Unlikely as it may seem, ordinary middle-aged men around the world could suddenly empathize with billionaire Mark Zuckerberg.
Having turned 40 in May, the once hyper-nerdy Facebook founder has been radically rethinking his wardrobe.
Instead of the Silicon Valley uniform he’s worn for decades (gray T-shirt and shapeless hoodie, uneventful dark-wash jeans, and spectacularly dull Nike Flyknit sneakers), Zuckerberg appears to have had a sartorial epiphany.
At a recent Meta Connect event, she wore Adidas 4DFWD x Strung sneakers (£250) and an oversized t-shirt of her own design printed with the Latin phrase ‘Aut Zuck, aut nihil’ (Either Zuck or nothing). . Giving yourself a nickname like ‘Zuck’ is clearly the cry for help from a panicked middle age.
But there is more; on Zuck’s wrist, an aluminum FP Journe Centigraphe Sport watch worth more than £100,000. And his hair, once a Spartacus cut with drawn-on bangs, has now grown into a hipster boy-fro style. He’s also been seen wearing a shearling coat, seemingly channeling today’s denim chic.
Having turned 40 in May, once-hypernerd Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has been radically rethinking his wardrobe.
Are you having some kind of nervous breakdown? No, I know what’s happening here, because the same thing happened to me.
When I was 30, I spent too much time in a suit trying to look older and taken seriously.
But once I turned 45 and realized that my life was headed toward decrepitude, comfortable shoes, and practical vehicles, I decided, like millions of men before me, to go back in time by dressing young for my age. Gradually, the suits became tighter and the Vs on my V-neck t-shirts moved further into he-vage (men’s neckline) territory.
Despite being pretty broke half the time, with two kids and a wife to support, I believed that carbon fiber bikes and expensive watches were essential to my status and manhood. So, at least two Rolexes, an Omega and a Breitling. Yes, six or seven thousand pounds worth of wristwatches. And why not a £2000 Colnago bike and also matching lycra clothing – too revealing and expensive?
I never got my fill of Daniel Craig: the actor was recently seen in boy band balloon pants, Prue Leith knitwear and an Anthea Turner haircut. (Craig’s extreme style change was perhaps designed to distance the actor from his portrayal of James Bond. Instead, he approaches 50 as a softer, friendlier Kevin The Teenager.)
Once I turned 45 and realized that my life was heading towards decrepitude, comfortable shoes and practical vehicles, I decided to start dressing young for my age, writes Simon Mills.
But when I got divorced and started dating again around 2014, I added cowboy boots and several variants of aviator glasses. Yes, I was a borderline comedy cliché.
And my daughters resisted some of the more directional outfits. ‘Dad, Birkenstock sandals… with a suit? And: ‘Have you had your eyebrows plucked?’
Turns out I was having a real existential crisis, not just a sartorial one. Canadian psychoanalyst Elliott Jaques coined the phrase “midlife crisis” in 1957 after observing the mentality of artists. Symptoms included religious awakenings in middle age, sudden promiscuity, apathy, and a sense of obsolescence.
At a certain age, stagnation and depression appear. There are momentous shifts in perspective: obsessive hypochondriacal concerns about health, vanity, clothing and appearance, urgent measures to continue feeling and looking young.
Men facing middle age, Jaques theorized, experience a stark realization that after a long, enthusiastic period of upward velocity, their lives have reached the halfway mark and death looms.
He also found that the MLC tended to reach creative people earlier and more strongly, for example, writers and journalists. And people like Mark Zuckerberg. They go into crisis because they achieve great things from the beginning. Ages 37 to 42 are peak years. Until recently, Zuckerberg never gave a damn about his appearance.
On a vacation to Hawaii in 2020, he competently rode a motorized ‘hydrofoil’ surfboard, but blew it by donning a full-length, mama’s-boy Ninja wetsuit and a red helmet. In his garage were the American version of the Honda Accord, a Volkswagen Golf and a Honda Jazz. Who would believe this was the same man who now sports a gold chain around his neck with his street-style t-shirts?
The midlife fashion crisis (MLFC) seems more extreme because the outfits that preceded it were almost perversely plain and boring.
A man like Zuckerberg has been working since he was a teenager. He never really took a look. Now, despite insisting on “longevity” and believing he will live forever, that great leveler, Father Time, has inspired a drastic makeover. This is just the beginning of Zuck 2.0.
For me, at 49 years old I realized that I was no longer young, but I was not willing to give up either. That there was a window of fun. You still have time to get in shape, buy self-indulgent things, be adventurous and flirt with trends.
The good news? I’m over the worst (and best) of all this. My clothes no longer embarrass my children.
I drive a hatchback, listen to podcasts, and spend my weekends gardening. When I’m on vacation, I read books instead of jet skiing, clubbing, or hydrofoiling. I don’t think I’ll ever use a VR headset either.