{"id":496081,"date":"2026-10-14T18:38:31","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T18:38:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/496081\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T18:38:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T18:38:31","slug":"peter-zottolo-is-the-best-dressed-electrician-in-san-francisco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/496081\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Zottolo is the best dressed electrician in San Francisco"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is Peter Zottolo standing in the rain outside Peet\u2019s on Chestnut Street not far from his home in the Marina, the neighborhood where he\u2019s lived for 15 years. He is hard to miss.<\/p>\n

Zottolo has silvery curls and is cradling his motorcycle helmet in the crook of his arm, his worn-in Canadian tuxedo look (the jacket is from Line of Trade; the pants are from Buck Mason) perfectly complementing his worn-in appearance. At a glance, his all-American style and rugged masculinity call to mind Robert Redford in his prime.<\/p>\n

Zottolo radiates the sort of effortless cool that suggests the sort of experience\u00a0 that comes from life, not a curated Instagram moodboard. As we sit down to chat, I comment on his rugged look.<\/p>\n

He smiles sheepishly. \u201cIt\u2019s just how I get to and from work,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Zottolo, 50, has been an electrician for over a decade, working everywhere from the Transamerica Pyramid and Salesforce Tower, to the Chinatown-Rose Pak Muni Station. A proud member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 6, he currently serves as an electrician for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, a job he\u2019s held for just over two years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s good, steady work, but being an electrician is just his day job. Zottolo\u2019s calling, even if he probably wouldn\u2019t call it that, is fashion nerd, the kind of guy who obsesses over granular details in his clothing, and lives by a style code that feels both personal and bygone. (He probably wouldn\u2019t call himself a fashion luminary, either, even if he is the frequent subject of Instagram moodboards, fan art, and street-style photographers.) He\u2019s combined his inspired sartorial choices and his sharp photographic eye into @urbancomposition<\/a>, where over 100,000 Instagram followers enjoy his immaculate Italian- and Western-inspired looks. With his longtime friend Derek Guy (aka the Menswear Guy), he co-hosts the Die, Workwear! podcast<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unlike other fashion writers and social creators peddling this season\u2019s must-have boat-ballet-loafer shoe hybrid or decrying the war crime of skintight, polyester-blend athleisure dress pants, Zottolo is more than the sum of his fits. His life is much more interesting, somehow, than it already looks on Instagram. Zottolo is not just a stylish electrician; he may be the most interesting person in San Francisco.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Born in San Diego into a working-class Italian-American family, Zottolo\u2019s upbringing was modest to say the least. His father was a gardener; his grandfather and great-grandfather were fishermen. As a kid, Zottolo watched a lot of old movies, observing the Golden Age\u2019s leading men and drawing inspiration from their style and their demeanor. Raised a devout Jehovah\u2019s Witness, Zottolo still considers faith a core part of his life and worldview. While living in Oakland in 1997, he met his wife, Angela, at the Kingdom Hall in Berkeley. They married two years later.<\/p>\n

After a decade or so bouncing around the tech industry from startup to startup, layoff to layoff, Zottolo was still searching for his purpose. He had already found fulfillment with his faith and his partner; what he needed was a calling.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A friend had told him about the San Francisco Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee\u2019s program, sponsored by the IBEW and the San Francisco Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), the program trains\u00a0 electricians under a traditional apprenticeship and one of the last of its kind in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not exaggerating, I barely knew how to swing a hammer at that point,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I liked the idea of working with my hands and working in construction.\u201d It also felt like a continuation of his family\u2019s legacy working in trades, something passed down like an heirloom watch or a well-worn workshop coat.<\/p>\n

So, in his mid-30s, Zottolo became an apprentice electrician. He was nearly twice the age of his contemporaries (they called him apprentice-saurus), but was committed to learning the trade since all of the people he knew who worked blue-collar jobs were still making good money and were still employed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Around this time, too, is when he started his other apprenticeship in fashion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To hear Zottolo describe it, it was wholly by accident: He was simply searching for square-toed shoes when he fell into the fashion arcana rabbit hole known as StyleForum<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

StyleForum, for the not-terminally-online-in-2010 crowd, is a vintage internet forum full of sartorial devotees evaluating each other\u2019s outfits, recommending suitmakers and shoe brands, and debating the merits of Italian versus English tailoring. He had found the forum a few years prior, but this time was different.<\/p>\n

Wading through pages and pages devoted to dress shoes on StyleForum, he learned the lingo and what not to do. \u201cThere was, \u2018why you should not wear square-toed shoes\u2019 and \u2018why the classic silhouette is more almond-shaped\u2019 and then on Jermyn Street and Savile Row and blah blah blah,\u201d he explained. \u201cThen, it goes way into the weeds.\u201d<\/p>\n

In both realms, he was a quick study. After finishing his electrician apprenticeship, he found work at the Salesforce Tower, SFO Terminal 1, and on a few high-rise projects. On the style front, he figured out what works best for him: a mix of Italian-inspired tailoring, heritage workwear, and West Coast casual clothing. In the decade-plus that followed, he\u2019s become a journeyman electrician and dresser, earning respect from his peers in both worlds.<\/p>\n

In 2013, Zottolo launched his Instagram account as a way to chronicle his own outfits. He shoots all of his photos himself, usually with a tripod and either a Sony or Leica set to burst. Zottolo\u2019s photos capture him around Crissy Field, waiting for trains, or taking in the sights in Europe. He gravitates towards props (cameras, typewriters, briefcases, pints of beer, or bottles of wine) and dramatic bits of flair, like scarves and the occasional Stetson. He often looks serious, but sometimes he looks into the camera, a hint of a smile in his eyes.<\/p>\n

More than anything, Zottolo comes across in his pictures as a character of sorts: a regular guy doing everyday things while dressed amazingly. He does not come across as a wannabe model or would-be influencer. He can\u2019t even imagine how he could. \u201cTo do that day in, day out constantly\u2026 Like, sometimes a creative idea will come to me, but if I had to think of that every day, I would be tapped out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

As Zottolo\u2019s followers have grown (his account has doubled since March), he has moved further into the fashion world. He is currently the American director at Swedish magazine Plaza Uomo<\/a>, and has done brand campaigns for Brooks Brothers, Seiko, Hugo Boss, and Ralph Lauren. Then there\u2019s the Die, Workwear! podcast, where he and Guy dole out fashion wisdom and history sprinkled with a bit of life guidance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One day, Zottolo would like to retire from being an electrician and commit to fashion full-time. One dream would be to serve as an in-house consultant or photographer for a brand he admires. Until then, being the best-dressed electrician in San Francisco works for him, despite how improbable that may be.<\/p>\n

As a hyphenate, union electrician-style influencer is an unusual one, but not entirely without precedent. In the \u201890s, Jenny Shimizu was a mechanic and gender-binary-shattering fashion model; before his breakthrough in Star Wars, Harrison Ford was better known around Los Angeles as a carpenter (and weed dealer). One reason Zottolo\u2019s double life (double-knee pants by day; double-breasted suits by night) works is how at ease he seems in both get-ups. Neither part of his wardrobe feels like a costume: Whatever Zottolo is wearing, he comes across as a man in full.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m fortunate in that I work in construction, but then I\u2019ll go out on a date or I\u2019ll go to the opera or I\u2019ll go camping or I\u2019ll go to a fashion show, or I\u2019ll go to a religious service,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can dress according to that occasion. It\u2019s almost like an excuse to have a ridiculously large wardrobe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The thing that really makes all of it work is that Zottolo comes across as a gentleman in the most classic sense of the term: he can fix the wiring in your kitchen, but he\u2019s just as interested in art and photography. There\u2019s an openness about him; the masculinity he embodies isn\u2019t hard or cruel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a true gentleman, not in the socio-economic or performative sense of the term,\u201d his friend and co-host Guy wrote in email. it: \u201cHe\u2019s loving and kind to his wife, puts his friends first, and is considerate of strangers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even in our brief encounters, I got a sense of how thoughtfully Zottolo navigates the world. About an hour into our conversation, a woman in a purple puffer jacket came into the coffee shop and interrupted us. \u201cI was wondering who the attractive guy upfront was,\u201d she said.\u00a0
After she left, I asked him if that kind of thing happens a lot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNot really,\u201d Zottolo said, flashing his full smile. Spoken like a true gentleman.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

A version of this story first ran in print in\u00a0Gazetteer San Francisco\u00a0Issue 4.<\/p>\n