Silicon Valley tech giants have recently dramatically changed their approach to style, aiming to look “expensive” and tasteful, according to the British newspaper The Guardian.
Billionaires and companies previously known for their bad taste are now invading the fashion world: for example, Palantir sells $239 work jackets, Anthropic opens pop-up coffee shops, and Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg appear on the red carpet at the Met Gala.
According to the article, this phenomenon can be called “taste-washing”. This is an attempt to give a human face and cultural capital to technologically cold and, at times, anti-human brands.
Experts note that, through fashion, tech giants are trying to appear artificially luxurious and distract from the political or ethical scandals surrounding their companies.
Although Zuckerberg now wears designer T-shirts instead of hoodies, and OpenAI sells 1990s-style clothing, analysts suspect it’s just another marketing ploy to increase its influence and profits.
