Ray-Ban

Ray-Ban began in 1936 in Rochester, New York, when Bausch & Lomb worked with US Army Air Corps colonel John A. Macready on a sunglass that cut the glare pilots met above the clouds without fogging like goggles; the Anti-Glare prototype became the metal-framed Aviator a year later, and the Wayfarer followed in 1952. Luxottica bought the brand in 1999, and since 2018 it has sat inside EssilorLuxottica, based in Milan.

Design since then has kept a 1930s shape credible: acetate and metal frames reissued in seasonal colourways, and in 2023 the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, which put a camera, open-ear speakers and an AI assistant into Wayfarer and Headliner silhouettes without visibly thickening them. ASAP Rocky became the brand’s first creative director in 2025, and Meta remains the reference for eyewear that behaves like a wearable.