- Hey, what's up everybody?
My name is Spencer Shapiro.
- And I'm Trinidad James,
and we are here today to talk about
athletes, glasses, and trends.
[rhythmic music]
First up, we got aviator frames.
We got our boy Russell Westbrook here
who is a very interesting man,
maybe one of the most interesting men in basketball.
It works for him.
I would not wear those.
Dwyane Wade, that's more aviator speed,
kinda feels that Alpina feel.
Spencer loves Alpinas a lot.
Trae Young is speaking more my language
where he has that like, uh I'm a cool guy,
type aviator style.
Chris Paul, just look too old.
The extra metal, sometimes a lot of metal gives you
that old feeling, reminds you grandma's old Cadillac,
less metal, more modern, that means younger.
- [Spencer] You know when you have the frames
with the extra metal going over it with the clear lens,
it adds an older look, but you can kinda switch that up,
give it a more younger vibe when you add
different colored tints, like I like to throw in gradients,
which is like a dark to light fade,
or throw a pop of color in there. Something like this,
I threw a light blue gradient in this Cartier tint.
Just a little pop of color can give you
more of a youthful look.
- You can go from grandpa to cool guy.
[Light hip hop music]
Clear Wayfarer style has become a trend
that a lot of NBA players have been wearing a lot lately.
As you can see, Russell Westbrook, De'Aaron Fox,
Iman Shumpert, they're all wearing
different styles of the clear Wayfarer.
It's not really my cup of tea, but as you can see,
different styles of the Wayfarer
works different for each guy
With Russell Westbrook, you see that cat eye on
the Wayfarer really works for him.
However, Iman is kinda more simple, conservative, chill,
and De'Aaron, it works for his face.
If if works for you, it works for you.
At the end of the day, to each his own.
- My favorite out of the three would be Iman,
like, he has a real classic,
it's actually a Clubmaster style look.
It's light across the bottom,
with you know, a little thicker over the top.
I like that it's kinda, almost like Malcolm X type style.
Ray-Ban was the first to do it, with the Clubmaster model,
but all kinds of other brands do it now.
[lighthearted hip hop music]
- As you can see, in the NBA also, one of the newer trends
are smaller designer shades.
You see James Johnson, I don't think those are Cartiers
that he has on with the flip-up style.
A Different World was a TV show back in the 1990s,
and one of the main characters,
he always wore flip-up glasses.
All right, it's just a thing from the 90s?
So it's awesome to see, now in 2019, moving to 2020,
certain trends, they just don't die, but they do get better.
You know, they do elevate.
It's really dope to see that on, like, James Johnson.
- [Spencer] Here we have Draymond Green
wearing the Cartier Giverny,
a trait staple of pure classic made out of
African Bubinga wood, comes in two different finishes,
either platinum or 18 karat yellow gold.
Love the look, that's actually
one of my favorite frames ever made, so, shout out to him.
Nowadays, they go anywhere from two to three thousand,
but they're steadily rising.
Just, even from when I first got into selling these frames,
I was flipping them for 400, 'cause really,
nobody outside of the trade really wanted them,
so when I got to town, it was a tough sale for me to make,
and now I can't even keep them in stock.
It's not necessarily clear, and it's either really cool
for wearing indoors or outdoors.
- Feeling-yourself frame.
That's the kind of frame, feeling yourself, look at my face.
Look at me.
- It's money.
- I feel good, I feel like money.
So, money frame.
Put those frames on, you feel like money.
Those are, oh, Cameron's C Decor wood,
which I have right here.
So those come in all different colors, patterns,
he has the clear rimless lenses on there,
I love doing a clear lenses when it's, say like,
a college shirt, suit, button down, you know,
as you see I even have them on today.
[lighthearted hip hop music]
Another trend I'm really fond of lately,
is jut the transparent frames.
All different brands have been making these,
and as you see here, we have like Von Miller,
Lebron James, guys like Lewis Hamilton,
it's a cool looking, there's also a lot of
different variations in color you can get too,
like I've seen a lot of transparent blues,
greens, reds, all that.
- And the price point can vary too,
I remember starting off with glasses like from brands
like Retrosuperfuture, where they really do
a lot of the one LeBron has on,
which is kinda like just a basic straight frame.
That style can go start there at Retrosuperfuture
and go all the way up to Chrome Hearts.
Chrome Hearts does a really,
like the one the glasses that Von Miller has on,
Chrome Hearts is a really special one.
It's really nice, you can either put your prescription in
or wear it as shades or just normal glasses,
just like we've been saying.
Athletes really have been taken to the transparent frame
really well, you know?
Like, it looks good on Von, that's a good pair.
- Actually, Lewis has really cool frames on,
it's more of a lucite aviator.
- Lewis has, pretty much anything looks good on him.
Transparent frames are meant for cool people,
so if you're just naturally a cool guy or girl,
psh, it's gonna work every time.
Every time, has that.
[upbeat hip hop]
Marble frames, it's a trend.
It's a trend that's happened with athletes, you know,
every Sunday when these guys coming in the tunnel,
we looking to see what they got on,
from the shoes on their feet, to the glasses on their face.
O.B.J, Cam Newton are definitely two of the people
in the league, NFL league to be exact,
who really bring it to the top.
O.B.J has on this particular pair
of Louis Vuitton Millionaires.
Same glasses, but not the same price.
You can only get these pretty much in Asia,
or if you're connected.
These, you walk in the Louis Vuitton store, wherever,
from Rodeo Drive to Fairfax Ave.
O.B.J. is not a regular guy,
so it makes sense for him to rock these.
I would imagine he has every single pair,
but he's very proud of the Korean pair because it's limited,
costs more, and celebrities, athletes,
definitely like to flex.
- The green pair is anywhere, resale-wise,
anywhere from 1400 to 2000 up.
- And the red ones are going for retail
so this pair about 900.
Glasses that Cam Newton has on, I don't think that those
are Louis Vuitton, but that marble, that tortoise look
is just a classic look that happens in glasses,
been going on in the world of glasses for years.
- That's something that's been around forever.
- You see it on the Moschinos, still has that tortoise feel,
like that whole feel, or whatever, these are for the 90s,
but the feel is still the same, you know?
This is 2019 Celine, I would have it with Yeezys or men,
as the new director, but the Tortoise hasn't changed.
See what I'm saying?
These certain things not going nowhere,
you'll come, you'll pass away,
but certain styles will never die.
- They have the name Tortoise, because back in the day,
a lot of brands were actually making eyewear
out of real tortoise shell.
And thankfully, they've stopped doing that,
they've gone to synthetic tortoise,
which is made out of plastic.
[Lighthearted hip hop music]
Thick oval frames, well, I can't even just call them
thick oval frames, kinda more like Kurt Cobain frames.
These really remind me of Kurt's.
I think Kurt Cobain, and I think Fabo.
He is an artist from Atlanta,
From a legendary group called D4L.
When I see white glasses,
that's exactly what it makes me think of.
It's a really iconic staple piece,
it kinda gives you that punk rocker type look,
the shade that Travis has on, it works for his face,
a little bit bigger.
With Kelly, you can also tell, you can tell with him,
he likes the skinny feel, or whatever,
'cause he has more of a narrow,
and more of a narrow face, narrow jawline,
so it's a lot less room in between
the eyebrow to the cheekbone,
which is important for you to understand the ratio
when you're doing glasses, making glasses for yourself.
So these are Christian Roth, Archive 1993,
these are the brand that Kurt wore,
they don't make these anymore.
It was very very classic in 1993,
Kurt really wore these like this was his piece.
- That's something that is made for somebody
who's bold and just doesn't give a shit.
It's for icons, guys like Kurt Cobain Guy Fieri,
Fabo, Lil Jon, T-Pain, - [Trinidad] T-Pain.
- It's the glasses of an American hero,
that's the true American bad-ass frame.
- America's glasses.
- 'Murica.
[Upbeat hip hop music]
Okay, so here we have Kelly Oubre Jr.,
doing some small dark frames, off the Chrome Hearts hat,
digging it, and not a look for everybody,
but if you can pull it off, do it right, the it's fly.
You know, I have a few different styles,
you know, this is a old-school platinum Cartier
that's kinda from the same wave, these are from late 90s.
And that's, I'd say that's when that style
was really popularized, now it's having a comeback.
Vintage Fendi right here, same style look, you know,
small round shape, dark black lenses.
- Tiny frames really originate
a lot of different times in history.
If you look at Kelly Oubre, now that's the same glasses
that, per say, Laurence Fishburne wore, in the Matrix.
It's also, if you go back to, old Jet Li movies,
from the 2000s, Jet Li DMX, I would have it like,
that 1997 to 2001, is a special time for tiny frames.
Like I say, it's kinda like an alternative, bad-ass look.
It's really interesting, like you should see him with
cross and skull bones, and Chrome Hearts,
it really works for that look.
We have our boy Nick Young, all-star NBA player,
who's really interesting because him and Kelly
both have on those off-white glasses from Virgil.
That particular pair of shades was a really hit
last year when it came out of 2018.
It was right on point, it was the right size,
not too much, black, and it really matched
the climate of the way people dressed.
- You know, it's one of Virgil's early steps
in eyewear as well, I think he just killed it.
So these glasses came out last year, and as you can see,
these guys are still wearing them, because glasses,
they're one of those things that just keeps going
with your wardrobe, you keep them, it's like jewelry.
You know, you buy new jewelry but
you still gonna wear old chain.
Old sunglasses still look good with new clothes.
They make them look better sometimes, because if you're
collecting pieces and things that are not easy to get,
when you decide to wear them with your new outfit,
new clothes that you're doing, it's a great time.
[upbeat hip hop music]
Another trend that we've recovered with athletes
are small round frames.
- The small round glasses trend is very reminiscent of
60s and 70s, you know, people like Janis Joplin,
John Lennon, you know, Ramones,
- Lewis Hamilton, he can really mix it up,
from square transition to aviators,
see through aviators, dark, to now we have the small round.
Some people just have a great face.
Russell, as you can see, the lens, the color, the wire,
it might be too thin of a wire for me
but it really works for him.
You know, I like that he accessorized it
with a thin gold chain, compared to have a thick one.
I would have the small details like that really matter
when you're putting together
outfits and accessories, you know?
I don't think that he would have done the big Cuban chain
with thin glasses but with thin glasses,
I'd do the small necklace.
It's really just like I said,
it's a science to this man, for real.
- So, here we have P.J. Tucker, he's wearing
more of a large, large round frame.
Shout-out to P.J., good friend and client of mine.
I like the way he's mixing the light with the dark-brown
with the colors of fur on his collar.
All about having the right mixture outfit.
- Even with Iman, small necklace, thin wire frames.
You know, P.J. probably the biggest rounds,
but that's why he got the diamonds on them.
And you really get to see what small,
what the meaning of small round frame is
when it comes to athletes, because they're usually big guys.
So, this big guy with this small glass on his face,
some pull it off, some don't, but they all attempt,
and it's really interesting because they like it,
they really into it, you know, it's dope
where there's, I don't even want that all of them
are doing it because the stylist told them to,
I think they just genuinely like it.
[light hip hop music]
- Here we have my guy Noah wearing some big,
some shield looking glasses, you know,
Oakley vibes, real reminiscent of, you know,
like Hulk Hogan, Riff Raff type style.
It's the type of look where you, people can't really
see in but you can see out.
- As you can see with Dwight Howard too,
when it comes to that reflective tint on the aviator style,
it's kinda like you're showing people themselves.
That's what the kind of like, reflective tint,
that mirror tint, like, look at yourself.
You, don't look at me.
Look at yourself.
You know, those do really well against the sun too,
for people with light eyes, and who like dark tint
just really doesn't work for you, then mirror tint
also is a good one to fight against the sun.
That's why you see that particular tint
used in a lot of like, sports wear looking glasses.
Like Balenciaga is coming back,
with a lot of like plastic sports looking,
Alpina-ish type of like snow goggles type of feel.
Although it's really interesting that they do it,
but it makes sense, it make a lot of sense,
that's why you see a lot of the athletes use it,
because they're in the sun the most.
- The sun, I would say, go as dark as possible.
Get a polarized lens, or get a nice reflective look,
you wanna protect your eyes while you're out there.
Polarized lens have a special coating
that actually blocks out the UV rays a little better.
They're also good for being out in the water,
fishing, seeing the water a little better,
because it blocks out the glare.
[upbeat hip hop music]
- When it comes to trends,
you can't leave out your veterans.
As you can see here we have Tom Brady, David Beckham
A-Rod, you know, just go's.
Go, go, go.
As you get older, and status, glasses hold a status.
It's a certain classism that comes with certain glasses,
you know, and it shows that, that guy might have six rings,
compared to a guy who has one.
The way he dresses, the way he talks,
the type of eyewear that he chooses,
as you can see with the veterans here, lately
they've been rocking the classic Wayfarer style.
It takes you back to that Ray-Ban feel,
like dark shades, like James Dean,
like, straight to the point.
You know what I'm saying, really has
a distinguished look for it.
And no, you go from Ray-Ban,
Cartier has a style, just like this too.
A lot of people have this particular style
like Spencer's saying, with metal arms, tortoise top,
or whatever you know, it's wide open.
But you tend to see, parts like A-Rod, David Beckham,
you know that would probably be like the time for it.
You know, 'cause that feels like their status.
- You know, everybody has their own styles,
but these aren't the type of guys you're gonna see
with bright, lot of colors, or iced out glasses,
they're more, you know, refined style,
so that works for them,
and it's more of a universal classic look.
[upbeat hip hop music]
- Athlete's eyewear is definitely gonna be one of those
trends that are always changing, and will never die.
- Something that's a component to your everyday outfit,
so I think it's something that's only gonna
continue to grow and become more popular
as the spotlight is actually
on the eyewear industry a lot more these days.
- We will be seeing more and more trends
that these guys set, because these guys are the wave men.