09 August, 12:31

Steve Jobs and Issey Miyake's black crewneck

The 'official uniform' of the owner of Apple inspired by Sony

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Issey Miyake and Steve Jobs © ANSA

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Steve Jobs and Issey Miyake's black crewneck © ANSA / EPA

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Steve Jobs and Issey Miyake's black crewneck © ANSA / EPA

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Steve Jobs and Issey Miyake's black crewneck © ANSA / EPA

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Steve Jobs and Issey Miyake's black crewneck © ANSA / EPA

The image is now iconic:

Steve Jobs on the stage of San Francisco's Moscone West, soft lighting and a giant screen behind him, while he wields with undisguised pride the latest device that will forever change the user experience of Apple fans and, with debt. delay, even of all the others.

Little changes if we talk about iMac, iPod or iPhone.

The image is always the same: round glasses with thin titanium frames, a pair of Levis 501 discolored the right, the inevitable New Balance 992 sneakers on the feet.

Yet another idea of ​​his?

Up to a certain point: the inspiration, Jobs himself explained to his biographer Walter Isaacson, was born in the first half of the 1980s, during a visit to Sony in Japan.

In perfect Japanese style, all the employees of the multinational of the Rising Sun wore the same uniform.

A legacy, explained Steve Jobs fascinated, which had its roots in the post-war period: after the Second World War, with a country on its knees, Sony (as well as almost all institutions, starting with schools) had felt the duty to provide its employees with a uniform, in order to guarantee everyone, without distinction, to be able to dress in a dignified manner, eliminating economic and social differences.

From poverty to tradition: the uniform, throughout Japan and at Sony in particular,

has become a distinctive sign, moving from cheap and functional clothes to outfits signed by famous designers.

And Sony's uniform at the beginning of the 80s, coincidentally, was designed by Issey Miyake.

Also thanks to a suggestion received by the legendary Sony CEO Akio Morita, Jobs immediately called Miyake to design the official Cupertino uniform.

The idea was to make a vest, on which the inevitable bitten apple would stand out.

An idea that failed in the bud: as soon as Jobs showed up on stage to announce to him the advent of the ordinance vest, he was heavily contested.

No official uniform, therefore.

it was designed by Issey Miyake.

Also thanks to a suggestion received by the legendary Sony CEO Akio Morita, Jobs immediately called Miyake to design the official Cupertino uniform.

The idea was to make a vest, on which the inevitable bitten apple would stand out.

An idea that failed in the bud: as soon as Jobs showed up on stage to announce to him the advent of the ordinance vest, he was heavily contested.

No official uniform, therefore.

it was designed by Issey Miyake.

Also thanks to a suggestion received by the legendary Sony CEO Akio Morita, Jobs immediately called Miyake to design the official Cupertino uniform.

The idea was to make a vest, on which the inevitable bitten apple would stand out.

An idea that failed in the bud: as soon as Jobs showed up on stage to announce to him the advent of the ordinance vest, he was heavily contested.

No official uniform, therefore.

as soon as Jobs showed up on stage to announce the advent of the ordinance vest, he was heavily contested.

No official uniform, therefore.

as soon as Jobs showed up on stage to announce the advent of the ordinance vest, he was heavily contested.

No official uniform, therefore. 

I asked Issey (yes, in the meantime the two had become friends) to make me some black crewnecks that I liked - Jobs explains to biographer Walter Isaacson -, to dress them like a uniform.

This is both for practicality and to communicate a style, and he gave me a hundred ”.

Isaacson, faced with this somewhat too peremptory statement, remained skeptical, thinking of an exaggeration.

Then Steve Jobs got up from his chair, opened the closet and showed the over one hundred crewneck shirts in his possession: "Here, this is what I'm wearing, I've had enough as long as I live."

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