John Mayer Customized These Rare Sunglasses With Tie-Dye Lenses

Welcome to Style Spotting, a recurring column highlighting unique clothing and accessories worn by some of the most stylish men we know. This week: John Mayer’s Jacques Marie Mage Zephirin 47 sunglasses.

During John Mayer’s Dead & Company soundcheck at the Hollywood Bowl on June 4, the guitarist shared a selfie on his Instagram story wearing some of the best glasses available. Mayer’s face was only partially in the shot, but his distinct choice of eyewear was immediately recognizable: The sculpted frame and 18K-gold arrowhead front pin are the calling card of Los Angeles-based eyewear brand Jacques Marie Mage.

The style Mayer rocked is dubbed the Zephirin 47 — named after Pope Zephyrinus — and is made in Japan from a 10mm cured cellulose acetate frame. The frame has a refreshing pre-WWII size, a unique silhouette and gold hardware. (Along with the arrowhead front pins, the precious metal is used for hairline-engraved core wires and custom hinges with spur-shaped rivets). Produced in a limited run of 500 pieces, these glasses are notoriously hard to come by. This exact model is currently available for pre-sale on the brand’s website for $595, available July 15.

But, you won’t actually be able to get a pair just like Mayer’s because his Zephirin 47 shades have custom-tinted lenses. Created exclusively for Mayer at Gogosha Optique in Echo Park, Los Angeles, the lenses feature a custom tie-dye tint with shades of orange, green, purple, yellow and blue.

Gogosha Optique opened in 2008 and was one of the exclusive opticians to carry Max Pittion, a French eyewear brand that Mayer acquired the manufacturing license to a few years ago (he’s almost exclusively worn the brand’s frames publicly since then). Before Dead & Company’s summer tour, Mayer approached Julia Gogosha with the proposition to update his eyewear to reflect his evolving personal style.

“He asked me to create whatever I wanted,” Gogosha said. “The only stipulation was he can wear them anytime. So how do you create something neutral and special at the same time? This is one of the four answers we came up with to this question.” That said, if you’re at a Dead & Company concert this summer, keep an eye out for Mayer’s three other custom pairs of Jacques Marie Mage shades.

Mayer’s vote of confidence is well deserved. Jacques Marie Mage sunglasses pay homage to a diverse array of style icons including Hunter S. Thompson, Bob Dylan, Carlo Mollino and Pier Paolo Pasolini. The brand is the brainchild of designer Jerome Mage — who has also designed for Spy, Anaon, Shift, Burton and the Elder Statesman, among others — and features industry-leading craftsmanship and the highest quality materials available. Jacques Marie Mage frames are striking and sculptural, representing the pinnacle of artisanal eyewear.

While you might not be able to score a pair of Zephirin frames like Mayer wore quite yet, you can check out a wide selection of other styles available at on the brand’s site. And though they’re expensive — ranging from $525 to $1,075 — they’re truly in a class of their own. And if you want to up your style with some custom-tinted lenses, check out Gogosha Optique to explore the possibilities.

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