Wrap Shades Newest Eyewear Trend

Did you see photos and television news coverage of basketballer Kobe Bryant’s announcement that he was going straight from high school to the NBA?

Notice his shades?

They’re wrap sunglasses the frame wraps around the temples.

Notice how he wore them.

Not perched on top of his head as some folks do when they are out of the sun, but sitting in the middle of his forehead, a few inches above his eyebrows, which looks good with the nearly bald or bald look.

Funny thing about these glasses, the hottest thing around: Practically nobody wears them to cover their eyes. Unlike shades of the past, which were down all day and night, these never go down or, when they do, go back up at a moment’s notice.

The forehead look is one of those signals of coolness, like tying a sweater around your waist or rolling up denim shorts.

The hip way of wearing the hip shades can be traced to young hip-hoppers, the very same set that started wearing oversize jeans slung low on the hip so the waistband of underwear show, unlaced work boots and baseball caps with the price tag hanging.

The sunglasses are so popular with hip-hoppers that on the street they are called “rap” glasses in honor of Treach and other rappers who display the glasses - on their foreheads, of course - in music videos.

Ray Ban, the icon of sunglass worshipers, makes several styles of wrap glasses with metal, chrome or plastic frames. The company even gave its products way cool names like Predator, SS Skyline and Verge. They cost $100 to $160.