Is Mark Zuckerberg seeking to become the Steve Jobs of grey T-shirts? That is to say, just as black polonecks were a key part of Jobs’s brand, so grey marl has become visual shorthand for the Facebook CEO.

Zuckerberg has always claimed that his dedication to grey is simply an Obama-like strategy for minimising daily decisions (“I feel like I’m not doing my job if I spend any of my energy on things that are silly or frivolous,” he has said).

In fashion we call this the “what this old thing?” defence.

Actually, this Vanity Fair cover is as grey, and as chic, as a Ralph Lauren campaign. The T-shirt is the perfect shade of marl. The neckline has just the right slouch. And the greyscale is ramped up in the styling: smoky shades continue on the blackboard walls, behind him, and the slate floor beneath. It’s not quite 50 shades, but there are at least three.

Like Jobs before him, this self-identified fashion refusenik knows a thing or two about branding – and he’s building his own through signature style.