Sunglasses and Eyewear

You’ve heard my opinion on the Split Thump MP3 player sunglasses from Oakley in today’s video review, but did you know they’re launching a special edition pair with the man possibly more famous for his hats than his music, Jamiroquai.They’ll be the 1GB model just like I reviewed, only have a special purple and white camouflage pattern on the arms and a lilac ‘O’ for the integrated control system on the sides. There will be only 500 pairs sold around the world, with just half of them in the UK. 1GB should allow you to fit around 250 tracks, with two being pre-loaded for the Jamiroquai fans, exclusive remixes from his album launched 15 years ago, Emergency on Planet Earth.

They’ll be £289.99, or US$569 if the exchange rate is obeyed. Be warned, though: if you couple these shades with a trilby hat, that may just be the tipping point where you find all your friends have deserted you.

Saturday February 23, 2008
The Guardian

The Meaning of Sunglasses: A Guide to (Almost) All Things Fashionable
by Hadley Freeman
224pp, Viking, £15There is much to admire in Hadley Freeman’s A-Z of fashion, not least because of its sound good sense on such crucial matters as the uselessness of mittens, the horror of the polka dot when viewed through a hangover, and the unnecessary agonies of the stiletto heel.

She refrains from taking the sideswipes at feminists that have become de rigueur among many style writers, nor does she attempt to defend the more autocratic behaviours displayed by some of the emperors of fashion. Here, instead, is a wry - if a little repetitive - book that will make gently enjoyable reading for anyone wondering how best to clothe themselves for this new century.