In the wake of Yahoo's Tumblr acquisition, the New York Times has a mini-profile of David Karp, the microblogging site's founder. We are informed, in no fewer than three places, of Karp's predilection for casual wear. "With an expected $250 million from the deal, Mr. Karp joins a tiny circle of 20-something entrepreneurs, hoodie-wearing characters like Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Foursquare’s Dennis Crowley, who have struck it rich before turning 30," write Jenna Wortham and Nick Bilton. "Tall and willowy, with a mop of brown hair and piercing blue eyes, Mr. Karp typically dresses in jeans, a T-shirt and sneakers," they explain later. And Bijan Sabat, an early investor, assures us that the look isn't new: “When I first met David he was 20 years old and wearing sneakers and jeans.”
The sartorial focus on Karp is hardly an anomaly. When Mark Zuckerberg wore a hoodie to court Facebook investors last year, Bloomberg reported Wall Street used it as evidence of immaturity that would affect the company's valuation, CNN aruged it was "savvy, not snotty," and the Times wondered "Why Is Everyone Focused on Zuckerberg's Hoodie?" There is nary a hoodie in a tech founder's wardrobe that hasn't gotten a mention in the press, which has come to fetishize the casualwear of Silicon Valley. But is the liberal mainstream media really reporting both sides of this story?
Tumblr's David Karp, not wearing a hoodie. (Wikimedia Commons)
WordPress's Matt Mullenweg, not wearing a hoodie. (Eric Piermont/AFP/Getty Images)
Instagram's Kevin Systrom, not wearing a hoodie. (Eric Piermont/AFP/Getty Images)
Google's Sergey Brin and Larry Page, not wearing hoodies. (Ralph Orlowski/Getty Images)
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, not wearing a hoodie. (Wikimedia Commons)
Foursquare's Dennis Crowley, not wearing a hoodie. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for the Webby Awards)
Venture capitalist (and early tech founder) Marc Andreessen, not wearing a hoodie. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Twitter's Jack Dorsey, not wearing a hoodie. (Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images)
Box's Aaron Levie, not wearing a hoodie. (Max Morse/Getty Images)
Mashable's Pete Cashmore, not wearing a hoodie. (Paul Zimmerman/Getty Images)
Tesla's Elon Musk, not wearing a hoodie. (Fernando Leon/Getty Images)
Spotify's Daniel Ek, not wearing a hoodie (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Airtime's Sean Parker, not wearing a hoodie. (Michael Buckner/Getty Images for SXSW)