It has been a long time since the billionaire tech genius in the nowhere man tee was last seen.
The idea that a life of the boundless mind was reflected in a life freed from mundane concerns was not taken seriously. He didn't want the cage of a suit and tie. Instead, the cargo shorts and sneakers were worn with white running socks.
The baggiest, most stretched out, most slept in, most unflattering T-shirts and shorts; the unkempt bed-head. While the look may have evolved naturally, it became a signature as he rose to prominence, and he realized it was as effective at pushing the Pavlovian buttons of the watching public as the suits and Charvet ties of Wall Street.
The fact that FTX's headquarters are in the Caribbean rather than California is as conscious as incorporating in the Bahamas. The ultimate billionaire white boy tech flex is me. I am not subject to the same rules as other people.
Albert Einstein's halo of hair became a symbol of the physicist's genius because it was an image that had its roots not so much in Mr. Bankman- Fried's youth. In Steve Jobs's jeans and black turtleneck, and in Steve Wozniak's kitschy shirts, long, stringy hair and beard. The Adidas flip-flops, hoodies, and gray T-shirts that Mark Zuckerberg wore gave rise to the current tech uniforms.
A uniform that telegraphs to the watching world someone who doesn't have time to worry about what they are wearing because they are thinking such big, world changing thoughts. No one else can comprehend these thoughts because they are so out there. The idea of a language, made in code, that magically shrinks down all sorts of possibilities and puts them in the palm of your hand is what it plays on.
Human beings worship things on a macro level. It is easy to worship technology. It is the idolatry of innovative people.
People who have their very being don't just step over long established lines, but ignore them completely. How do we know what they are talking about? We know them when we see them. They are different from us. They don't look like us.
Joseph Rosenfeld, an image consultant and stylist in Silicon Valley, said that they have. The public is willing to give tech bros a pass when they are mid-meteoric rise in fame and wealth. The costume has been reinforced by Hollywood, and the fact that every time a V.C. forks over a massive investment to a schlubbily dressed person, that is a passive form of approval.
If you are white, male and young, that's a self-perpetuating one. Security probably wouldn't let a person of color in the building if they showed up like that. In many ways, the dress code is an example of the double standard that exists in Silicon Valley, even if, like FTX, they didn't have headquarters in other places.
It was. The whole look has been changed by Mr. Bankman- Fried. His sloppy dress seems less a reflection of a higher calling or of a decision to devote his own finances to "effective altruism" than a red flag about a sloppy approach to other people's money Someone who doesn't care about showering or style is probably someone who doesn't care about audits.
In Mr. Bankman-Fried's embrace of the dress-down mystique, he missed the point. The black turtlenecks that Mr. Jobs wore were made by the Japanese designer Issey Miyake. They didn't seem to be studied very much.
Some of the best dressed individuals in tech prefer a very low profile and don't prefer to bring attention to themselves. When asked who those people were, Mr. Rosenfeld mentioned Kevin and Evan.
He missed the fact that someone who may go to jail is not someone who would want to look like them.
The day after his arrest, Mr. Bankman- Fried was scheduled to testify before Congress. We will never know if he wore a suit for the occasion or if he wore his brown lace-ups tied in a weird knot. When his case makes it to court, he will probably swap his shorts and shirts for a conservative jacket and tie, but it's not clear if it will make a difference.
During his mea culpa self-exoneration media tour before his arrest, his track record of schlubbiness is still on view.
It is almost certain that the schtick will go out of fashion if it is indeed used. For a while. The trappings of the man who has stepped into Mr. Bankman- Fried's shoes as FTX chief executive, John J. Ray III, sat before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday.
Mr. Bankman-Fried used to say, "I'm special, I'm unconventional, I'm above all that boring rule-playing."
He said that it will be in style. If it gets a new look.
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