Framing the Culture: Oakley’s New Eyewear Collection and the Legacy of Style
TAILENT TI SATIN CARBON WITH PRIZM GREY LENSES 2
By Camille Hassan
Oakley’s latest lifestyle eyewear collection moves through the long, tangled intersection of music, sportswear, and culture, a dialogue that has shaped style for decades. Shades have arguably carried the weight here. Entire eras can be identified through a single frame: Look no further than the ironic resurgence of Christian Roth’s Series 6558, reborn online as “clout goggles.” In hip hop especially, eyewear has never been decoration alone. It speaks in shorthand, status, defiance, attitude, communicating in a way in which jewelry or sneakers cannot. Oakley’s new collection doesn’t just draw from this lineage; it extends it, folding the brand’s own history of technical innovation into the visual language of youth identity, where sport, music, and fashion collide. With humble beginnings, Oakley was founded in 1975 in the garage of Jim Jannard, who started the company with just $300 and a vision to revolutionize sports eyewear. Initially geared toward motocross and other extreme sports, Oakley’s designs prioritized performance above all else. The glasses were lightweight, aerodynamic, and engineered for durability, far from the understated styles of the time. This bold, high-tech approach didn’t just cater to athletes; it reimagined what sportswear could be, merging function with futuristic aesthetics. What began as practical gear for adrenaline-fueled pursuits would go on to influence fashion and pop culture for decades, shaping the intersection of sport, technology, and style.
Sportswear and athleisure have long served as the unofficial uniform of hip hop, a deliberate rejection of the rigid “prestige” codes that once upheld the music industry. Rooted in practicality and function, these styles carried an unfiltered rawness, signaling authenticity and defiance while embracing the everyday over the extravagant. The appropriation of sportswear in hip hop is rich and layered, shaping the visual identity of the genre and, ultimately, rewriting the rules of mainstream fashion. When Run DMC released My Adidas in 1986, it marked a turning point: a three-minute anthem that blurred the lines between culture, commerce, and personal style. Their partnership with Adidas didn’t just sell sneakers; it set the template for how music, branding, and identity could collide, sparking a decades-long relationship between hip hop and fashion houses that continues to define style today.
Within this, shades acted as objects of status. Oversized frames, mirrored lenses, and futuristic silhouettes offered both anonymity and presence, allowing artists to craft a persona that was untouchable yet hyper-visible. MCs and DJs shaped personas larger than life, crafting alter-egos that blurred the line between artist and myth. This dialogue between music and sportswear flowed both ways. The functionality and bravado of athletic apparel appealed to artists rejecting the formal “prestige” of traditional music culture, while athletes themselves adopted the swagger of hip hop style, turning press conferences and tunnel walks into fashion runways. Sunglasses became central to this exchange, bridging practicality and performance, style and subculture, and merging the speed of sports with the swagger of music, in an aesthetic that has now become synonymous with the genre.
The ’90s ushered in a wave of futuristic aesthetics across music, fashion, and pop culture, and hip hop was at the center of it all. Metallic fabrics, cyber-inspired silhouettes, and space-age styling dominated music videos and magazine spreads, shaping a visual language that felt experimental and forward-looking. Within this aesthetic shift, snow gear and technical apparel, once reserved for athletes and outdoor enthusiasts or even just the upper class, found a new home in hip hop style. Oversized puffer jackets, ski goggles, and performance sunglasses carried a sense of swagger and spectacle, merging high-function gear with the streetwise cool of the era.
This was the moment brands like Oakley broke through to entirely new audiences. Known originally for motocross and performance sports, Oakley’s wraparound lenses and aerodynamic frames became synonymous with hip hop’s embrace of futuristic fashion. Rappers and R&B artists began styling snow gear and technical eyewear not for utility but for impact, on stage, in videos, and on the red carpet. Reimagining pieces designed for speed and survival as symbols of status, style, and cultural experimentation. The bold, alien-like silhouettes of Oakley’s designs perfectly matched the decade’s fascination with the future, technology, and individuality, helping cement its place in both sportswear and streetwear history.
Oakley’s recent collection is a nod to its dual legacy. One that honours its technological advancements and dynamic designs as well as its cultural capital and iconography. The designs draw on Oakley’s decades-long reputation for engineering precision, lightweight materials, sculptural frames, and lenses developed for clarity and protection, while also tapping into the visual codes that have made Oakley a mainstay across sports, music, and fashion.