- Jeff Bezos' public image has changed a lot in the 30 years since he started Amazon.
- The billionaire has shed his boring business attire and experienced a fashion glow-up.
- Here's a closer look at the evolution of his style and persona over the years.
Jeff Bezos is in his "mob chic" era, but it wasn't always this way.
The Amazon cofounder's style and persona have changed a lot over the years, from bookish founder (quite literally in Amazon's early days as a bookseller) to space cowboy at Blue Origin and a Vogue photo shoot.
Here's a look at Bezos' fashion transformation over the years:
Take this photo of Bezos in 1997, three years after he started Amazon.
A 1999 Wired profile of Bezos says, "For the kind of shopper Bezos represents, utility is, of course, a mantra. His wardrobe consists of white or blue dress shirts and a pair of khaki pants."
"Back in the late '80s in New York, when he had to wear a suit every day to the office, he gained a preference for shirts with hidden snaps under the collar points for easy tie removal," the Wired profile continued.
"He has trouble locating this style in the Pacific Northwest, so now he buys a pack of standard snapless shirts and has the snaps sewn on," it said. "When he discovers a pair of shoes he likes, he'll buy four pairs at once and wear them in regular rotation for years."
The result was a more casual take on business wear.
One such example is this 2014 launch of the now-discontinued Amazon Fire Phone.
In this case, it was a meeting of the tech minds that former president Donald Trump convened in 2016.
He's channeling cool guy energy with the leather jacket and laid-back outfit.
Bezos turned heads at the annual Sun Valley conference in 2017 with this iconic look that's almost giving Arnold Schwarzenegger in "Terminator."
If there was any doubt, this appearance confirmed a new Bezos had hit the scene, as media and casual onlookers alike noted his physical transformation from scrawny to brawny.
Bezos, his brother, and some other passengers flew to the edge of space in 2021.
Reddit users dubbed the look "space cowboy billionaire."
Photos from the spread quickly spurred memes online.
Here he and Sanchez wear casual clothes while on vacation.
If not for their bodyguards, they just might've blended in with the crowd pretty well in these pretty inconspicuous winter outfits.
Bezos once again shows his affinity for a shirt-and-vest combo.
One such event was the 2024 Met Gala, to which he wore this black tie ensemble.
Absolutely love that Bezos went to Coachella and did the same thing I would do - wore a $15 Hawaiian shirt from Amazon.https://t.co/CcQIDK2uGV pic.twitter.com/x8zGzWs5S9
— Sheel Mohnot (@pitdesi) April 24, 2023
Rumors speculated that Bezos' butterfly shirt was a relatively cheap top from Amazon, though neither Amazon nor Bezos has confirmed if that was the case.
(Novelty glasses included.)
So much has Bezos' style evolved over the years that he's drawn comparisons to Pitbull.
And hey, with his renown as one of the world's richest people, he might just give Mr. Worldwide a run for his money.
Jeff Bezos is moving to Miami to complete his transformation into Pitbull 2.0 pic.twitter.com/fNWTkQdGeW
— Morning Brew ☕️ (@MorningBrew) November 3, 2023