Issey Miyake (@isseymiyake_official) designed a work jacket for Sony in 1981, for the company's 35th anniversary. Steve Jobs saw it, wanted the same idea for Apple, and asked Miyake for a vest. Apple's staff hated it. So Jobs asked Miyake for the black turtlenecks he already liked, and told his biographer Walter Isaacson that Miyake made him like a hundred of them. The Issey Miyake house shows in Paris.
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01STEVE JOBS'S BLACK TURTLENECK WAS MADE BY ISSEY MIYAKE, THE JAPANESE FASHION DESIGNER. JOBS SAID MIYAKE MADE HIM ABOUT A HUNDRED.
02IT STARTED AT A FACTORY. IN THE EARLY 1980S JOBS VISITED SONY IN JAPAN AND ASKED WHY EVERYONE WORE A UNIFORM.
03SONY'S UNIFORM WAS BY MIYAKE: A JACKET IN RIPSTOP NYLON, THE TEAR PROOF FABRIC, WITH SLEEVES THAT UNZIPPED TO MAKE A VEST.
04JOBS ASKED MIYAKE FOR A VEST FOR APPLE AND PITCHED IT TO HIS STAFF. IN HIS OWN WORDS, HE GOT BOOED OFF THE STAGE.
05SO HE ORDERED A UNIFORM FOR ONE. BLACK TURTLENECKS, ENOUGH, HE SAID, TO LAST THE REST OF HIS LIFE.
06MIYAKE WAS BORN IN HIROSHIMA AND BECAME FAMOUS FOR HIS PLEATED CLOTHING. HE DIED IN 2022, AGED 84.
07THE UNIFORM OF SILICON VALLEY CAME FROM A JAPANESE FASHION DESIGNER, BECAUSE A ROOM FULL OF APPLE STAFF SAID NO.