New Icons: I’ll Be Your Mirror

When Narcissus fell in love with his reflection in the water of a river, it could also be said that the river simultaneously fell in love with its reflection in Narcissus’ eyes. Novelist Paulo Coelho thought so. Today, our electronic landscape now features a wide variety of such double-mirrored surfaces, perhaps exemplified best by the all-too-magnetic selfie-cam in the corner of our video conferences. This impulse to see both our self and others has penetrated the sartorial consciousness within each of us. We now must simultaneously consider how to view and be viewed. The half-mirrored face offered by the Mykita x Bernhard Willhelm “Daisuke” visor is a plane that allows for such double-access. It grants friends, lovers, and passersby a view of both your face and their own, all warped by a rainbow burst lens. This merger, half you and half onlooker, is not a lack of transparency. It’s a gift. Project anything, but have empathy. These are hard times.

Mykita’s Mylon lens offers reflective generosity. Floating weightlessly in front of your face, the "Daisuke" visor also offers privacy in semi-public spaces. They are perfect for long-haul flights from Los Angeles to Dubai, or Beijing to New York, routes that fly over the North Pole, where the sun sometimes does not set. “Rainbow Eye” flights like these require proper head gear. Semi-hidden from stir-crazy passengers, you revel in such a moment of preparedness. You are living what rhyme-slingers dare to dream: the baller life. But being a baller is about so much more than being jet set, it is about a raging commitment to self-care. A body that is thoroughly lotioned, conditioned, tucked, and blinged takes on an intimidating reflective quality, much like the ominous sight of a police officer’s mirrored Ray Bans. If our eyes are windows to our souls, why not keep them safeguarded from haters and trolls? And while we’re at it, why not respect our cheekbones and protect them from hazardous rays of sunlight? Sometimes just covering your eyes is not enough.