Lunettes Noires

Author: Michel Dalloni

Publishing House: La Tengo

Publication Date: May 2021

Imagined a long time ago to protect oneself from the sun, black glasses have imposed themselves in the XXth century as the essential accessory of the stars’ wardrobe. Some models stick forever to the skin of the stars who wear them. What would Audrey Hepburn, Ray Charles, Karl Lagerfeld or Madonna be without their tinted glasses? Who would recognize Michel Polnareff without his legendary Telesol (first worn by Sophia Loren)? “With my sunglasses, I am Jack Nicholson.

Without them, I am fat and I am 60 years old”, confided the unforgettable interpreter of The Shining. Such a power of exhaustion could not leave insensitive. The whole planet finally succumbed. “Sunglasses are like beards: it’s the revenge of the ugly! It goes to everyone”, deciphers the journalist Marc Beaugé. We wear them as well to hide our feelings (such as the Chinese judges of the 12th century) as to seduce (isn’t it Lolita?) or to frighten (like the dictators Pinochet or Gaddafi).

Every second, 30 pairs of dark glasses are sold in the world. And Elton John would have bought 20 000 of them alone… But what is behind this lucrative industry (more than 20 billion dollars in annual sales) and its mythical brands (Ray-Ban, Persol, Oakley…)? Why and how do we wear dark glasses? Who really invented them? What progress will they still make? Michel Dalloni answers these questions and many others in this unique book, which revisits entire areas of the history of cinema, rock, literature, fashion, sports, nightlife and eroticism.