Photos show Jeff Bezos' style glow-up over 30 years, from bookish businessman to a Vogue photo shoot and the Met Gala (2024)

• Jeff Bezos' public image has changed a lot in the 30 years since he started Amazon.

• The billionaire has shed his boring business attire and experienced a fashion glow-up.

• Here's a closer look at the evolution of his style and persona over the years.

Jeff Bezos is in his "mob chic" era, but it wasn't always this way.

The Amazon cofounder's style and persona have changed a lot over the years, from bookish founder (quite literally in Amazon's early days as a bookseller) to space cowboy at Blue Origin and a Vogue photo shoot.

Here's a look at Bezos' fashion transformation over the years:

In Amazon's early days, Bezos wore pretty run-of-the-mill business attire.

Take this photo of Bezos in 1997, three years after he started Amazon.

Here he is again in a similar outfit, donning a blue dress shirt, black jacket, and beige trousers.

A 1999 Wired profile of Bezos says, "For the kind of shopper Bezos represents, utility is, of course, a mantra. His wardrobe consists of white or blue dress shirts and a pair of khaki pants."

He occasionally opted for this pretty standard combo of a sweater over a collared shirt.

"Back in the late '80s in New York, when he had to wear a suit every day to the office, he gained a preference for shirts with hidden snaps under the collar points for easy tie removal," the Wired profile continued.

"He has trouble locating this style in the Pacific Northwest, so now he buys a pack of standard snapless shirts and has the snaps sewn on," it said. "When he discovers a pair of shoes he likes, he'll buy four pairs at once and wear them in regular rotation for years."

Over the years, Bezos started swapping his khakis for blue jeans more frequently.

The result was a more casual take on business wear.

In fact, he frequently wore jeans when speaking at Amazon events.

One such example is this 2014 launch of the now-discontinued Amazon Fire Phone.

Of course, Bezos dressed in more formal business attire in certain cases that necessitated it.

In this case, it was a meeting of the tech minds that former president Donald Trump convened in 2016.

Bezos made some changes to his style handbook around 2017.

He's channeling cool guy energy with the leather jacket and laid-back outfit.

And who could forget one of his most famous looks?

Bezos turned heads at the annual Sun Valley conference in 2017 with this iconic look that's almost giving Arnold Schwarzenegger in "Terminator."

If there was any doubt, this appearance confirmed a new Bezos had hit the scene, as media and casual onlookers alike noted his physical transformation from scrawny to brawny.

At Blue Origin, Bezos embraces another look entirely: Western-inspired spaceman.

Bezos, his brother, and some other passengers flew to the edge of space in 2021.

Donning a cowboy hat and boots with his blue flight suit, he's another Bezos entirely.

Reddit users dubbed the look "space cowboy billionaire."

A Vogue spread on Bezos and fiancée Lauren Sanchez further cemented the image.

Photos from the spread quickly spurred memes online.

In his off time, particularly since he stepped down as CEO of Amazon in 2021, Bezos varies his outfits a lot more.

Here he and Sanchez wear casual clothes while on vacation.

While on a ski trip in Aspen, Colorado, Bezos and Sanchez looked cozy.

If not for their bodyguards, they just might've blended in with the crowd pretty well in these pretty inconspicuous winter outfits.

Here's the couple at a fashion show last year.

Bezos once again shows his affinity for a shirt-and-vest combo.

Of course, Bezos attends plenty of galas, fundraisers, and other social functions, as you'd expect of one of the world's richest men.

One such event was the 2024 Met Gala, to which he wore this black tie ensemble.

Bezos and Sanchez looked considerably more casual trying to blend in with the crowd at Coachella.

Rumors speculated that Bezos' butterfly shirt was a relatively cheap top from Amazon, though neither Amazon nor Bezos has confirmed if that was the case.

He sported one of his most fun looks while ringing in 2022 with Sanchez.

(Novelty glasses included.)

So much has Bezos' style evolved over the years that he's drawn comparisons to Pitbull.

And hey, with his renown as one of the world's richest people, he might just give Mr. Worldwide a run for his money.

Read the original article on Business Insider