Ray-Ban Wayfarer
The bold plastic frames that turned sunglasses into fashion.
The optical designer Raymond Stegeman drew the Wayfarer at a time when the new possibilities of plastic attracted designers. The moulded acetate frame broke with thin metal frames, and its form recalled the fins of cars.
The glasses became part of the style of the 1950s and 60s and returned in the 1980s through films and music videos. The Wayfarer is counted among the best-selling sunglasses of all time.
Materials: Acetate, glass, metal rivets
Manufacture: Made by Bausch & Lomb from 1952 and later by Luxottica.
The heavy frame, wider at the top and tilted forward.
The trapezoidal lenses.
The metal rivets in the upper corners of the frame.
The Wayfarer appeared in 1952.
Trapezoidal lenses, a heavy upper rim that is wider than the lower edge, and temples that slope slightly forward.