Albert Camus wrote in the opening lines of The Myth of Sisyphus, a must-read for anyone who feels low, or can read English: “There’s only one serious philosophical problem and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest—whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories—comes afterward.”It pains me greatly to disagree with the absurdity enthusiast, but there’s one question even more important than that: how cool were Emmanuel Macron’s sunglasses at the World Economic Forum?Say what you want about the French, they always know how to do things with style. Revolutions, republics, beheadings, exiles. Even their authoritarians have style. When Jean-Paul Sartre was arrested, Charles de Gaulle asked him to be released immediately, saying in a rather bathetic style: “One doesn’t arrest Voltaire.”All of which brings us to the current head of the Fifth Republic, Emmanuel Macron, who delivered a masterclass in French oratory with his emphasis on rule of law, standing up to bullies, and languid delivery (for sure, for sure). Yet the words coming out of his mouth were hardly as captivating as what he had on his face: a pair of Henry Jullien aviators worth 650 euros (US$750) or Rs 68,000. Even Donald Trump noticed, using his favorite words to describe them: “I watched him yesterday with those beautiful sunglasses—what the hell happened?”Macron’s office claimed it was to protect his eyes from a blood vessel; others wondered if it was another domestic tiff with his former teacher.But let’s cut to the chase. As Camus pointed out in the same essay, Galileo abjured the truth as soon as it endangered his life, because philosophical pursuits matter less than real-life questions, like: where can you get those glasses?Well all you have to do is head over to the company’s temporary website.The glasses were crafted by Henry Jullien, a company founded in the Jura region of France—the Champagne region of French eyewear—that has been designing and producing high-end eyeglasses for a century. The makers had one goal: elevate eyeglasses to the status of fine jewelery or watchmaking, showing that the French can turn even the most utilitarian pursuits into philosophical endeavours.The company uses a technique called “doublé or” gold-laminate technology, a difficult and almost lost process where layers of pure gold are bonded to metal frames. It’s not mere plating; the gold becomes integral to the structure.
Each frame is made through a rigorous artisanal process involving 279 individual steps. All frames are designed, manufactured, and assembled in France. Production is capped not by factories or demand forecasts, but by the number of skilled hands available, which is why the company cannot simply “scale up” when the internet comes calling. It is still one of the only companies to make gold eyeglasses using a technique that has fallen out of fashion elsewhere.Interestingly, the gold eyewear is also extremely durable and can even survive temperatures as low as –50°C.The impact showed up immediately in the markets. iVision Tech SpA, the Milan-listed parent company that owns Henry Jullien, saw its shares surge by nearly 28% in a single session after Emmanuel Macron’s sunglasses went viral at Davos, adding roughly €3.5 million (about $4 million) to its market capitalization. The stock initially jumped around 6% before trading was briefly halted due to heavy volumes, and then continued climbing once trading resumed. For a relatively small eyeglasses group, it was an extraordinary, image-driven rally, a reminder that in modern markets, a pair of sunglasses can sometimes move faster than a balance sheet.But once Macron debuted them, the internet went berserk, crashing Henry Jullien’s website—perhaps undercutting Macron’s argument about Europe’s robust predictability. Thankfully, the French company found a workaround, setting up a temporary page and writing: “Following the significant visibility of the Pacific by Henry Jullien model, worn by President Emmanuel Macron at the Davos Forum, our eShop website is experiencing an exceptional volume of visits and enquiries. To ensure stable and secure access for everyone, we have enabled this official temporary page dedicated to purchasing the model.”So anyone who is part of the European Union can order them. If you are in any other part of the world, like the Americas or even post-Brexit UK, you will have to figure out some way to get your hands on them. Currently, the website says it will take seven days for them to be shipped.In his speech, Macron said: “…having a place like Europe, which sometimes is too slow, for sure, and needs to be reformed for sure, but which is predictable, loyal, and where, well, you know that the rule of the game is just a rule of law, it’s a good place. And I think this is a good place for today and for tomorrow.”We are not sure we agree with all that, but we do want those sunglasses. For sure. For sure. Because we imagine we would be as happy as Sisyphus wearing them.
