The late, great Tupac Shakur was adept at commanding attention via his attire; his ability to cultivate a distinct personal style was, and still is, enviable and inspiring. And perhaps the greatest accessory in the ‘All Eyez on Me’ rapper's weaponry (bar, of course, his seemingly-endless supply of paisley bandanas and cosmic collection of gold Rolex timepieces) was his Jean Paul Gaultier 56-6106 sunglasses: the round, steampunk-ish specs he wore religiously throughout the halcyon days of his career. Now, as part of a collaboration with Real Madrid superstar Karim Benzema, Jean Paul Gaultier has re-released a few hundred pairs of the Nineties sunnies for £330 a pop.
The Jean Paul Gaultier x Karim Benzema sunglasses collection consists of three French-made unisex specs: a gold pair, complete with bottle green lenses; a silver pair, complete with violet lenses; and an all-black pair. Each limited-edition variant features an engraved bridge, idiosyncratic spring detail on the temples and anti-glare lenses. Not to mention, they all come packaged in a logo-embossed black leather case that contains a mucho useful integrated mirror (why is this not always a thing???).
Although the JPG x KB sunglasses have already sold out on the likes of Hervia and the official Jean Paul Gaultier website, there’s still a shot for you tastemakers and Tupac zealots to hit 'em up (see what we did there?). Over on End Launches, you can participate in three raffles – one for the silver pair, one for the gold and one for the black – all set to be drawn on Saturday 30 July. Good luck, lil' homies.
