It’s been almost a week since the tragic demise of the ex-CEO of Apple. While memorial posts are appearing all over the internet, I’ve yet to comment about the event. Since I write primarily about style and Japan in my blog, a befitting way to remember the man is perhaps through what is most memorable of the man. His turtleneck, or rather, his mock sweater. Even a geek like Steve Jobs understands what it means by having signature style.
“On a trip to Japan in the early 1980s, Jobs asked Sony’s chairman Akio Morita why everyone in the company’s factories wore uniforms. He told Jobs that after the war, no one had any clothes, and companies like Sony had to give their workers something to wear each day. Over the years, the uniforms developed their own signatures styles, especially at companies such as Sony, and it became a way of bonding workers to the company. “I decided that I wanted that type of bonding for Apple,” Jobs recalled.
Sony, with its appreciation for style, had gotten the famous designer Issey Miyake to create its uniform. It was a jacket made of rip-stop nylon with sleeves that could unzip to make it a vest. So Jobs called Issey Miyake and asked him to design a vest for Apple, Jobs recalled, “I came back with some samples and told everyone it would great if we would all wear these vests. Oh man, did I get booed off the stage. Everybody hated the idea.”
In the process, however, he became friends with Miyake and would visit him regularly. He also came to like the idea of having a uniform for himself, both because of its daily convenience (the rationale he claimed) and its ability to convey a signature style. “So I asked Issey to make me some of his black turtlenecks that I liked, and he made me like a hundred of them.” Jobs noticed my surprise when he told this story, so he showed them stacked up in the closet. “That’s what I wear,” he said. “I have enough to last for the rest of my life.”
I’m a huge fan of Issey Miyake but I have to say I’m no fan of Job’s signature black turtle neck and 501 jeans. Wearing designer clothing won’t make him look good, changing the world with a couple of devices will and have. Because the ones on Jobs were custom made for him and sits only in his wardrobe, the closest ones you can get are the St. Croix mocks. I won’t get them but you might want to.
