How Macron's Davos sunglasses spoke to the politics of friction with Trump

PARIS (AP) — At the power gathering of world leaders in Davos, Switzerland, the reflective shades worn by French President Emmanuel Macron captured attention in ways that words didn't.

Hiding an unsightly but what Macron says is a benign medical issue with his right eye, the sunglasses bled into news feeds, triggered a jab from U.S. President Donald Trump, and spawned memes and an AI-generated spoof of Macron as a fighter jet pilot, set to Kenny Loggins' “Danger Zone” track from the Tom Cruise blockbuster “Top Gun.”

“Those beautiful sunglasses,” Trump said in his Davos address. “What the hell happened?”

Here's what to know about the now famous shades and what they say about Macron and politics:

The glasses

The shades were made by a French firm, Henry Jullien, Macron's office told The Associated Press. They were its Pacific S 01 model, which don’t come cheap, retailing for 659 euros (US$ 775) on the manufacturer's website. It struggled with demand after Macron wore them for a hard-hitting speech in Davos, publicity that money can't buy.

It launched a dedicated page to capitalize on the buzz, saying “our eShop website is experiencing an exceptional volume of visits and enquiries.” Shares of its Italian parent company, iVision Tech SpA, soared on Milan's stock exchange — from 1.51 euros ($1.78) a share when Macron spoke Tuesday, to a high Friday of 2.63 ($3.10).

“Crazy week,” Stefano Fulchir, iVision's CEO, told AP. “Very honored and happy that President Macron has used our eyewear in this important event."

Macron bought the glasses in 2024, after his office checked they were French-made, Fulchir said.

“Today, I received a call from a radio and they put on the ‘Top Gun’ music. So it’s amazing," he said. “In the last three days, I slept only four hours a day, because we don’t have time to answer to everybody.”

Macron ‘looks hot’

Wearing sunglasses indoors, as Macron did, takes confidence — and some observers say he carried off the exercise with aplomb.

“He does look hot,” said Cristina Archetti, author of “Politicians, personal image and the construction of political identity,” who teaches political communication at the University of Oslo, Norway.

Unlike “older-looking politicians who are particularly gray, dull, or some unnatural color — orange — not mentioning any name,” Archetti said that 48-year-old Macron looked “relatively young and super cool” — also in part because the blue-tinted lenses matched photogenically with the blue background.

“Images are so important, particularly good images with great color, so I mean he ticks the boxes," she said.

“I was looking at the various memes, to the Terminator, to James Bond," she said. “You could imagine him sitting at the casino, sipping the champagne.”

The perils of sunglasses

For politicians answerable to voters and thus reliant on their trust, out-of-context sunglasses run the risk of suggesting that they're possibly hiding something.

As U.S. president, Joe Biden sported aviator shades. In 2021, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine soured ties, he gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a pair.

But unless the sun is shining bright, as it was when Biden and his aviators met Queen Elizabeth II in 2021, it's largely safe to say that political leaders need a medical or other reason that voters can grasp to wear sunglasses indoors. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton pulled it off with blues-club shades when he rocked “Heartbreak Hotel” on his sax on Arsenio Hall’s show in 1992, while campaigning for the presidency.

“We don’t typically associate sunglasses with politicians," said Marco Bohr, co-editor of “The evolution of the image: Political action and the digital self,” who teaches design and digital arts at Nottingham Trent University in the United Kingdom.

“They signify a sense of detachment. And typically, that’s not what politicians are trying to do. They’re trying to create a sense connection with the audience or with people," he said.

“In that sense, the sunglasses that Macron was wearing really stand out."

Autocrats have also dug shades. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il once wore large dark glasses when visiting a coal mining complex.

“Perhaps it’s again related to the honesty,” Archetti said. “Maybe they’re hiding behind the sunglasses, they know they have something to hide.”

Trump versus Europe

From the Davos gathering largely monopolized by Trump's fractious relationship with Europe, tussling over Greenland and other sore points, Macron's eyewear will be remembered as a symbol, Fulchir, iVision’s CEO, said.

Bohr noted that Macron “could have worn an eye patch. Obviously that would have signified a whole range of other things, such as pirate culture.”

“He could have also chosen Ray-Ban Wayfarers, which .... signify kind of jazz and cool," he added. “But no, he went for the aviator-style ... They signify something very specific — about pilots, about being in control.”