve 9y ago

diegoprzl 9y ago

Pragmatism is a good principle but as you say there are persons who enjoy clothing itself as a form of art and self-expression. Casual/minimalism (as jeans+tshirt only) in clothing is not the rational choice for everyone. As an example: Someone who doesn't particularly enjoy music could advocate that as a means to make fewer decisions and not waste time in non-adaptive behavior he doesn't listen to music. If the ingroup has similar tastes then it's converted into a "truth" and non-conformity prejudiced. Overall I think that the intelligent thing is to dress according to what is expected/acceptable. A lot of people seems to think that the move to casual dress is some kind of new achieved freedom and that we're growing out of being biased against other's persons clothing. The reality, as posts here can attest, is that it was simply a change in dressing code. There is still a bias, now it's just placed in the more "formal" clothing. I personally prefer tailored/formal clothing. But as casual dressers were discriminated in the 60s-70s so I would be in the current workplace if I dressed as I desired. The solution is simple: Dress as expected in work and as you like in your personal life. We as a species have not grown out of groupthink yet.

coldtea 9y ago
>I personally prefer tailored/formal clothing. But as casual dressers were discriminated in the 60s-70s so I would be in the current workplace if I dressed as I desired. Would you though? Because tailored suits are a casual hipster staple nowadays too. You can meet a guy with huge victorian mustache and beard and a fine suit and they're a graphic designer or something....
- ghaff 9y ago
  I agree it's not quite the same thing. At one point not wearing the required jacket and tie was just grounds for dusmissal. Now "overdressing" in some manner is just eccentric. Of course, not everyone has the luxury of being eccentric.
  - coldtea 9y ago
    I guess in those cases the tuxedo t-shirt is the best compromise...
pionar 9y ago
I, too, dress more formally than my peers. I'm in that weird Generation Y (mid 30s-early 40s) that started working in the late 90s/early 00s where business casual was expected but before casual became the norm.

dajohnson89 9y ago

Americans are generally not as concerned with fashion, period. It might be extreme to wear a black turtleneck everyday, but Steve Jobs didn't invent this, and I'm not sure he could get away with it in say, Paris.

coldtea 9y ago
>and I'm not sure he could get away with it in say, Paris. He could. Low-brow fashion may be about keeping up with the latest trends, but fashion sense in the way they'd appreciate in say France or Italy is mainly about the personality shown in your attire -- and such a personal uniform would be totally acceptable (at worst viewed as eccentric in the good sense).
- dajohnson89 9y ago
  It's so interesting that you'd say that. I work with lots of Italian and French people, and am a bit obsessed with the French culture and language. I observe that the opposite holds -- fashion-conscious Europeans sometimes let their personality be defined by their fashion choices. The personality, whatever that means, is secondary. Not to say that they are superficial at all, but rather that looks and presentation are so important to them (not a bad thing!) that it becomes a bigger part of who you are. For example just today -- an Italian colleague struck up a conversation with me while we were grabbing coffee in the kitchen. He was wearing a blazer, nice dress pants and nice shoes. I was wearing jeans, hoodie, t-shirt. He asked me what cologne I like, and literally fanned the scent from his neck onto me, so I could smell his good taste in fragrance. His cologne did smell really good, but I was still jarred by the whole experience.
  - hueving 9y ago
    >but rather that looks and presentation are so important to them (not a bad thing!) How is this not bad? I don't think the saying is "judge a book by its cover". Wasting so much energy on superficial things has to take it from somewhere else.

jdietrich 9y ago

A remarkable number of fashion designers have adopted their own Jobsian uniform. Carolina Herrera almost always wears a white dress shirt with a pencil skirt, Karl Lagerfeld has his peculiar gothic suits and high-collared shirts, Marc Jacobs is rarely seen without a kilt. It's something of a trope within the fashion world - the designers who work to push forward the boundaries of fashion often stick with the same basic style for decades.

jononor 9y ago
Hard to lead if you're busy following everyone elses whims all the time (fashion).
erroneousfunk 9y ago
It's also harder to be criticized for your fashion choices if you wear the same thing all the time, which is nice if you're likely to be highly scrutinized for your fashion choices. No one's going to call out Anna Wintour for having a stupid haircut.

supernovae 9y ago

I don't know why we have to presume or assume anything about anyone. Zuckerberg is just as valid as Obama in why THEY choose to dress the way they do. I'm a honey badger when it comes to clothes. I just wear free crap i get from conferences and buy jeans/shorts as needed. I don't spend any brain power on doing anything other than making sure i'm comfortable and fit the season(s). I spend money on quality - i don't want my clothing failing when mountaineering but "Fashion" is the last thing on my mind and i tend to get 10-15 years out of my REI / North face outdoor clothing A focus on fashion or appearance in the scope of work is a distraction. Where whatever you want to wear but don't assume others have any interest or admiration of such.

criddell 9y ago

If I were Zuckerberg, I would just hire somebody to manage my wardrobe. Give them access to my calendar and have my clothes ready when I get up.