Rebel With A Cause: Ray-Ban X Team Wang
Over the course of its 82-year-long history, Ray-Ban has become synonymous with sunglasses, and also with cool. Worn by everyone who’s anyone from James Dean and Tom Cruise to Bob Dylan and John Lennon, a pair of Ray-Ban shades never goes out of style. Proving that it keeps a finger on the cultural pulse, the latest arbiter of cool to not only wear but work with Ray-Ban is pop idol and Got7 member Jackson Wang.
Wang was named a global ambassador for the Luxottica-owned eyewear purveyor earlier this year, and is currently the face of the #ProudToBelong campaign. Now, the brand has taken the partnership a step further, collaborating with Wang on a collection of frames. The newly-launched capsule reinterprets two classic designs, the Aviator and the Oval, which is certainly reason to rejoice, whether you’re a K-pop fan or not.
First launched in the late thirties, the Ray-Ban Aviator was originally developed for the U.S. Air Force, to help pilots shield their eyes from the harsh glare of the sun without reducing visibility. The distinctive style was worn by American troops during World War II, before it made the leap from military to must-have with help from cultural icons like Marlon Brando and Elvis.
Meanwhile, the Oval is a retro design from the ‘70s, with an elliptical silhouette that’s very John Lennon. The Ray-Ban x Team Wang collaboration sees both models refreshed with new colour combinations – light brown lenses with a copper frame, light azure lenses with a gold frame, and violet lenses with a silver frame, accented by Havana grey or brown temple tips.
