Alexa Please!: A Sunglass Hunting Story: Ray-Ban Flash Clubmaster Sunglasses

If 1937 was the invention of cool, then 1986 was the year it matured. Drawing inspiration from previous styles, the Clubmaster redefined retro with its simple and straightforward design, instantly making itself the official sponsor of culture.

Ray-Ban

This morning I was delighted to see that a package had arrived on my doorstep-- my brand new sunglasses! I had placed an order last Thursday for these on Nordstrom.com and they got here a little over a week later. I ordered the Ray-Ban 'Flash Clubmaster' 51 mm sunglasses in the Tortoise/Blue Mirror shade. While these beauties normally retail for $170.00, I actually got them for a great price at $127.50 when Nordstrom was doing their price matching (Nordstrom is still doing price matching right now, but these particular glasses are no longer on sale).

Let me start off by saying I saw these either online or in person in March when I was home for spring break, so I've had my eye on them for quite awhile. When I got home for the summer, I was getting ready to purchase some new shades for the impending season and many travels I'd be going on. There's no doubt that sunglasses are pricey, so I wanted to be sure of what I had my heart set on before I purchased my new sunnies. Thus, I began the hunt for the ultimate classic but unique pair that would fit my style. One thing was for certain-- I knew I wanted Ray-Bans because I love the retro wayfarer shape on me and I knew I wanted Clubmasters because they were like an Aviator and a Wayfarer had a baby, and they're just so darn classic cool.

When I was looking in department stores and Sunglass Huts at my local mall, not once did I see these glasses in person. The workers all said they didn't have them in stock but were avaliable online. I had tried on the regular Clubmaster in the 49 mm with the green lenses to see how they would look on me, but the lens seemed a bit small for my face. I wanted them to be a little bigger (at the very least covering my eyebrows) because I knew my Classic Wayfarers did just that, and obviously, I love the way those look on me (my classic red ones are discontinued, I've had them since I was 15 and now I'm 22!). To make this short, here are the few I had been trying on and considering for the past couple weeks:

Now when I found the Clubmaster Aluminums, the 51 mm size really reeled me in. I began to think I was going to purchase those because I knew the 49 mm were too small, and at the time, I thought that was the only way I could get the blue mirrored ones. Although pricey, the Clubmaster Aluminums were different. I liked the way they looked, and knew they would go with everything, which is why I was about to settle. I also tried on the Icon 50 mm to get a feel for what the blue mirror lenses look like on me, but was not feeling the circular shape. Then, I saw the Hightstreets, which are like an oversized version of the Clubmaster, and I liked those because of that and the lenses were a purple mirror, which was almost as cool as the blue. I had to say no to the Highstreets though because they were a bit too big. Is this starting to sound a lot like the Goldilocks and the Three Little Bears and porridge metaphor? I think it is.

Anyways, I decided to take some time off of sunglass hunting because I just still wasn't sure. Buuuut. Fast forward to last Thursday morning and bam. I saw these online. Ray-Ban. Clubmasters. Blue mirrored lenses. 51 mm and...on sale! It's like my porridge was finally juuuust right.

Now for my first impressions. Inside the cardboard packaging was more packaging. A ziploc baggie containing a grey rectangular Ray-Ban box. Inside the box was a brown leather sunglass case holding the sunglasses, a plastic packaged cleaning cloth, as well as two little booklets (one where I got the quote above from).

When I first saw the glasses 2 things caught my attention- the brightness of the lens color and the sleekness of the frames. They sit on my face nicely. A bit heavy, but I'm getting used to it. You can feel the feet on your nose. Right now, I'm in love. So feast your eyes on some pictures and fall in love too.