We live in deeply superficial times. (Please forgive the oxymoron.) Given the utmost importance of appearance, what accounts for the bland, grey, dressed-down look so prevalent these days? Let’s call it the Unpretentious Genius Aesthetic. I’m not talking about Gen Z, by the way. They’re at least trying.
What is the Unpretentious Genius Aesthetic?
Well, I made it up. But I can assure you that it is very real. I used to live in San Francisco. And I used to dress this way myself.
The Unpretentious Genius (UG) look, starting at the toes, is some kind of cloth, machine-washable sneaker that has not been machine-washed. The sneaker is completely inoffensive, with no design point-of-view. Say what you will about Birkenstocks, but they stand for something (see: a funny Rick Owens interview on the subject). This sneaker looked at Chuck Taylors and the Nike Cortez and said “How do we make it less risky?”
Moving up the legs, there are two choices for day: athletic leggings, or sweatpants/“performance” pants. For night and special occasions, the UG reaches for mid-wash blue denim. Wide leg for men, skinny for women. No pocket branding, because the UG is a genius, and geniuses have taste goddamnit. They’re not falling for that mid-2000s shit again. No one could possibly criticize these jeans. Until now.
For tops, you’re going to need to check the weather. Whether it’s 40 degrees or 70 degrees, the UG will want some kind of fleece/polyester shell jacket or puffer to keep them warm on their way to the next VC meeting. A dumpy sweater works too. Underneath the outerwear, a simple, shapeless T-shirt—heather grey, white, or black—or a button-down in white, light blue, or fun checked pattern. Perhaps an Untuckit? Wrong! Too much of a point-of-view.
Accessories are best kept simple, but tech-y and corporate, with a general air of leave me alone, can’t you see I’m sending hilarious gifs on Slack over here! Think: backpack, baseball hat, sunglasses, Apple Watch, iPhone, AirPods, Bluebottle coffee to-go, etc.
It is an aesthetic defined by casual leisure, comfort, and expense. The more money each item costs, the better.
Where did it come from?
A lot of the Unpretentious Genius Aesthetic came from guys like this:
The aesthetic undeniably has hacker origins. “I don’t care what I look like, all I care about is the code, man. I care about ideas, you ever heard of those?” “Who cares about fashion? My enormous brain has more important things to think about, like email.” We are all to blame for worshipping hackers and technocrats as cool. But the origins of this aesthetic are more complicated than guys copying Zuckerberg. Clothing sends a message about the person wearing it, whether we like it or not. Even an anti-message, as seen here, is a message. What are these technocratic elites trying to say to us? They’re saying, “I don’t care.” Why is this a problem?