Iconic sunglasses: Persol

There is cool, there is very cool and then there is this guy.

I really don't care much about which Bvlgari sunglasses Bono has had made for him and I couldn't care less that Franz Ferdinand have been paid a fortune to endorse Ray Ban Wayfarers. Steve McQueen was the face of Persol sunglasses long before Mr. Beckham made advertising sunglasses fashionable.

That the iconic Persol 0714 sunglasses pictured here is still made to the original specification today is testament to the fact that some designs will always endure, not perhaps because they were well designed or particularly stylish, but for what they stood for. The very brand name Persol comes from the Italian per il sole "for the sun" and details such as the Victor flex bridge and the distinctive arrows are all unmistakable evidence of the care dedicated to considerations of comfort, wearability and visual efficiency in producing sunglasses whose performance is unmatched.

In terms of technology these sunglasses are dinosaurs. The frames are cut from natural, cotton-based acetate which holds its lustre much better than other plastics and is not so prone to UV or chemical degradation. The Silver Arrow is machined from a single block of metal and forms part of a hinge that on its own costs more to make than a whole pair of lesser sunglasses. The lenses are toughened glass: phenomenally hard wearing and scratch resistant. To cap it all, Persol sunglasses are then hand-finished. In Italy. This is positively unheard of in terms of today's squirted-out-of-a-mould-and-assembled-in-some-far-eastern-sweat-shop stuff that has, unfortunately become pretty much the norm.

The benefits to you are a pair of sunglasses that will give you years of service, protect your eyes, fit comfortably and, most importantly, make you nearly as cool as Steve!