Ray-Ban is a name long associated with cool. Perhaps thanks to superstar Tom Cruise, they’ve become associated with action and adventure, and over the years, that appeal has grown into a theme the brand can trade on with impunity. Wearing Ray-Ban sunglasses isn’t just about shielding the sun from your eyes, it’s about making a statement, about looking cool and feeling cool.
That’s why you don’t just see them on the street but also perched on the noses of some of the most famous people in the world. Along with Oakley, they’re perhaps one of the most recognizable sunglasses brands on the market today. Two of their models, the Aviator and Wayfarer, are almost as recognizable as the faces they adorn.
Of course, it is quite ironic when a celeb uses a pair of Wayfarers to try to hide their identity, to remain anonymous on the street. Using an icon of the fashion world to disguise an icon of another industry is seemingly counter-intuitive, but it doesn’t stop celebs from picking up Ray-Ban sunglasses, sometimes when it’s not even sunny. Sometimes, even at night! From Wayfarer to Aviators and anything in between, these four male celebs are often seen in Ray-Bans.
Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise is perhaps the most famous Ray-Ban wearer of them all. He made his name in the. Eighties when he starred in Top Gun, a film which cast him and Ray-Ban Aviators onto the world stage. As the effortlessly cool Maverick, he flew around the Nevada skies in sunglasses, inspiring a generation of young people to rush out and buy a pair.
Indeed, that film is credited with saving the Ray-Ban brand and helping it thrive. Even with the release of Top Gun 2, where an older Cruise may have struggled to capture the minds of young people, Ray-Ban experienced a sales surge. He’s still got it, even past 60.
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan won’t be trying to capture any young hearts or minds, but his music is timeless. He was once called the greatest songwriter that ever lived by Johnny Cash, and that still resonates today. His songs feel timeless, simple ditties created on a guitar to live on forever, and with that reach comes a certain fashion influence as well.
Dylan is rarely seen without a pair of Wayfarer sunglasses. They’ve become almost as synonymous with him as the guitar and that gravelly, distinctive voice. He might be 82 now, but behind a pair of Wayfarers, he could still pass for that young visionary who changed the face of music forever.
Norman Reedus
After a heavyweight of the cinema industry and a heavyweight of the music industry, we bring you a heavyweight of the TV industry, or at least one show – The Walking Dead. His role as Daryl Dixon earned him worldwide acclaim, but he’s also starred in video games (Death Stranding) and films and even dabbled in music and modelling.
With fingers in so many pies, he may need to shield his eyes from the public every so often, and when he does, it’s usually a pair of Ray-Bans he turns to. However, that’s not the reason he’s often seen in sunglasses – Reedus has a titanium eye socket he got after a bad car accident that makes his eye sensitive to the light.
Bradley Cooper
48-year-old Cooper is a Hollywood icon, a man with nine Academy Award nominations and two Grammys. He’s tried his hand at comedies and thrillers and proven adept whenever he switches a genre. He’s even produced great films – he worked on Joker, the first film to really bring the superhero genre into a believable, real-world setting. Cooper is a huge star, and that calls for huge glasses.
He was spotted in Aviators in the 2009 film The Hangover, which was something g of a breakout film for him, although it was his 13th feature film appearance (counting a deleted scene in Changing Lanes). Since then, he’s worn them in films such as Aloha, but also whilst out and about around Hollywood.
