Jensen Huang’s midlife-crisis makeover hasn’t helped the Nvidia CEO’s image this week. In a matter of days, Huang’s questionable sartorial leanings have shifted wildly from wannabe cool Harley dad to low-down leather Lothario. Fashion moves fast, but even in the style world, this is a breakneck volte-face.
As Emma Childs wonderfully observed in The Cut, “a $9,000 leather moto is not the outerwear of a man faithfully going home to his wife and kids after a long day of architecting the AI revolution.” And since Huang’s tomfoolery has managed to spank more than $1 trillion in less than a month, something has to be done.
This is where WIRED comes to the rescue, aided by Vogue, GQ and a celebrity stylist, no less. We’ve charted the menacing glow-up of tech bros before, but merely observing the worrying trend back in 2025 is clearly no longer enough. It’s time to roll up our Armani sleeves and help.
“Tech bros were total nerds before,” says Karen Clarkson, a professional stylist whose clients have included Nike, Google, Apple, Calvin Klein, and Vivienne Westwood. “Fashion didn’t touch their lives at all. They didn’t have style.” Pictures of Huang’s pre-biker fashion-vacuum days certainly bear this out. “Then, like [Jeff] Bezos, they all stepped up. And there’s a rivalry that’s come with that, whether it’s the fashion makeover, the grooming, the skin treatments, or gym regimen. Now we have Mark Zuckerberg in the front row at Prada.”
As a man clearly in dress distress, where better to start than with Murray Clark, head of editorial at British GQ. Controversially, Clark has a radical notion that Huang should keep clothing matters as they are. “I’d argue that Jensen Huang stays exactly how he is because this is who he is—a coiffed, leather-jacket wearing, mistake-making middle-aged man for all the world to see.”
Before publicly admitting on Sunday to having an affair with a businesswoman who US intelligence says is also a Chinese spy, in 2024, Huang confessed onstage that his wife, Lori, suggested and chose his biker outfits for him because he found most other fabrics “itchy.”
If Jensen keeps his jackets (he apparently owns 30 to 40), Clarkson thinks that Huang might even find himself on the catwalk. “If he wants to go down that route, then for sure Demna [Gucci’s creative director] would have him walking in his next show in Milan,” she says. “But he’s very Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Terminator with his black leathers, which is a bit close to the bone, really, with AI and that humanity is potentially doomed. I don’t know if he’s wise to lean into Arnie too heavily.”
Let’s get some sage advice, then, from Chioma Nnadi, head of editorial at British Vogue. “If I were styling Jensen Huang, I’d advise him to cleanse the palate entirely, ditch the rock and roll shrunken leather jackets for something more somber,” Nnadi says. “A collared Oxford shirt and a navy or gray crewneck jumper would do the trick and wouldn’t read as aggressively corporate as a traditional suit. The message needs to be ‘I’m a serious person, and I’m leaving that tragic try-hard boomer dad wardrobe behind along with my despicable behavior.’”
Clarkson agrees, saying that while the term “unapologetic” is often used in fashion, in this instance, Huang needs a more apologetic dress code, moving away from anything too flashy. So out go the overtly sexual Tom Ford leathers—which Jensen can handily sell off for $1 million a pop to his Huang-boys to offset any alimony outlays that may, or may not, be coming his way—and in come understated and neutral tones.
“He could take a leaf out of Harry Styles’ dress down codes and check The Row for minimal looks,” Clarkson says. “A Lemaire workwear jacket is also a good vibe. It shows he’s willing to put in the work to win back his family. Also, since he’s spoken about feeling itchy, maybe he should repent a bit and wear lambswool instead of cashmere.”
Asking Clarkson to step away from her celebrity clients for a moment to perform a hasty hypothetical make under (or glow down?) for Huang, she has very kindly put together three outfits that I think we can all agree give off considerably fewer bad-egg biker vibes with pieces from Paul Smith, The Row, Lemaire, Giorgio Armani, Brunello Cucinelli, and more. If you’re lucky enough to have a budget to match Huang’s, we’ve added links to the individual pieces in the captions under each “look.”
“There’s been a lot of tight-fitted leather jackets that just about cover his biceps, which always feels like he’s looking to lure his next lover or like he’s just whizzed off on his Ducati to have a quick lunchtime visit with his mistress,” says Clarkson. “That’s not the vibe you want to go before Congress with.” For the Hill, she suggests Huang go for a Nehru collar that “feels a bit more buttoned up.”
However, because Huang’s existing look is so strong, Clarkson advises that changing it too quickly will not only draw an enormous amount of commentary but even more memes. “Little steps, not a full overnight makeover. That’s why he should perhaps keep the leather jacket, something like a suede blouson instead of the biker,” she says, adding that the black jeans should be ditched in favor of proper pants.
“He could do a tie as well—a bit more apologetic, a bit more formal, a bit more respectful. So a brown leather jacket with a tie and a shirt—so then it’s a segue into a new direction,” Clarkson says, citing Giorgio Armani’s June Milan collection as ideal inspiration.
However, Clarkson says credit must ultimately go to Lori Huang, Jensen’s wife of 41 years. “She did a brilliant job. If anyone comes out of this as a winner, it’s her. She could rebrand as a Hollywood stylist at this point because she’s done a great job of creating an identity for her husband. Almost too good because it’s attracted too many women. Still, she could step away with a really great divorce settlement and a whole new career.”
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