Looking at Pop Culture Through the Lens of Sunglasses
It’s National Sunglasses Day! As started by The Vision Council in order to raise awareness of harmful UV rays and encourage everyone to wear UV protective eyewear. Every June 27th the Vision Council encourages you and the industry at large to participate in National Sunglasses Day! You can participate in National Sunglasses Day by posting on social media channels using the official hashtags, #SunglassesSelfie and #NationalSunglassesDay, and tagging @TheVisionCouncil on Facebook and Instagram and @OpticalIndustry on Twitter.
I always enjoy looking at popular culture through different points of view and seeing how it’s influenced society or vice versa. In honor of National Sunglasses Day I thought it’d be fun to highlight sunglasses that made their mark on pop culture.
When it comes to celebrities and sunglasses the first to always come to mind is none other than Tom Cruise. Starting with his breakout role in 1983’s Risky Business that had Tom Cruise wearing the iconic Ray-Ban Wayfarers on the movie poster. Another 80’s classic with Wayfarer style is The Blues Brothers where Jon Belushi only took off his shades once during the entire film.
Next up is Grace Kelly in her cat-eye white rimmed sunglasses and yellow bathing suit in a scene from To Catch A Thief. Hitchcock’s 1955 film is one of the most stylish films in history. The sunglasses she wore were made by Oliver Goldsmith, which still carry a ton of styles to this day, though I couldn’t quite hunt down the exact name of the model of glasses she wore-you still should be able to find a ton of cat-eyed inspired glasses to pull off her classic 50’s aesthetic.
Back with Ray-Ban and their ever popular Clubmaster series of eyewear. Here you see them on Tim Roth via Reservoir Dogs. Tarantino has been quoted as saying that the only brands he’ll reference on camera are Ray-Ban and Zippo. Makes sense as they ooze cool. But the Clubmaster is synonymous with the screen having been worn by Tom Cruise in Rain Man, Kevin Costner in JFK and Matthew Broderick in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Another queen of style is Jackie Kennedy, or Jackie O, who touted oversized clunky sunglasses. Here she’s wearing a pair of Francois Pinton sunglasses now called the FP Jackie 2 N and will run you about $625.00 directly from their website. She also loved to wear other such brands I’ve already mentioned like Ray-Ban and Oliver Goldsmith.
To mention another Oliver, Oliver Peoples 523 rose colored lenses was worn by none other than Brad Pitt in his iconic role as Tyler Durden in 1999’s Fight Club. One of my personal favorite films, Tyler wears these with a super dope red leather jacket and later at the end of the film with a shaved head and all over print tank. Tyler’s whole vibe is anti-establishment and I’m here for it. I’m not sure these glasses are even in production anymore but you can find them (and knockoffs) on eBay aplenty.
Now, would this even be a legit sunglasses list if I didn’t mention the always stylish Audrey Hepburn? Especially her classic film Breakfast at Tiffanys where-in this frame-she’s donning Oliver Goldmith’s tortoiseshell Manhattens while eating breakfast and window shopping in the opening scene.
So that’s it for today’s short list of sunglasses to inspire your next look! Personally, I own a pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarers–a-la Risky Business–that I mentioned above. They’ve been my favorite pair of sunglasses forever. Make sure you wear your favorite pair today! It supposed to be cloudy today, but sometimes sunglasses a little more than just blocking UV rays-am I right? Sometimes it’s all about putting out the vibe.