Ray-Ban

Ray-Ban is one of the few fashion-accessories brands that still functions like cultural infrastructure. Founded in 1937 and now housed inside EssilorLuxottica, the company built durable authority through frames like the Aviator and Wayfarer, then kept those shapes relevant across film, music, sport, and luxury styling instead of letting them harden into archive pieces.

That heritage still matters, but Ray-Ban's current relevance comes from refusing to live only on nostalgia. The brand's official ecosystem now pushes the Ray-Ban Meta line as a serious smart-glasses play, tying its fashion credibility to the consumer-tech conversation without breaking the visual identity that made the label iconic in the first place.

For HITKULTR readers, the K-culture angle sharpened in April 2026 when Jennie became a global ambassador. The fit worked because Ray-Ban did not need borrowed cool. It needed a star who could make a heritage accessory feel immediate to a younger global audience. Jennie gave it exactly that, linking classic eyewear, luxury-fashion heat, and K-pop influence in one move.