Jim Jones and Juelz Santana, two of The Diplomats (aka Dipset) were on hand at a launch event for their own limited edition sunglasses to kick off New York Fashion Week. The sunglasses collaboration is with the Vintage Frames Company, a designer eyewear company and archive, and the event was held at the premium retailer ESSX in New York City’s Lower East Side on Wednesday (Sept. 10).
The collaboration was conceived to honor 25 years of the Harlem, New York-based crew who left a significant impact on rap music and global culture on a whole with their releases. “From the beginning we knew our style was bigger than Harlem. It was about putting our story on the global stage,” said The Diplomats in a press release. “Now that story lives in eyewear, a piece that represents everything we stand for, and ESSX is the perfect place to bring it to life.”
The limited-edition sunglasses are crafted in a highly-recognizable design style that bears the signature golden eagle logo of The Diplomats on the temples. They’re available in glossy black, and they also are currently available for $250 through Vintage Frames’ website as well as their locations in Miami, Florida and Montreal, Canada, in addition to ESSX.
Vintage Frames Company founder and CEO Corey Shapiro, who was on hand at the launch event, spoke about the impact of The Diplomats in the press release. “The Diplomats were never just about music. They were about being authentically themselves first and asking for forgiveness later,” Shapiro said. “ESSX shares that ethos, spotlighting innovators before the world labels them as trendy. This collaboration belongs in a space that understands the power of cultural legacy.”
The launch event was a star-studded one, with Jim Jones and Juelz Santana performing for a crowd, which included Ferg, Fabolous, Maino, FoodGod, Laura Stylez, and photographer Jonathan Mannion. DJ Statik Selektah manned the turntables for the event, and Martell Cognac supplied cocktails inspired by Dipset’s discography.
