Sam Bankman-Fried and Schlubby Style
Sam Bankman-Fried's picks may signal the end of the schlubby mystique.
The mythical figure that is, the billionaire technological genius of the man from nowhere may finally be about to meet his long-awaited end. The arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of cryptocurrency trading platform FTX, on Monday in the Bahamas for fraud, could signal not only the next stage of his downfall, but also a change in the global image of silicon. . Valley.
After all, no one has taken the idea that a life of mind without limits is reflected in a life free from petty cares like clothes more farther than Mr. Bankman-Fried (or SBF, as he is often called). Not for him the physical cage of a suit and tie. Instead, the T-shirt, cargo shorts and sneakers, often worn with white crinkle ankle running socks.
And not just any what a cargo t-shirt and shorts, but what might seem like the baggiest, stretchiest, sleepiest, most self-consciously unflattering t-shirts and shorts; the most overlooked headboard. While the look may have evolved naturally, becoming a signature one as he rose to prominence, a look he achieved was as effective in pushing the Pavlovian buttons of the viewing audience (and the investment community) than Savile Row suits and Charvet Wall Street ties.
"It's as conscious as incorporating in the Bahamas where there is has little to no regulatory oversight," said Scott Galloway, an investor, podcast host and marketing professor, referring to the fact that FTX's headquarters are in the Caribbean rather than California. "It's the ultimate billionaire white boy tech flex: I'm so above convention. I'm so special that I'm not bound by the same rules and proprieties as everyone else."
It's an image not so much rooted in Mr. Bankman- Fried's youth in a family that embraced utilitarianism as in the halo of unbrushed hair d 'Albert Einstein, who has become a symbol of physicist genius as much as E=mc2. In Steve Jobs' jeans and black turtleneck, and in Steve Wozniak's kitsch shirts, long, stringy hair and beard (which took three hours to recreate for the biopic "Jobs"). In, of course, Adidas flip-flops, hoodies and Mark Zuckerberg's gray t-shirts, which gave rise to today's technical uniform of choice.
It's a uniform that telegraphs the world watching someone who has no time to worry beware of what he wears because he has such great world-changing thoughts. Thoughts that no one else can understand because they are so present and potentially revolutionary. This plays on our general insecurity around science and the world of technology; the whole idea of a language, done in code, impenetrable, that magically narrows down all sorts of possibilities and puts them in the palm of your hand.
Sam Bankman-Fried's picks may signal the end of the schlubby mystique.
The mythical figure that is, the billionaire technological genius of the man from nowhere may finally be about to meet his long-awaited end. The arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of cryptocurrency trading platform FTX, on Monday in the Bahamas for fraud, could signal not only the next stage of his downfall, but also a change in the global image of silicon. . Valley.
After all, no one has taken the idea that a life of mind without limits is reflected in a life free from petty cares like clothes more farther than Mr. Bankman-Fried (or SBF, as he is often called). Not for him the physical cage of a suit and tie. Instead, the T-shirt, cargo shorts and sneakers, often worn with white crinkle ankle running socks.
And not just any what a cargo t-shirt and shorts, but what might seem like the baggiest, stretchiest, sleepiest, most self-consciously unflattering t-shirts and shorts; the most overlooked headboard. While the look may have evolved naturally, becoming a signature one as he rose to prominence, a look he achieved was as effective in pushing the Pavlovian buttons of the viewing audience (and the investment community) than Savile Row suits and Charvet Wall Street ties.
"It's as conscious as incorporating in the Bahamas where there is has little to no regulatory oversight," said Scott Galloway, an investor, podcast host and marketing professor, referring to the fact that FTX's headquarters are in the Caribbean rather than California. "It's the ultimate billionaire white boy tech flex: I'm so above convention. I'm so special that I'm not bound by the same rules and proprieties as everyone else."
It's an image not so much rooted in Mr. Bankman- Fried's youth in a family that embraced utilitarianism as in the halo of unbrushed hair d 'Albert Einstein, who has become a symbol of physicist genius as much as E=mc2. In Steve Jobs' jeans and black turtleneck, and in Steve Wozniak's kitsch shirts, long, stringy hair and beard (which took three hours to recreate for the biopic "Jobs"). In, of course, Adidas flip-flops, hoodies and Mark Zuckerberg's gray t-shirts, which gave rise to today's technical uniform of choice.
It's a uniform that telegraphs the world watching someone who has no time to worry beware of what he wears because he has such great world-changing thoughts. Thoughts that no one else can understand because they are so present and potentially revolutionary. This plays on our general insecurity around science and the world of technology; the whole idea of a language, done in code, impenetrable, that magically narrows down all sorts of possibilities and puts them in the palm of your hand.
What's Your Reaction?
