\n<\/p>\n
But Khan does offer any founder a sharp-edged, three-inch-long metal bar made of a special titanium that he alleges doesn\u2019t set off metal detectors. He slides it into his customers\u2019 collars. \u201cThey make a mean gouging tool,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd founders have asked for that?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of them ask for that,\u201d he replied. (\u201cIt\u2019s definitely interesting at events,\u201d Andrew Cot\u00e9, senior vice president at AI defense company Forterra, said.) One founder is considering outfitting his staff in the suits and throwing handcuffs in each jacket. \u201cJust to kind of make it a little special,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
I asked Khan if any founders were getting their suits fitted for concealed carry. He said no\u2014but the Fortune<\/em> 500 CEOs were, especially after Luigi Mangione allegedly killed the UnitedHealthcare CEO. (Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all charges.)<\/p>\n \u201cThe older guys, they carry,\u201d Khan said.<\/p>\n Khan\u2019s suits aren\u2019t for everybody. For example, they are not for Derek Guy, the viral menswear writer. \u201cThis is like\u2026I\u2019m sorry. It\u2019s just like low taste,\u201d Guy said on a call while scrolling through Khan\u2019s website. \u201cIt\u2019s just a slim suit. It\u2019s like Andrew Tate, right?\u201d<\/p>\n Khan\u2019s suits do emanate a certain machismo, with tightly fit pants and a jacket tailored to emphasize one\u2019s biceps. His website features a video of a suit-clad man with a steel-cut jaw sprinting through the woods with a gun. \u201cThat\u2019s a very specific definition of masculinity,\u201d Guy said. \u201cSo I would think that if Silicon Valley people are buying that, then do they find that presentation of masculinity appealing?\u201d<\/p>\n Cot\u00e9 said the distinctiveness is part of the point. \u201cThey\u2019re unlike any other suit I\u2019ve ever worn,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs you\u2019re in and around DC, once you own one or multiple suits, it\u2019s very easy for you to recognize the tailoring,\u201d he said. \u201cIt becomes a part of this community when you\u2019re one of his clients.\u201d<\/p>\n As more tech execs enter Khan\u2019s teal atelier, more leave dressed in this strain of rippling-muscle masculinity. It may not appeal to traditional menswear devotees, but it certainly captures a Washington that treats manhood, wealth, and patriotism as ideology. Benjamin Wild, a cultural historian at the Manchester Fashion Institute, noted in a Wired<\/em> article<\/a> tech\u2019s \u201cmacho makeover,\u201d that \u201cwithin America today, these men seem less concerned about their perception among the public and far more concerned about how they appear to one another, and Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n