Reviewing the fashion (or lack thereof) at the E3 2015 keynotes
E3 press conferences have huge stakes. Multinational corporations in a multi-billion dollar industry descend on Los Angeles from around the globe to promote multi-million dollar projects, so it’s important that nothing gets left to chance. Every second of every trailer has to be perfect; every zinger has to be written in advance and rehearsed to within an inch of its life. Why, then, is everyone on stage so badly dressed? When a game company gives someone the platform of a press conference, it’s saying that this person stands in for the whole enterprise. These hosts and presenters represent how their companies want to be perceived, and their fashion choices can also reveal how they perceive their audience.
Take Microsoft. It’s an easy place to start because almost everybody Microsoft put on stage looked like they had rolled out of bed 10 minutes ago. Microsoft aspired to give its presenters a relaxed look, and if anything, the company succeeded a little too much. The line between “casual” and “sloppy” is not even that fine, but Microsoft’s flacks were on the wrong side of it almost all night. Hot Topic-caliber graphic tees were a common sight, along with hoodies and the odd track jacket. Microsoft was clearly aspiring to look approachable—despite hosting an event the size and scale of a Rolling Stones concert—and its idea of who the E3 audience would find relatable feels like a stealth insult. “See, we’re not so bad!” Microsoft seems to say, “We’re a bunch of slobs, just like you!”
This year, Sony’s presenters were more put-together than Microsoft’s, but it was a low bar to clear, and even then Sony barely managed it. The recurring look at Sony’s presser was the “college student going to lunch with his new girlfriend’s parents for the first time” uniform: a blazer, button-up shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Among menswear aficionados, this look is called a “mullet” for its doomed aspiration to be half business and half party. Sony’s parade of mullets was an attempt to split the difference between being your corporate overlord and being your pal. Microsoft’s presenters tended to look like bums, but at least they committed to the frat boy look.
If Microsoft didn’t even try to look presentable, and Sony used a half measure, then EA, of all places, got it just right. Three of the studio’s highest-ranking executives made appearances at EA’s press conference, all of them wearing similar getups. The EA executive uniform this year was a slim, modern suit—the kind none of them would likely wear if not prompted by a stylist—a plain shirt, and a pocket square. Those squares were conspicuous at E3, a dandy flourish that even the most formally dressed presenters tended to forgo. They were almost mathematically perfect: ruler-straight and peeking out one centimeter above their pockets. It was a calculated move that actually worked, giving the suits (and the suits wearing them) a sense of authority and style without relying on the boardroom stuffiness of a tie. Unfortunately, the executives’ coordinated outfits seemed more sinister than intended after the reveal of Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst’s villain, an evil corporate tyrant with a familiar wardrobe.