FROM THE MET GALA TO MILAN: DOES FASHION NEED TECH BROS TO SURVIVE?
- Melissa Fleur Afshar
- May 18
- 4 min read
Tech billionaires are crashing fashion’s biggest events. But is it a power play, or does fashion need a lifeline?
Newsweek Exclusive Feature
They might have billions in the bank, but tech entrepreneurs—dubbed "tech bros"—have never been regarded as titans of haute couture.
From Steve Jobs' signature turtleneck to Mark Zuckerberg's crewnecks, and the white button downs that Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos favor, each entrepreneur is synonymous with their "normie" outfit formula and are never photographed in avant-garde styles—perhaps, to not alienate the general public who earn less than a fraction of what they do.
But, in recent years, something has shifted, with the upper echelon of tech billionaires now sitting front row at elite fashion events. Bezos
recently provided funding for The Met Gala—a move that sparked protests in New York. Earlier this year, he attended Vanity Fair's glossy Oscars party, while Zuckerberg attended Milan Fashion Week, though, incidentally, he and Instagram head Adam Mosseri also graced the 2026 Met Gala. Before that, Jack Dorsey had been a guest at several fashion weeks, and Elon Musk had held an AI-powered fashion show.
In 2025, rumors emerged that Bezos would buy Vogue for his wife, Lauren Sanchez.
Though swimming in riches, tech bros are also bogged down with constant responsibility. But then, why are they choosing to spend time in the fashion space which arguably—other than Dorsey who reportedly has an interest in design—none of them care for. Do the tech bros need the fashion industry? Or does the fashion industry need them? And if so, why?
What the Tech Moguls Get From the Fashion Space
To answer that question, Newsweek spoke to Neri Karra Sillaman, an entrepreneurship expert at Oxford University, author of Fashion Entrepreneurship, Pioneers and a researcher who has interviewed people who built the modern tech world, from founders of PayPal to WhatsApp.
"I characterize the interest and emphasis on fashion by the tech bros as a convergence of power, influence, and long-term positioning," Sillaman told Newsweek. "Founders have reached a stage where financial success is no longer the primary objective, and now, fashion, particularly the high-end luxury level, is one of the last remaining industries that still confers symbolic power in a visible way.
"The tech bros want to be part of that conversation, where they also borrow from that influence and legitimacy."
The End of the Luxury Supercycle
But tech entrepreneurs are filling up fashion week front rows at a time when fashion is in urgent need of what they can offer.
Interbrand's Best Global Brands 2025 report revealed that the combined valuations of 13 personal luxury brands among the world's top 100 had fallen by 5 percent—from $263.3 billion to $249.6 billion. In 2023, luxury was one of Interbrand's fastest-growth segments, but now, it ranks among the weakest.
McKinsey's State of Fashion 2025 report adds that the luxury sector is expected to generate less value than the year prior—and even Hermès, long seen as top of the designer food chain, has not been entirely immune.
Analysts have begun declaring the luxury supercycle over, citing weakened consumer spending, retreating aspirational buyers, and a growing generational disinterest. That disinterest has a very tangible expression on the high street, where Gen Z have made thrifting and vintage shopping cool, while driving viral outrage online over midmarket and premium labels charging premium prices for polyester-heavy garments.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, spending on apparel fell by 0.4 percent in January, while a Business of Fashion and McKinsey report found that over 60 percent of consumers in the U.S. and U.K. say they are trying to save money on fashion "often" or "as much as possible."
The figure reaches 75 percent among U.S. shoppers alone.
Tech Billionaires to Fashion's Rescue
Sillaman sees a mutual dependency quietly taking shape, thanks to the luxury landscape's economic downturn.
"Technology offers capital and a narrative renewal," she said. "AI, digital identity, new materials, and distribution models are all areas where tech can reshape the future of fashion, so, a mutual dependency is emerging.
"Fashion provides cultural legitimacy to the tech founders, and tech provides infrastructure, capital, and future-facing relevance."
She added that there is also a generational dimension at play, with Gen Z less likely to see a divide between technology and fashion.
"They view fashion as a platform for entrepreneurship, storytelling, and impact, not just consumption," she said. "That mindset aligns closely with how tech founders think about building ecosystems.
"This is not about tech 'discovering' fashion, but about both industries recognizing the boundary between them is dissolving."
Though Big Tech may have once positioned itself in opposition to fashion—functional, anti-elitist, and indifferent to aesthetics—the inroads its most powerful entrepreneurs are making in the sector proves that perhaps money can buy style after all, and with that, seal a deal between two industries that never thought they might need each other.
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