Black the bottomless Pit

Black the bottomless Pit

That black T-shirt!! The all-powerful BLACK tee-shirt, where is it? Hell, I need it. We are having a product launch and without it, I’m like a banana without a peel; err, something as stupid/impossible.

The tech world’s fashion statement is the black t-shirt, the cool, the awesome, the rocking attire. As I rampaged my cupboard and finally decided to go shopping to pick up one, wondered, “BLACK T-Shirt! When did this become the thing of beauty, fashion, coolness? From the day Steve Jobs walked on the stage, with his deadly swag in a black tee to a cheering mob?” My guess is that Jobs being the king of swag nailed the tech world’s obsession with it.

The other day I was reading an article on how Microsoft launched a product. I suddenly squinted my tired eyes, “What! Steve jobs’ photo? Have they made a mistake?” As I clicked, lo and behold, Satya Nadella was there in the cool black tee-shirt; could have mistaken him for Steve Jobs. Well, that is scandalous to Microsoft or Apple! So now what? From Vishal Sikka to Sundar Pichai, are we going to witness this craze and standardization for black?

Why am I bothered? Well, to see some colour there on the stage during the mega-events. Also pondering for all the innovation and creativity we talk of, are we ending up copying style statements of one another, not being able to create one for thyself. Playing it safe? The colour coding of attire during product launch looks very naive, predictable and so risk-averse; paradoxical for a product launch which is all about innovation, creativity. Wanting to see what is out there beyond the boundaries defined!!

It’s hard to lead a cavalry charge if you think you look funny on a horse
– Adlai E. Stevenson

Sunitha Lal is a Human Resources professional and organizational culture expert, based out of Bangalore. She has over 25 years of experience spanning diverse industries and geographies. Because of her keen interest in understanding human behavior, she views organizational dynamics through the lens of behavioral science, psychology, and anthropology.  

2 Comments

  1. N.Supadma 7 years ago

    Same thoughts, the same colour codes dressing styles hairstyles and making the same predictable statements on everything under the sky somewhere one gets a feel that people from towns are more original than their city counterparts same holds for the youngsters from the primium educational institutions

  2. Shalomthms 7 years ago

    I never thought of it this way! Good one Sunita… maybe they have exhausted all their creative juices designing the product n just walked out of bed for the launch!

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