From Voice ~ Topics: consumerism, lifestyle
Fashion iCon: My Brief Interview with Steven Jobs
I always wanted to ask Steven Jobs a key question. But since he’s so difficult to pin down, it had to wait until after his speech at the annual World Wide Developers Conference, just a few weeks before the highly anticipated launch of the revolutionary iPhone. Here’s how it went.
Heller: Mr. Jobs, it’s not easy to get you to sit for an interview, so I’ll make this short. Why do you always wear blue jeans and a black turtleneck?
Jobs: That’s what you got me here for? Why don’t we talk about my head-to-toe attack on Bill Gates with our Safari web browser available for Windows-based PCs or my revolutionary iPhone?
Heller: Sure, all that’s very interesting, but we don’t have much time. So, just answer this: Why always with the blue jeans and a black turtleneck? I know you can afford better clothes.
Dress Steve Jobs with his magical closet at www.geekculture.com.
Jobs: You gotta be kidding! I’m sitting down with you because beginning today you can download this new software from Apple’s web site, and it’ll have twice the performance of Microsoft’s browser. I’m going to introduce this at today’s World Wide Developers Conference, and frankly, you’ve got the scoop.
Heller: Yeah, that’s a scoop, but so is this, if you’ll just answer the question: I’ve always wanted to know whether you’re saying “fuck you” to your audience or do your clothes have other symbolic significance?
Jobs: Look, I have no intention of talking fashion with you. I am encouraging Apple software developers to use modern internet software standards to make applications compatible with Apple’s iPhone, which will go on sale June 29. I’m sure the announcement is likely to touch off a frenzy of activity and...
Heller: ...And I can read all about it in the New York Times, but more to the point is, how often do you change your clothes. I mean, do you have an endless supply of baggy blue jeans and black turtlenecks, or do you rotate so they don’t get too raunchy?
Jobs: Are you some kind of moron?! I’m giving you the lowdown on how Apple will be able to increase its market share against the dominant software firm, because there are half a billion downloads of Apple’s iTunes software, mostly by Windows users, and you persist in this idiotic line of questioning?
Heller: You certainly are a tough interview, Steven—if may I call you Steven. So, tell me, do you get the jeans pre-washed or do you work them in over time during the course of rotating?
Jobs: Jeez. Rotate on this!!!
Jobs waves an iPod Shuffle with his forefinger. The interview ends abruptly.
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Ok, i'd always cuestion me about the same issue. Why Steve Jobs can't wear anything else? It's a shame he didn't want to answer that simple cuestion. It reminds me mexican tv news presenter Jacobo Zavlulovsky (I'm from Mexico), when he was beginning his carrer and get an exclusive interview with Fidel Castro. He ask if he had planned to cut off his beard. At that very moment de interview finished exactly the same way that Jobs did.
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This has to be "The" question on a lot of people's minds. I am just wondering now "Is this interview real of fictional?"
Here is a quote by Albert Einstein that comes to mind.
“If most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture, let us be more ashamed of shabby ideas and shoddy philosophies... It would be a sad situation if the wrapper were better than the meat wrapped inside it.” -
Wow. He's really that much of a prick? Well, then the outfit is rather fitting.
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How does this even remotely pertain to the journal of Design? If this is a joke i'm not laughing.
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This was both a joke and a product placement. It reminded me of Wayne's World overt product placement for Pizza Hut and Coke. But, underneath this trivial piece, Steve Heller did articulate what I've been thinking for years. For a design maven, Steve Jobs dresses no better than Bill Gates.
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I agree, this isn't the place for internet memes.
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My experience, both as a designer and an occasional client to designers is that, taken as a group, we don't know how to dress ourselves very well. I am sure that a rather brilliant pitch by two designers I'd hired was rejected in part because they looked too scruffy in a room full of suits.
& - In all seriousness, no place should take it's self so seriously as to eschew occasional self mockery - In my (always) humble opinion. I enjoyed reading this very much. -
First, I can see that some of you are truly not certain if this is real or not. It is not. Totally fabricated.
I wrote it as a piece of satire after reading all the press (including a cover story in New York Magazine) about the new Apple products where Jobs - the genius behind and the spokesperson of the company - is front and center in his trademark gear.
As Clyde Boyer rightly points out this is a joke and product placement, but also a commentary on how products are sold, mythologies developed, brands established, and consumers are drawn into manipulative experiences.
How does this pertain to a journal of Design? Steve Jobs is design. When he gets up before the public he is a logo. His uniform is key to this corporate identity. I suppose I could have said as much in an analytical narrative, but I chose to write it as I felt it. There is something comic about it, no?
Frankly, I enjoy how he's branded himself in relation to his usually wonderful products. Look how different he and Bill Gates are in this regard. Its fascinating.
What's more I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to ask these questions, and I'm sure its the last thing he'd want to talk about because it would pierce a well cultivated facade. -
Jobs is waiting to reveal his new outfit at WWDC 2008.
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I didn't think I'd actually respond twice to an article on fashion, but for some reason this topic peaks my interest. Both Jobs and Gates are brands and their images fit their audiences to a T (no pun). Jobs' self-conscious eschewing of formal dress represents the everyman designer (black turtleneck and jeans - generic designer man more like it), while Gates just represents who he is - a grok at heart no matter how much you try to dress him up.
What's interesting to me is how the two are perceived and received. Gate's is development, no nonsense, no fun and all business. For much of the past decade, that Icon has resonated with business and development alike. It felt substantial. The pendulum has definitely swung. The Programmer as Icon has been supplanted by the Designer as Icon - even for recovering developers like myself.
The funny thing is - I never realized that Jobs has worn the same outfit for 10 years. Talk about reinforcing a brand and idea. Not so subtle, but hey, I didn't catch it.
duh. -
Hi Steven,
Thanks for this "interview"...made my day.
Nice break to all the seriousness in the world and in design. -
As a designer and an true "MAC Addict"®, I loved reading this article. I found it truly entertaining. Moreover, the simplicity of Steve Jobs' mode of dress speaks volumes to all that is Apple.
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upstairs, he's all Dieter (read: callifornia, new york)
downstairs it's jeans (the homeland)
I've never dealt with Jobs directly but I've done work for him. His nickname (fomr those around him) is not so becoming; Dr Evil. -
hello steve,
steve jobs obviously forgot to tell you that he is a disciple of our book,
CHEAP CHIC, art directed by brasilian BEA FEITLER with CHARLES CHURCHWARD.
since Charles is now design director at VOGUE, you could say that steve jobs follows their look when it comes to dresing....
carol troy/napa valley/st. helena -
Fascinating interview. On a related note, I heard that Jobs is preparing to launch a new clothing line featuring turtlenecks with built-in wireless technology for portable web surfing and downloading. I believe it's to be called the iNeck.
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My mama always said: You can't buy taste. It's true, but I just wish the mastermind behind Apple put a fraction of the thought dressing himself as he did in making sure all those rectangles have rounded corners.
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I got an early morning chuckle from that "interview". I get it completely. He has much more to think about than what to wear. It's easy, comfortable and it's just not important to him. I think a self-prescribed uniform is a wonderful idea.
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Steve, a great pseudo interview. It's too damn funny (and to the point) to be real.
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Steven,
This is the best article written on the voice in a long time. It's great to see someone mocking all of the over-hype of an over-designed product...as well as Steve Jobs pants. If this graphic design stuff doesn't work out for you maybe you have a future in comedy writing kid.
Love,
Jesse -
Steve Jobs can wear and do whatever he wants. He is a genius. Imagine your life without Apple.
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Let's just hope they don't do a U2 autographed edition of the black iNeck (see above).
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with his usual suit made out of a traditional black shirt and a under-dressing pair of jeans, it makes me wonder if he thinks he's an artist/painter. He's certainly got his famous "simplicity" down pretty good by wearing the same outfit whenever he's in a major public event.. I've got to give him some points for being consistent.
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Umm... Jobs should sue you. This is a terrible article and is not written as a satire. You are recking his image. I hope your boss is yelling at you for this article.
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Very good! This line of questioning does degrade his product (himself). His outfit encourages us not to think of him as soley the man behind the curtain, but rather the Wizard of Oz.
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I would like to believe we are in an age where what is in a person's mind and heart is more important than the clothes worn.
Frankly I admire him. Keep it simple and let the mystery come from what is truly his passion.
Let the clothing fashion game be played by those who aspire to that trade.
In the end he is a man. And remember this the common denominator for us all is we all come from the same place and go back to it...and yes without our ipod's! -
Fidel Castro has an ipod shuffle?!?!
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Maybe the biggest problem facing Jonathan Ive is designing an isuit for Steve Jobs' to wear giving his keynote speech!
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Wow...it is amazing how people are so uptight and cannot take a joke these days. I loved it, Steve...Thank you!
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I have a pic of Steven in his Gladiator outfit if you'd like to see it. It really helped me.
Thanks for the article! -
When was the last time you saw a well dressed comp nerd? I don't care how rich he is.
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Laughing.
I was about to ask this interview was real or not then i saw your comment. Enjoyed.
If you notice the advertisement(Young man in jeans & T-shirt and the middle aged man in suit) of some of the Apple products you could see the Steve and Bill!! -
Ah yes... Heller you continue to inspire my sense of humor.
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My son works at Apple in Cupertino and reports that Steve doesn't always wear the aforementioned attire.
Who cares, anyway? Page and Brin at Google wear only all black (except for the white lab coat sessions) -
Jobs should go with some Prada and a black shirt, open-collar. Mildly Euro but not threatening to the programming crowd or perhaps he should be clad in something sexy and sleek without useful protuberances like buttons (sound familiar?)
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Too funny, more so because the piece was something unexpected from such an 'authoritive' site like AIGA.org. Yet the question WAS on everyone's minds. Designers can't help it. We nitpick. Same thing with that mop on Donald's head.
Every designer knows presentation is everything. So when we see something not quite 'perfect', it bugs us. We're thinking, 'Oh! So successful! But why? WHY?!' -
I was disappointed by this article. I don't know whether it was trying to be "high-art" by asking an absurd question or if it was serious. I'm siding with Mr. Jobs on this. I would have concluded the interview after the first question. Is this the level of professionalism that we are to expect from AIGA? This is Steve Jobs, the man who we can credit with keeping Apple alive and well so we can keep using Macs. WIthout this man, we would all be using PCs by now to design and create. This interview was wasted. How sad and unprofessional. This article does not reflect the standards I expect from a source like AIGA.
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Heller and Jobs have things in common. A good sense of design, some education on the subject. A point of difference, is that I have never heard "SQUAT" on Jobs sense of humor..(does he have one?) He does have a fabulous wardrobe purchased at Wilkes-Bashford from what i have heard. That he understand personal brand is also evident. The rotate coment was classic Heller, short, and "pithy" I loved the interview, and I love AIGA.
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BRAVO Steven! Jobs has always seemed like someone who needs adult style Garanimals. Anyone who is too young to appreciate that comment, go to: www.garanimals.com
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The illustration at the top is slightly inaccurate. I've never seen Steve Jobs wear a belt.
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Please, at least get the name right!
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That was an unexpected interview Steve... lol. Thanks for having the balls to kick that soapbox away from Jobs for that quick second or two. AIGA fo' Life (or until I can't afford the membership nemore)!
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Funny, insightful satire - I thought you were mocking his one track mind in both message and fashion! haha!
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Jobs keeps ignoring him and talks about new products from his company. The reason he doesn’t want to answer the question is because he know he is a generic kinda person just like apple. Apple has the most generic looking products. WHITE! Designers are supposed to be creative and have a unique style. Apple does the complete opposite; it’s thought process is design in a vacuum, where change cannot occur. Apple wants to brainwash everybody (which most designers are) and wants everybody to be alike. Designers are not exposed to other computer systems so they just go along with what they are told. Apple greatly discourages creativity. ROBOTS!
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This was very funny. I cant believe that some of you are so tight***ed.
It was light-hearted an all in fun. Graphic Design community cant be this boring. -
please don't generalize about designer's not knowing how to dress...i think you're referring those web designers that don't brush their hair and wear the bert n' ernie stripes to business meetings. I have a high sense of fashion, and I dress casual and hip and clients dig the style.
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Did anybody else notice how Apple borrowed the Nike "AIR" slogan? Must have been some kinda behind the scenes deal since Nike is using the + iPOD technology in their running shoes. Or do you think think it's merely a coincidence?
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Everyone loves a joke. I love watching Family Guy and the jokes are insane and crazy there. Most of it is parody references and innuendos in touchy topics which we can laugh about because its a cartoon. However, if a political figure such as (pick your favorite respected president here: Not Bush) were to re-enact scenes from Family guy. It wouldn't turn out so well. It'd divide criticism either in support or not in which is expressed here.
A joke can be considered a shield against our need to express truths that don't agree with society. Live out fantasies which we couldn't do in the real world, but maybe here in the Matrix. It sometimes helps us to get away from reality or deal with things we normally do not want or cannot deal with in real life.
However it's a geeky subject sprinkled with Britney Spears cupcake cologne. Like OMG...
Somewhere along the bottom of the script. It should have said "For entertainment purposes only." But that would take all the fun out of it, wouldn't it?
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