Sean Gleason
Like many of the best designs, Persol sunglasses (from the Italian per il sole, meaning “for the sun”) were born out of necessity. In 1917, Turin photographer and optician Giuseppe Ratti began making eyewear for Italian air force pilots and Alpini soldiers fighting in the snowy Dolomites.
After the war, these goggles and later, sunglasses, with the famous Silver Arrow hinge, caught on among yachtsmen and petrolheads alike. By the 1960s, Jack Kennedy was wearing them and Marcello Mastroianni donned the classic Persol 649 in the 1961 comedy Divorce Italian Style. Seven years later, Steve McQueen ensured continued “cool factor”, when he wore the folding version of the 649, the 714, with striking cobalt-blue lenses, in The Thomas Crown Affair (1968). The 714 was (and is) made with natural cotton acetate, photopolarising lenses and flexing cylinders in the arm to create a more personalised fit. Chris Madigan
Persol sunglasses, from £185, David Clulow