Ray-Ban’s New Sunglasses Are Brash, Pricey and Almost Perfectly Timed

Ray-Ban’s high-profile partnership with Meta may have just hit a rough patch, but the tech giant is far from the only outside entity interested in collaborating on head-turning sunglasses designs.

Case in point: a new high-profile partnership in the luxury fashion realm transforms the brand’s classic aviator frames into statement pieces oozing a particular strain of oceanfront excess.

And while the vibes might not align with your own sense of style, for better or worse, it’s a look that’s destined to gain significant cultural traction by the end of the year.

Grand theft excess?

Ray-Ban

Ray-Ban’s aviation eyewear traces back to 1936 — born from a US Army Air Corps request for anti-glare pilot eyewear and quickly adopted by military fliers before becoming one of the most recognizable eyewear silhouettes in history.

Dolce&Gabbana, meanwhile, has spent nearly four decades building a fashion house synonymous with Mediterranean excess, tailored sensuality and unapologetic maximalism.

Ray-Ban

Together, they’ve now brought their strengths to a new two-frame collection that includes the Ray-Ban The Outdoorsman II By Dolce&Gabbana and Ray-Ban The Shooter By Dolce&Gabbana, each of which leans simultaneously in and away from the eyewear style’s military and hunting roots.

What Dolce&Gabbana contributes beyond co-branding is a specific attitude.

Ray-Ban

The press imagery leans hard into the kind of unapologetic swagger that defined Miami in the 1980s, this time, without the shoulder pads, or any top at all for that matter.

That aesthetic, coincidentally or not, is also deeply embedded in the DNA of the upcoming blockbuster video game Grand Theft Auto VI, which takes place in a fictionalized Miami heavily inspired by various cultural TV and film properties of the past, including Scarface and Miami Vice, just to name a few.

Ray-Ban

The Outdoorsman II’s defining feature is its brow bar and straight metal temple construction, a heritage detail Ray-Ban has offered for decades on the standard Outdoorsman at a far more accessible price.

The Shooter, similarly, builds on its baseline counterpart with a distinctive circular bridge — Ray-Ban’s so-called vanity bullet hole — at the center of the frame, while adding the option for yellow-tinted lenses, normally employed to filter strong UV light in traditional shooting glasses.

Ray-Ban

Both arrive with gold-tone metal frames that, somewhat strangely, extend beyond the edges of the lenses they hold, presumably to stand out from traditional aviators.

The caviar on the cracker here is the included shimmering gold case, which can be paired with a matching gold chain lanyard or black leather strap.

Ray-Ban

Who knows if this release’s style and timing are calculated or simply lucky, but there’s at least some meat on the bone for a conspiracy theory or two.

After being delayed once already, GTA VI was initially set to release on May 26, 2026, which happened to be only weeks after this collaboration was first revealed. But then, with less than six months to go before launch, Rockstar announced yet another delay, pushing the game’s release back to November 19, 2026.

Even with the release date shifts, Ray-Ban’s timing is still solid. Pre-orders for the game opened on June 25th, and these frames are still well-positioned to fit the moment perfectly if supplies stick around.

And they certainly won’t be the last style offering that leans into Vice City’s neon palette in the year ahead, whether you’re here for it or not.

Availability and pricing

Ray-Ban

Both frames retail for $490 each and are available now directly through Ray-Ban. At that price, you’re paying just as much for Italian luxury panache as you are heritage aviation design.

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