Trinidadian Olympian Ato Boldon weighs in on the Oakley shades that have captured the eyes of vintage dealers and Kerwin Frost.
Why Is the Fashion World Still Obsessed With This Olympian’s Sunglasses?
Last week, Johnny Valencia of Pechuga Vintage posted a photo of Trinidadian Olympian Alto Boldon from the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Boldon, who ended up winning the silver medal for the Men’s 100 meter race, was wearing a standard running leotard with a pair of silver, reflective sunglasses that went not over his ears, but over his head. Fittingly called “OVERTHETOP,” the Oakley pair morphed Boldon into a speedy dystopian character out of Mad Max.
Curious and inspired by this image, which Valencia had initially seen on the Instagram page @velvetcoke, he searched for them online. With a bit of digging, Valencia found the OVERTHETOP shades on eBay. The seller confirmed that they were indeed the original edition from 2000, as Oakley had re-released a $2000 version in gold and bronze back in 2020, gearing up for the Tokyo Olympics. (The original OVERTHETOP Oakley’s come with a similar price tag) “I couldn’t get over wtf was going on with Boldon’s helmet-shades-googles(?) So I spiraled. Until I found them. Now confirmed for arrival, Oakley “OTT” in chrome,” wrote Valencia in his Instagram caption.
This story originally appeared on: Vogue - Author:Liana Satenstein
