If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, The Hollywood Reporter may receive an affiliate commission.
Tom Cruise has been known to sport Ray-Bans onscreen and off in both Top Gun films and Risky Business — but for the Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning premiere at Cannes, the superstar switched up his sun gear with a different pair of aviators.
The 62-year-old actor sported American Optical’s Original Pilot sunglasses, a silhouette favored by military pilots and NASA astronauts, per the brand. (AO notes that they were the first-ever aviators designed specifically for the U.S. military in 1935.) Cruise wore the silver frame with True-Color gray lenses — which movie buffs may have also seen on Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver. The heritage brand’s iconic frames typically start at $200 — but you can score Ethan Hunt’s off-duty look for up to 20 percent off during the company’s summer sale right now.
Available in gold, silver, matte silver or black frames, the American Optical Original Pilot aviator sunglasses come in sizes small to large and can be customized with lightweight AOLite Nylon or distortion-free SkyMaster Glass lenses, with or without polarization.
Both impact-resistant lens options feature 100 percent UVA/UVB protection and anti-reflective, scratch- and smudge-resistant coating. Polarized lenses also give wearers enhanced contrast and glare-free vision — and we’re sure Ethan Hunt (or Maverick) would approve.
American Optical was founded in 1833 in Massachusetts by watchmaker and jeweler William Beecher, whose mechanical innovations helped him create the first thin steel eyewear frame in the U.S. According to the Optical Heritage Museum, the company also manufactured aviator goggles, hospital equipment, submarine telescope sights in the early 1900s.
Now based in Chicago, the company’s specs have been immortalized in Normal Rockwell paintings (AO commissioned the iconic American artist to create six works), by aviation pioneer Jimmy Doolittle (who wore AO goggles on his record-breaking transatlantic flight in 1930) and by the Apollo 11 astronauts when the Original Pilot glasses became the first sunnies on the moon. President John F. Kennedy was frequently spotted in AO’s Saratoga acetate sunglasses, while Malcolm X and Lyndon B. Johnson sported the iconic Sirmont browline frames (both styles are also on sale).
Check out the many colorways of American Optical’s Original Pilot glasses below along with other discounted stylish specs, and shop the brand’s summer sale at americanoptical.com.
American Optical Original Pilot in Silver with Calobar Green SkyMaster Lenses, Non-Polarized
American Optical Original Pilot in Black with Blue Mirror AOLite Polarized Lenses
American Optical Original Pilot in Black with True-Color Gray AOLite Non-Polarized Lenses
American Optical Original Pilot in Matte Silver with Calobar Green AOLite Lenses, Polarized
American Optical Original Pilot in Matte Silver with Calobar Green AOLite Lenses, Polarized
American Optical Original Pilot in Gold with Calobar Green SkyMaster Non-Polarized Lenses
American Optical Saratoga Tortoise Sunglasses
American Optical Sirmont Tortoise Gold Sunglasses