There was a time, maybe even five years ago, when if I wore a pair of Oakley mirrored sunglasses to the pub, I’d get heavily ridiculed.
Growing up as a British teen, the brand was seen exclusively for your dad and your weird uncle, but such is the mysterious ways of fashion – like my early 2000s skinny jeans phase and when I inexplicably stretched my ear – things have a peculiar way of finding the mainstream sooner or later.
Now, before you say it, I’m not blind to Oakley’s popularity throughout the 80s and 90s – and even throughout the 2000s if you’re one of those upper-class skiing families – but it hasn’t been until recently they’ve had a real moment.
From Flight Jacket Prizm and Flak 2.0 XL, to Clifden Prizm and the revival of the Sub:Zero, Oakleys’ extensive catalog of styles makes for pretty long reading.
Last year though, Oakley introduced undoubtedly one of its most striking frames to-date for the Tokyo Olympics, titled the XEUS_AG – and for 2022, it’s being revisited for a re-up.
Arriving as a part of Oakley’s line-up of sunglasses enabled by PhysioMorphic Geometry (which is basically a mad curved lens), the XEUS_AG – which is available online now – boasts Oakley’s Prizm lens tech features in a two-tone chromatic treatment, which results in a unique look engineered to enhance color and contrast to see more detail.
This drop sees a busy 2022 continue for Oakley who – alongside a collaboration with Highsnobiety – recently teamed up with Brain Dead for a pair of sneakers, shortly before the re-release of their SubZero style last month.
For those still pondering whether to cop a fresh pair of Oakley’s this summer, it’s probably time you take a long hard look in the mirrored lens and join the revolution.
