Vintage PERSOL Sunglasses. THE BEST.

WAAAY back in the DAY, there was a little show called MIAMI VICE on TV. This show, for it time, was truly cutting edge, ( NOW it's the fodder for jokes, in movies like the ''WEDDING SINGER'' ) BUT back then it was KOOL. IT had a huge influence on me at the time , it actually got me into clothes. I fell in love with them, especially when I found that the better I dressed the more girls seemed to like me! But, Up until then I was running around town like Steve URKEL's FAT brother. Me and my boys used to get into the clubs in NYC in the summer ( underage of course ) and I have on my BEST IMITATION ''VICE"" wear. Thought I was da MAN! But while you can't run around in YELLOW linen jackets, a t-shirt and PINK Linen pants anymore without getting your two front teeth knocked out ( in MY part of town anyway ) or get 'screamed' on at the very least, there is ONE thing from that show that stayed with me. That you can still wear with pride today. In the third season of the show I noticed one of the characters had on a spectacular pair of shades. They were HUGE, black and KOOL! I had never seen anything LIKE them before. A little research and I found out the brand. PERSOL. The brand started in Italy in 1917 when a photographer set out to make high tech shades for pilots and race car drivers. The name is taken from the Italian term ''per il SOLE'' meaning for the sun. In the 30's the company, now called RATTI developed several innovations, such as the flex bridge on the nose part of the glasses, as well as the 'Meflecto' system which allows the arms on the glasses to bend to the shape of the wears face. Also the distinctive silver ''arrow'' found on the side of almost every pair. This brand is an italian institution with everyone from Steve McQueen ( picture above ) to Marcello Mastroianni, ( picture above ) to GRETA GARBO, Brad Pitt, Daniel Craig wearing them. The MOST famous model of Persols are the ''649'' worn by McQueen in films like ''The Thomas Crown Affair'' and ''Bullitt''. I bought that model I saw in Miami Vice, this leading to me buying a few others ( these things ain't cheap to say the least. Even back then. Average price was and is about 200 +dollars a pair ) In the late 90's the glasses company Luxotica bought PERSOl and has produced them ever since. For MY money though the models produced by RATTI are the best. I special ordered a pair of model ''649'' from ITALY in 1996 or so. Like a FOOL I went to Atlanta and forgot to take them out of my checked luggage, so of course they were stolen. Thank God for Ebay I was able to get another pair, But This event stated me on the path of collecting vintage persol sunglasses. I now own about 12 or so pairs, several of which will be going up for auction on EBAY on Monday. I will show some pic's of some of my favorites from my collection in future posts, so stay tuned. Peace, Love and hair grease!