“Money can’t buy class. She dresses terribly. So inappropriate,” one user wrote on the social media platform X.
“Have a little respect, for God’s sake. It’s a state dinner and you’re 56,” another added.
A third turned to the jewelry: “Her diamond could feed a lot of starving children.”
There was no doubt that social media — and especially the men on it — had decided that Lauren Sánchez Bezos can buy almost anything except good taste.
The flood of comments in various versions across social media over the weekend came after Sánchez Bezos appeared at a White House state dinner honoring Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Alongside her husband, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, she arrived in a vintage black Alexander McQueen dress with a plunging neckline and a diamond necklace centered around a stone the size of a fist.
It was not the first time Sánchez Bezos had sparked debate over the White House dress code.
In April 2024, at a state dinner hosted by President Joe Biden for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, she appeared in a red dress by Rasario featuring a lace corset, bare shoulders and a long, fitted skirt.
She stood out then as well and looked as though she had arrived at an entirely different event.
In fashion terms, that dress was just as provocative. It was well made, no doubt, but everything about it — the constricting corset, sheer lace, red color and aggressive emphasis on cleavage — evoked a Las Vegas celebration rather than a White House state event.
She is not changing her style for anyone
Over the past two years, Sánchez Bezos, 56, has done everything she can to become a legitimate figure in American fashion and society circles.
One way has been to reshape the wardrobe she brought with her from the world of show business. To that end, celebrity stylist Law Roach was brought in, alongside the watchful and advisory eye of Anna Wintour, who embraced Bezos and the billionaire set.
Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos arrive at a 2024 White House dinner in what is widely considered to be inappropriate attire
(Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
The two women spent time together at Paris Fashion Week, and the Bezoses were even invited this year to serve as co-chairs of the Met Gala, Wintour’s biggest fashion and society event on the East Coast.
At the same time, it is worth remembering that Sánchez Bezos is not a politician or a diplomat.
She is a former television journalist and socialite, and above all the wife of one of the richest and most powerful men in the world.
In recent years, she has also become a public figure in her own right.
Her style has been shaped accordingly: feminine, flamboyant and sexy. Her wealth can be spotted from a mile away.
Consciously or not, she repeatedly chooses to dress the way she wants rather than submit to the conventional dress code for events of this kind.
There is, of course, no White House rule banning plunging necklines, but many women choose to maintain a more formal, statesmanlike appearance and adapt their wardrobe to the occasion.
Not Sánchez Bezos, who in her latest appearance seemed to declare that the venue should adapt itself to her.