Macron's shades cause a stir, as he hides his right eye due to medical issue

At the power gathering of world leaders in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week, the reflective shades worn by French President Emmanuel Macron captured attention in ways that words didn't.

The French leader may have started a fashion trend.

Hiding what Macron says is a benign medical issue with his right eye, the sunglasses bled into new feeds, triggering a jab from U.S. President Donald Trump, and spawned memes and an AI-generated spoof of Macron as a Top Gun fighter-jet pilot set to Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone'.

The shades are made by a French firm and retails at 659 euros according to the company's website.

Since Macron's public appearance wearing the sunglasses, the website has been inundated with visitors.

The CEO of the eyewear company said: "On Tuesday, we were covered full of requests on our website and our website crashed different times. Only Tuesday, we received, in half a day, 50,000 visitors at the same time so it's impossible to manage on the website for a traditional eyewear company. And a lot of requests to understand what's happening, 'I want to buy the same eyewear as Macron' and so and so. And so, all my team worked all day and also all night long every day."