The Ray-Ban Wayfarer, possibly the most famous, iconic and instantly recognisable sunglasses style in history, and it's easy to see why. The typically black, solid frame and green G-15 lens affords the wearer the desired amount of anonymity, privacy and... well, it just instantly adds cool to any look or outfit, doesn't it?! 

The original patent , filed in 1952

Ray-Ban began selling the Wayfarer in 1956, the first of it's kind and a revolution in eyewear. It had been designed and patented in 1952 by American optical designer, Raymond Stegeman who procured lots of patents for Bausch & Lomb, Ray-Ban's parent company at the time.

The design was new and different from anything that had gone before in two respects - it was to utilise new plastic molding technology, marking a transition from wire and metal frame eyewear into plastic frame eyewear - something not available previously, and also it's intrinsic 1950s style, which reflected Atomic and Space age design and according to design critic Stephen Bayley, "Eames chairs and Cadillac tail fins."

James Dean wearing Wayfarer Sunglasses

The Wayfarer was instantly popular. James Dean wore Wayfarers in Rebel Without A Cause and the sunglasses became forever associated with rock and roll with everyone from Roy Orbison to John Lennon to Bob Dylan donning a pair throughout the fifties and sixties.