Melania Trump and Sam Altman Share an Unlikely Twinning Moment

There may be 13 ways of looking at a blackbird, but recent days have given us two ways to look at the elite wearing blocky white sunglasses, thanks to Melania Trump and Sam Altman.

On Sunday, the first lady and her husband, Donald Trump, trekked to New Jersey to take in the final match at the FIFA Club World Cup, between Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea FC. Melania made a clean statement in a pristine white look, pairing a white Michael Kors pencil skirt and top with white Manolo Blahnik stilettos. The finishing touch? An oversized pair of white Christian Dior sunglasses, their slightly cat-eye frames complemented by similarly supersized temples bearing a gold Dior logo and shielding the parts of her eyes that the glasses’ mirrored lenses couldn’t.

The shades are the brand’s DiorNuit S1I model, first introduced with the house’s Spring 2023 collection—notably not a freshly made Jonathan Anderson-era Dior style. And make no mistake, Anderson’s designs are already out there, for a certain flavor of VIP: When Rihanna walked the red carpet (well, blue) Sunday for the premiere of the new Smurfs movie, she wore Saint Laurent, but her sons, nearly two-year-old Riot Rose and three-year-old RZA, both sported Anderson-designed Dior.

Another VIP, though in an entirely different venue, also recently donned blocky white shades: In Sun Valley last week, OpenAI’s Sam Altman wore oversized $410 sunnies by Vuarnet, of a similar shape, heavy temples and all, to protect himself from the glare of the sun (and the media) at the annual summit of the uber-wealthy. (Melania’s stepdaughter, Ivanka Trump, was also in attendance.)

Though the first lady is described in her official White House bio as a “pioneer” in the blockchain technology industry, it’s likely few who would be quick to toss her and Altman into the same category, though their choices in protective eyewear bring them ever closer. They join the ranks of fashionable elite who have memorably reached for oversized white shades, like Jackie Kennedy and the original Barbie’s iconic outfit.