Elon Musk’s masculine costume

Sitting on a stage at the New York Times DealBook conference, Elon Musk was dressed like a caricature of mid-century rogue masculinity: in a leather flight jacket with a fur-lined collar. The jacket, which the business executive has worn for previous live interviews, is a take on the G1 and nylon A1 worn by movie stars who posed for black-and-white photographs, with perhaps a cigarette in hand and slight smile on their lips. The image fixed in many minds a male archetype of mischievous strength that persists despite shifts in...