There were three pairs of sunglasses shot for our recent issue, Fantastic Man No. 42: actor PEDRO PASCAL on page 132 is wearing a voluptuous pilot model from CHANEL (green lenses, a pearl at the end of each leg), artist ARTHUR JAFA sports his own shades on page 232 (and online, scroll down, it’s the last image), and there’s one visible pair in ‘The Singularity Protocol’ by SHAHRYAR NASHAT and HISATO TASAKA – (the glasses by OLIVER PEOPLES). ■ Three sunglasses in over 300 pages, that’s by all means subtle for a summer issue, and yet, we recommend everybody to always have a good pair of shades at hand. ■ The health pros of sunglasses are numerous: protecting you from harmful UVA and UVB rays, delay the development of wrinkles around the eye, reduce headaches, etc. All good reasons to take a closer look at tinted eyewear today.

This pair of Nagata Speed glasses from then-startup DISTRICT VISION is exactly 10 years old and I still run in them, while over the past decade the label became a household name in the field of athletic glasses. ■ Ultimately, sports glasses are, and will always be, the most comfortable style of shades. (My other favourite wraparounds at the moment are these Neoforma from OAKLEY.)

Once upon a time, BILLY IDOL (1955) scored a big hit with his haunting ballad ‘Eyes Without A Face’, still a mainstay on rock radio channels. ■ And look, now the English punk singer appears as a face without eyes in the campaign for a sunglasses collaboration between London jeweller THE GREAT FROG (1972) and eyewear experts CUTLER AND GROSS (1969). It truly is a gathering of the titans! ■ The titanium frames for this ‘Modern Relics’ collection are handcrafted in Japan (i.e. the best) and adorned with the jeweller’s signature skulls, roses and metalwork. Now, everybody sing-along:
Eyes without a face
(Les yeux sans visage)
Eyes without a face
(Les yeux sans visage)

For the sake of innovation, for fun, and out of total curiosity, we tried a pair of the OAKLEY META Performance AI glasses; you know, the ones with a camera, radio and all other kinds of hyper-modern functionality in them. Such as live translation – but not from or into Dutch, so I had intern RYAN speak to me in English and, after a bit of a delay, got the translation through my glasses in German. The speakers in the legs are quite good – but not discreet – others in the room can listen along. The camera quality is okay; it has a wide angle lens, almost fish eye. ■ What’s a bit odd is that while most people’s eyes are positioned horizontally next to each other, the camera takes vertical pictures. You just have to hope (or check the app on your phone) to see the outcome. ■ I struggled to keep the connection between glasses and phone up, especially when out of reach from a WiFi connection, but handier people surely will get the hang of it. I also struggle to see why we couldn’t live without these glasses (it takes photos and films, and other functions that our phones do very well, too) but I also know it’s tricky territory to say, ‘Why on earth would I need these?’ ■ Please check out this hilarious short clip of street interviews from 30 years ago, from Dutch TV, on the subject of why nobody needs mobile phones. People can write you a letter, right? Or, if it’s urgent, try your landline. Or, if you’re stranded along the road, just go find the nearest farm to make a phone call from. And other comical gems. ■ Surely someone will soon find a killer app for those META glasses that will make us all walk around looking like we’re competing in the time trial in the Tour de France. (For a more subdued model of META glasses, try RAY-BAN.)

Fun fact: a representative from great Dutch shoe brand REFERENC told me that people much rather buy a pair of shoes online than one of their recently-launched sunglasses. That must be because glasses either fit you, or they don’t at all. ■ Our contributing editor WILLY NDATIRA took that concept to the extreme by ordering a pair of bespoke opticals from the chique French brand MAISON BONNET. His reportage is on pages 47-48 in the current issue of Fantastic Man, which went to print before WILLY saw the outcome of the multi-fitting procedure. ■ If you’re curious, see above! And how do they fit and feel? “Very elegant,” says WILLY. “They’re a great object and a new standard in the glasses I will be buying in the future.”