How to Dress a Tech Oligarch: Costume Designer Discusses the Evolution of Zuckerberg’s Style
Kyiv • UNN
Sorkin’s film shows Zuckerberg’s transition from hoodies to expensive, understated clothing. After 2024, his style turned into loud luxury.
From T-shirts and hoodies to Alexander McQueen suits featuring images of dragonflies. Costume designer Susan Lyall revealed the evolution of tech oligarch Mark Zuckerberg’s style, and also explained how fashion helps him create the necessary images and promote his own products, UNN reports, citing The Guardian.
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Aaron Sorkin’s first film about Facebook — "The Social Network" (2010) — helped cement the image of Mark Zuckerberg in the early 2000s: a rebel against corporate norms in crumpled hoodies and T-shirts.
The next film, "The Social Reckoning," covers the period from 2019 to 2021. According to costume designer Susan Lyall, this is already the "post-hoodie" era — a time when Zuckerberg stopped demonstratively disregarding formal dress codes. At the same time, it is a period when he becomes as robot-like as possible. Zuckerberg’s restrained wardrobe — suits or identical long-sleeved shirts — emphasizes his icy calm, despite the rage boiling deep inside.
The costumes were created on the basis of extensive research conducted by Lyall herself and actor Jeremy Strong, who, she says, "cares very deeply about costumes." Since they had already worked together on Sorkin’s films "Molly’s Game" and "The Trial of the Chicago 7," they were constantly communicating by message during preparations.
"He writes to me before I even have time to write to him. This is our third film together, so I’m used to it. He’s very proactive — that’s why he’s one of my favorite actors. He knew exactly where and what (Zuckerberg) wore. He needed specific Nike sneakers — footwear was very important to him — as well as a specific T-shirt or sweater from Brunello Cucinelli, and so on," she says.
Strong is known for his devoted use of the Stanislavski system (the "method" acting system), and it seems that the "method" extends to his choice of clothing as well. "It’s essentially the first step in creating a character. Just like the haircut," Lyall notes.
Their discussions were very detailed. "You know, it’s even a little geeky — sitting around and talking about the color of shoelaces. Not many people would want to talk about that. I always joke with him: if acting doesn’t work out, you can come work in my department!" she says. Lyall found those Nike sneakers — specifically, the 2018 Nike Flyknit Trainer model in the "black anthracite" colorway — on the Grailed platform. As for the sweaters, Strong, she says, figured out how to contact the Italian luxury brand Brunello Cucinelli — whose clothes cost astronomical sums — in order to purchase specific models. "Because we don’t need new items. We need things from five or six years ago, and they really helped us get them. And it was all thanks to him. He was truly proactive."
Lyall devoted considerable time to thinking about how tech oligarchs dress. This applies not only to Zuckerberg, but also to Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and others — they partly inspired her work on another recent project: Jesse Armstrong’s film "Mountainhead" (2025), which tells the story of four scheming plutocrats.
They also often wore clothing by Brunello Cucinelli. The brand sells cashmere cardigans for $16,500 and ribbed sweaters for $4,600. Interestingly, a quote from Immanuel Kant is currently prominently displayed on the homepage of its website: "Beauty is a symbol of moral goodness."
In Lyall’s view, Brunello Cucinelli is a kind of "safety net" for people like Mark Zuckerberg. If they are unsure about their clothing choice, the high price helps them feel a little better. You know, if this little sweater costs $2,000, it must be good. It’s like a "security blanket" or simply confirmation of one’s success: if you’re wearing something that signals good taste, then everything is fine. I think [tech billionaires] have found a new way to show off
The Zuckerberg of the time of "The Social Reckoning" has already moved away from his former anti-fashion stance. In 2014, he said that he was "not a cool person" and wore gray T-shirts only because he wanted to make "as few decisions as possible… I feel like I'm not doing my job if I'm expending energy on things that are frivolous or frivolous."
According to Lyall, during the period depicted in the film, "Zuckerberg, to me, was trying to seem like an everyman, but at the same time he was beginning to understand how obsessed Silicon Valley is with questions of taste and the cost of things." He also became more fit. In Lyall's view, he was probably thinking: "My athletic build looks great in this fitted but expensive sweater." There is also an undertone of "those who know, know." At the same time, he looks like a "nouveau riche" person, but without excessive ostentation. He is not lacking in taste.
Since then, Zuckerberg's appearance has evolved into outright flaunting.
Regarding tech billionaires in general, Lyall notes: "I think something has changed. They have found a new way to show off. And it's no longer 'quiet luxury.' This is loud luxury."
As for Zuckerberg himself—whose transformation, which took place around 2024, was accompanied by conspicuous gold chains, Loewe shorts, and Alexander McQueen suits featuring dragonflies—it looks like an extraordinarily well-thought-out strategic move.
Zuckerberg's interest in fashion allows him to create an image distinct from the one we are used to: a man sitting, sweaty, in a suit before Congress. It also diverts attention from the actual state of his products and activities, offering instead an easy and harmless topic of conversation.
Zuckerberg even resorted to a classic writer's device—giving his jewelry a backstory. In 2024, when he began wearing a large gold pendant over a T-shirt, he said it had nothing to do with wanting to imitate hip-hop stars (although the internet, quite predictably, reached precisely that conclusion).
When he was finally asked about the pendant in an interview ("Oh, this?" he replied, trying to look casual), he explained that a Jewish prayer was engraved on the piece. He sings it to his children every night before bed—and the gesture reminds the public of his humanity, his faith, and how important it is to him to be there for his children.
This year, when Meta enlisted fashion stars such as Kylie Jenner to promote its "smart" glasses, Zuckerberg himself began paying even more attention to fashion: he attended Prada shows and the Met Gala.
Last month, he gave The New York Times an interview devoted exclusively to clothing. Zuckerberg claims that he buys almost his entire wardrobe himself on Instagram—which, given his enormous workload, requires considerable time and a multitude of decisions.
The brands he mentioned are mostly contemporary labels not associated with oligarch style. In particular, he named Mike Amiri, whose T-shirts cost around $400. Zuckerberg has even commissioned exclusive items from him—for example, a T-shirt reading "Building is my love language," which he wore when presenting Muse at a Facebook conference. And when he buys something cheaper online—say, for $200 rather than $2,000—he may even reply in the comments if someone praises the item, drawing attention to it: "It's from @johnelliottco—I’ve really been liking their stuff lately."
Likewise, the new personal AI assistant Muse was designed to be as charming as possible—after all, such a cute, fluffy creature resembling a Labubu toy surely cannot trigger an apocalypse! It seems that Zuckerberg's ongoing transformation is intended to make him more approachable and—ideally—more human.
However, in the world of fashion, it is not as simple as checking the box saying "I’m not a robot." For example, explaining his interest in style to The New York Times, he said: "I believe the company embodies my values," — and added that he wanted "to consciously approach how I program it."
This wording suggests that beneath the new bright clothing, the same "mechanism in cashmere" — the image portrayed in Sorkin’s film — may perhaps never have been properly switched off.