Ray-Ban Wayfarer
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The Ray-Ban Wayfarer is an iconic design of sunglasses available with polarized lenses and spring hinges, manufactured by Ray-Ban since 1952.
[edit] Background
Ray-Ban is a brand of Bausch & Lomb, which was sold in 1999 to the Luxottica Group. The Wayfarer has been reported to be the best-selling style in history.[citation needed] They are a pop culture icon used by famous celebrities over the past 50 years and also as a general status symbol embodying "cool".
The new and improved collection, released in 2002, offers frame colors ranging from shiny and matte plastics to the classic arista gold, gunmetal and black.[citation needed]
The glasses were especially popular in the 1980s thanks to the movies such as The Blues Brothers and Risky Business; the television show Miami Vice and constant namedropping in Bret Easton Ellis' fiction, particularly Less Than Zero. The glasses were also immortalized in the Don Henley song, Boys of Summer, which contains the lyrics:
- You got that hair slicked back and
- Those Wayfarers on, baby
It is not uncommon to see characters in films and television of yesteryear, when their character is attempting to be flamboyantly cool, to be wearing a pair of wayfarers and a black leather jacket.
The Wayfarer along with the also popular Ray-Ban Aviator have enjoyed massive popularity over the years thanks to media presence and are considered classic cool. Ray-Ban will re-release the original style of the Wayfarer, Model RB2140, for the upcoming 2007 Spring/Summer collection.[citation needed]
Original Bausch & Lomb Ray Ban Wayfarer Models:
-Wayfarer, L2008-Ebony(Black), 22mm Bridge(B&L5022), 50mm Lens
-Wayfarer, L2009-Ebony(Black), 24mm Bridge(B&L5024), 50mm Lens
-Wayfarer, L2052-Mock Tortoise, 22mm Bridge(B&L5022), 50mm Lens
-Wayfarer, L2053-Mock Tortoise, 24mm Bridge(B&L5024), 50mm Lens
-Wayfarer ll(2), L1724-Ebony(Black), 18mm Bridge, 54mm Lense
-Wayfarer ll(2), L1725-Mock Toitoise, 18mm Bridge, 54mm Lense
[edit] Celebrity Wayfarer Wearers
- Dan Akroyd
- Mischa Barton
- John Belushi
- Johnny Borrell
- Tom Cruise
- James Dean
- Kirsten Dunst
- Bob Dylan
- Brandon Flowers
- Corey Hart
- Audrey Hepburn
- John F. Kennedy
- Johnny Marr
- Andrew McCarthy
- Ron Jeremy
- Billy Joel
- Don Johnson
- Rob Lowe
- Johnny Marr
- Kate Moss
- Madonna
- Michael Jackson
- Morrissey
- Ray Manzarek
- Richard Marx
- Jack Nicholson
- Roy Orbison
- Kurt Russell
- Chloë Sevigny
- Patti Smith
- Andy Warhol
- Bruce Willis
- Anna Wintour
- William Zabka
- Andrew McMahon
- Alex Kapranos
- Sienna Miller
[edit] Fictional Wayfarer Wearers
- David Addison, (Bruce Willis) on Moonlighting
- Patrick Bateman from American Psycho (played by Christian Bale)
- The Blues Brothers- who were also a nonfiction, real blues band
- Al Bundy from Married... with Children (played by Ed O'Neill)
- Sonny Crockett from Miami Vice (played by Don Johnson)
- Hannibal Lecter in the final scene of The Silence of the Lambs (played by Anthony Hopkins)
- Holly Golightly from "Breakfast at Tiffanys" (played by Audrey Hepburn)
- Mr. Pink, Mr. Brown, Mr. White, Mr. Blonde, Mr. Blue and Mr. Orange from "Reservoir Dogs" (played by Steve Buscemi, Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Eddie Bunker and Tim Roth)
- Roger Thornhill from "North by Northwest" (played by Cary Grant)
- Duke Nukem (character) from the Duke Nukem computer video game series.
The sunglasses used in the film They Live were Wayfarers.
