With the release of the documentary "You Can See Everything" in theaters, former Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has found herself thrust back into the public eye. This renewed attention comes nearly four years after the disgraced Stanford University dropout was sentenced to 11 years and three months in a federal prison for orchestrating a massive fraud that defrauded investors of hundreds of millions of dollars.
During the height of her company’s meteoric rise, Holmes was an unmistakable figure in the heavily male-dominated technology sector. With her intentionally deepened, low voice, long blonde hair, and signature all-black ensembles anchored by a black turtleneck, she cultivated a distinct and carefully curated persona. At its peak valuation, Theranos was valued at an astounding $9 billion, commanding a high-powered board of directors that included political and corporate heavyweights such as Henry Kissinger, Sam Nunn, and George Shultz, according to Forbes.
For years, observers and media outlets questioned whether her sartorial choices were a deliberate emulation of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Jobs famously paired an Issey Miyake black turtleneck with Levi’s 501 jeans and gray New Balance sneakers to create an instantly recognizable personal brand and visual shorthand for Silicon Valley innovation.
The Origin Story of a Silicon Valley Uniform
In a 2015 interview with Glamour magazine, Holmes offered a pragmatic, productivity-focused explanation for her repetitive wardrobe, stating that wearing the same thing every day eliminated a trivial decision and gave her one less thing to think about. Estimating that she owned approximately 150 black turtlenecks, she claimed she had started wearing the garment at the tender age of eight. "All of my focus is on my work. I take it so seriously. I’m sure that translates into how I dress," Holmes told the magazine at the time.
However, this carefully constructed narrative of simple, utilitarian dressing was later challenged by former Theranos employees. In a 2019 interview with Elle magazine, former staffer Ana Arriola recalled a vastly different wardrobe history, noting that Holmes had previously been partial to wearing "baggy Christmas sweaters." Arriola, who had a background working at Apple, stated that Holmes was "infatuated" with Steve Jobs’ daily uniform and actively sought advice on how to achieve a similar visual effect. Holmes eventually abandoned the sweaters in favor of black turtlenecks, black pants, and black shoes, establishing this combination as her unofficial, yet unyielding, work uniform at Theranos.
Experts in fashion and apparel merchandising agree that the resemblance was no coincidence. Lorynn Divita, an associate professor of apparel merchandising at Baylor University, noted that Holmes was "absolutely influenced by Steve Jobs and his habit of dressing the same way every day." Divita observed that while there were countless other stylistic choices available to women in leadership positions, Holmes deliberately selected a black turtleneck to capture what she termed the "halo effect" of Steve Jobs.
Reverse Ostentation and the Tech Executive Uniform
Divita pointed out that Holmes engaged in a phenomenon known as "reverse ostentation." This is a practice where individuals who possess the financial means to buy virtually anything choose to dress with extreme simplicity. "They are conveying to us that they are so important and their time is so valuable that they can’t waste time or energy trying to figure out what to wear like the rest of us do," Divita explained.
By entirely eschewing high-end designer labels, rapidly changing fashion trends, or conventional attire designed to attract the male gaze, Holmes projected an image that she was "too important and too serious to care about fashion," according to Divita.
This strategy places Holmes within a broader tradition of tech industry titans who deliberately downplay their appearance. Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg famously favored casual hoodies, while Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates frequently opted for basic khakis paired with a blue Oxford shirt. Divita noted that many tech executives dress down to avoid becoming targets of traditional corporate scrutiny and to project an image of being "just ordinary people." Such calculated casualness simultaneously signals to investors, employees, and competitors that the wearer does not feel any pressure to impress anyone.
By effectively copying the signature style of Steve Jobs, Holmes endowed herself with an immediate "aura of intelligence and success as an entrepreneur," according to Heather Akou, author of "On the Job: A History of American Work Uniforms." Akou noted that Jobs himself had previously attempted to mandate a similar corporate uniform for Apple executives, specifically designing Issey Miyake vests for his team. "But they refused to go along with his plans," Akou said, describing Jobs’ unsuccessful attempt to make a standardized uniform the cultural norm within his own company.
A Rich Cultural History and Gender Dynamics in Tech
While Holmes became synonymous with the look in the context of corporate fraud, the black turtleneck has a rich, independent history as a cultural statement. Long before Theranos or Apple, renowned figures across various creative industries—including pop artist Andy Warhol, musician Bob Dylan, actress Jayne Mansfield, and iconic style icon Audrey Hepburn—embraced the garment. The enduring cultural fascination with Holmes’ aesthetic has even crossed over into entertainment, with actress Amanda Seyfried portraying Holmes wearing the signature black turtleneck in the Hulu drama series "The Dropout," and later appearing in connection with Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s new documentary.
The intersection of gender and corporate presentation also played a critical role in Holmes’ style choices, given the stark gender imbalance of the STEM sector. Akou, who also serves as a professor of fashion studies at Indiana University, highlighted the fact that Holmes did not choose to mimic the traditional style of successful female executives, nor did she attempt to feminize Jobs’ masculine uniform. "My interpretation is that she was either anxious about being a woman in a male-dominated profession or wanted to convey that ‘gender doesn’t matter’ for a tech entrepreneur," Akou assessed.
Adding to this analysis, Steven Faerm, a professor of fashion at the Parsons School of Design, offered another perspective on the psychology of minimalist dress in high-stakes environments. He noted that echoing Jobs’ minimalist uniform "evoked innovation, intellectual authority and almost singular devotion to one’s mission." Faerm concluded that a simple, repeated uniform effectively minimizes visual distractions for an audience, successfully redirecting attention away from superficial elements and entirely toward the wearer’s words, promises, and grand ideas.
