Jeff Bezos is not the only controversial tech titan to have embraced the Met Gala. On Monday night, Mark Zuckerberg traded his T-shirt for a tux in the latest, and most telling, sign of the once style-challenged Meta head\u2019s new interest in the fashion world. After all, it wasn\u2019t just any old tux. It was a Prada tux. Consider it his Met-amorphosis.<\/p>\n
Though Meta-owned Instagram, fashion\u2019s favorite social media platform, has long been a presence at the gala (the company sponsored the event in 2021), and Adam Mosseri, Instagram\u2019s chief executive, is a regular, this is the first time that Zuckerberg himself has made an appearance at fashion\u2019s biggest night.<\/p>\n
Even if he didn\u2019t walk the museum steps \u2014 and wasn\u2019t included on the tip sheet the Met sent to photographers and reporters listing who was expected at the gala.<\/p>\n
Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, who wore a red Ala\u00efa gown, skipped the photo ops on the museum steps entirely, perhaps out of a desire to avoid some of the protests and criticism<\/a> that have dogged the honorary chairs Bezos and his wife, Lauren S\u00e1nchez Bezos.<\/p>\n Monday was also the first day of a New Mexico trial<\/a> centering on Meta\u2019s child safety regulations (or lack of them), and getting gussied up and partying is not necessarily the best look for someone whose company is in court.<\/p>\n Zuckerberg and Chan did, however, materialize for the cocktail party and the dinner, where they were said to be seated at the table of Anna Wintour, the gala\u2019s mastermind and power broker.<\/p>\n The nominal reason for Zuckerberg\u2019s sudden embrace of style may be the success<\/a> of the Meta Ray-Ban and Meta Oakley smart glasses and the realization that perhaps fashion understands what consumers want to put on their bodies better than tech does. To that end, making friends, breaking bread and otherwise supporting the causes of the fashion folk is good business.<\/p>\n Zuckerberg has been wading into the fashion waters for a while now. Once the poster child for Silicon Valley nerdiness in his signature gray T-shirt, jeans and Tevas, he began experimenting with his own personal style<\/a> about two years ago. First he loosened up his wardrobe, adding sheepskin jackets, gold chains and labels like John Elliott, Bode and even Alexander McQueen to his rotation. He grew his hair and even designed his own oversize custom tees<\/a> with the Los Angeles label Amiri featuring classical Greek and Latin sayings.<\/p>\n