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Ray-Bans were initially created in 1937 after Lieutenant John MacCready had returned from a balloon flying adventure in 1920. He complained that the sun had done permanent damage to his eyes. On May 7, 1937, Bausch & Lomb officially took out the patent. The prototype, known as Anti-Glare, consisted of an extremely light frame weighing 150 grams. They were made of gold-plated metal with two green lenses made of mineral glass to filter out infrared and ultraviolet rays. Pilots in the United States Air Force immediately adopted the sunglasses.
Later, the popularity of Ray-Ban sunglasses was confirmed in the Hollywood hit Blues Brothers starring Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. Later, Tom Cruise added his own contribution in the 1983 hit Risky Business. In the 1997 box office hit Men in Black, Will Smith also made Ray-Ban appeal to even more people with a reference to the sunglasses. Along with the movie, Smith also made Ray Bans more appealing to young people in his rap song Men in Black.
American democratic nominee Barack Obama has also been repeatedly photographed wearing Ray-Ban sunglasses including on the cover of Ebony magazine. |
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