After his love affair...is the photo of the Nvidia president wearing a leather jacket real or fabricated?

(CNN) - As soon as a photo of NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang spread, allegedly for his first public appearance following the circulation of reports of an extramarital relationship with a woman suspected of working for Chinese intelligence, it turned into a widely circulated article on social media platforms, coinciding with the decline in the company’s shares.

Huang appeared in the photo with a different look than his usual style; Instead of his leather jacket with a biker-inspired design, he wore a more eye-catching jacket, studded with metal studs. Followers on the Internet quickly linked its design to the period when designer Hedi Slimane took over the creative management of the French house Saint Laurent, considering it a rare and remarkable archival piece that appeared at a time when Huang is facing increasing pressure.

AI generated image

But the picture was not real. An Nvidia spokesperson confirmed to CNN that “these images are fabricated.” The spread of the image once again highlighted the difficulty of distinguishing between real and fake images, in light of the expanding use of artificial intelligence tools, including technologies that rely on NVIDIA chips, and the increasing presence of content generated by these tools on digital platforms.

Despite the fakeness of the image, the jacket sparked discussion about Huang's usual style and fashion choices, especially since it intersects with some of the elements that distinguish his looks, even if it appears more daring due to the metal studs and its striking details.

A user's comment on an Instagram post that included the photos received more than a thousand likes, saying: "The first person in history to lose his attractiveness by wearing an archive piece designed by Hedi Slimane."

The comment refers to the French designer who took over the creative management of Saint Laurent between 2012 and 2016, before moving to Celine, where he held the same position until 2024.

The photos appear to have been edited from a real photo of Hwang upon his arrival at Gimpo International Airport in the South Korean capital, Seoul, last June. The fabricated photo may have seemed believable because the jacket he appeared in did not stray far from his usual style. The CEO of NVIDIA is often seen wearing a tight-fitting leather jacket, and he revealed in an interview with CBS that he has between 30 and 40 leather jackets.

Huang's jacket and Steve Jobs' sweater... repeated looks among technology leaders

Like a number of technology sector leaders who adopted an almost constant look, such as the black turtleneck sweater worn by the late Apple founder Steve Jobs, Huang explained that repeating the look allows him to focus on more important matters, instead of spending his time choosing his clothes, at a time when he leads a company that develops technologies that reshape large sectors of the global economy.

The leather jacket gives Hwang a more daring look compared to the loose-fitting T-shirts favored by Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Altman. This type of jacket has been widely associated with motorcyclists and movie characters embodied by American actor James Dean, and evokes a style that combines rebellion and classic elegance.

It should be noted that Huang does not adhere to one design for all occasions, as he sometimes appears with different leather jackets, including a design with a texture resembling reptile skin that he wore during the keynote speech he delivered at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show. Earlier in the same year, one of his jackets from the American house “Tom Ford” was displayed in an auction organized by “Sotheby’s”, under the name “CEO outfit” or “Jensen jacket.”

The auction house described the jacket as a symbol of Huang's leadership style, embodying originality, innovation, perseverance, courage and the ability to enjoy work. It was sold for about $1 million, nearly double its initial price estimate.

In previous interviews, Huang referred to the role of his wife, Lori, in choosing his looks, as she was in charge of buying leather jackets for him.