ET Startup Awards 2026: Silicon Valley called. They want their wardrobe back!

The ET Startup Awards' Silicon Valley dress code brought out puffer vests and sneakers, dresses where blazers might once have been, and silk saris worn with fitness watches. Striking a balance between boardroom polish and founder-casual ease, guests rounded off their looks with smart rings and trackers, turning the evening's uniform into something more personal and data-driven.

At the ET Startup Awards, attendees swapped blazers for puffer vests and accessorised with trackers, making the startup uniform more personal and data-driven

The ET Startup Awards' Silicon Valley dress code brought out puffer vests and sneakers, dresses where blazers might once have been, and silk saris worn with fitness watches. Striking a balance between boardroom polish and founder-casual ease, guests rounded off their looks with smart rings and trackers, turning the evening's uniform into something more personal and data-driven.

Taking a cue from Silicon Valley, where the puffer vest has become the unofficial uniform of venture capitalists and tech founders, several founders and VCs at the awards ditched conventional blazers for Patagonia and The North Face vests, bringing a distinctly Valley-inspired edge to the evening.

Mona Gandhi of AI startup Kello was spotted in Alaïa fishnet mesh ballerina flats, which added a touch of understated chic to her look.

This year, wearables were as much about what attendees had on their heads and wrists as what they wore on their fingers. Smart rings remained part of the mix, but temple-mounted devices and Whoop fitness bands were also spotted around the venue, signalling a shift towards wearables that track everything from sleep and recovery to everyday performance.

For former Zomato COO Surobhi Das, cofounder of LAT Aerospace, the real accessories doing the talking were her three tracking devices. "Each offers a different set of data," she said, adding that sleep tracking had proved the most useful. Who needs a statement necklace when you can accessorise with stats?

Archana Rajaram, founder and managing partner of River Law, paired custom-made contemporary pieces with Indian accents. "I did want to wear something that had an Indian vibe," she said. "I just pick up stuff that catches my eye and create variations of looks with them."

Priya Narasimhan, chief business officer at Indus Appstore, wore a classic Mysore silk sari with a fitness watch. "I have no qualms wearing it with my fitness watch. I have to get my 10k steps in," she said.

Abhishek Goenka, partner at Aeka Advisors, brought out the Koio suede shoes he had bought in the US for the Silicon Valley theme, drawn to their colour, texture and versatility. For next year, however, he has a local suggestion: "I hope the theme will be something related to Bangalore rather than Silicon Valley."

IKEA India CEO Patrik Antoni paired a Tiger of Sweden suit and a black T-shirt with blue-and-yellow Adidas Gazelles, his lucky sneakers. "I call it the IKEA shoe," he said. His golf watch, which carries course maps from around the world, helps him gauge distances on the course.