!! OMG why not wear it? SWiLLS’ rattail sunglasses !!

In terms of tonsorial trends, the rattail is one of the most disparaged. Emerging in the 1980s as the preferred ‘do of the shit-disturbingest kid in your grade six class, it almost enjoyed a trendy rehabilitation towards the end of that decade courtesy of New Kids on the Block’s Jordan Knight.

I, for one, dreamt endlessly of twining that slender braid through my tweenage fingers—even though it really made every fibre of my being cringe.

For that reason, the rattail never really gained the traction needed to endure as a pleasing coif; and eventually, it became the trademark style of someone who looks like they eat cigarettes for breakfast.

Yet much like the other questionable aesthetic choices we’ve seen re-popularized in recent years, this skeevy hairstyle is experiencing a nostalgia-heavy reverence via Ohio-based creative Savanna Wills of the brand SWiLLS.

Can you guess which celeb is fully on board with this item? Find out after the jump.

And dare I say, it’s been given a real glow up! Wills has combined the garishness of sporty sunglasses (yup, here we have two maligned trends in one here!) with the uncanny capriciousness of the rattail to the effect of pure accessory audacity. Do you give a fuck that you kind of look like Dog The Bounty Hunter while wearing these? NO.It will likely come as a shock to *no one* that Julia Fox was an early adopter of Wills’s tongue-in-cheek shades. She’s notorious for embracing fashion’s outermost fringe, and these saucy sunnies—much like JW Anderson’s pigeon purse—nod to something notoriously gross in such a good way.

The key, of course, is context. Here I’m reminded of one of my favourite quotes by the polymath Brian Eno, that goes like this:

“Kitsch is a way that posh people admit to themselves that they like things that ordinary people like.”

With these sunglasses, Wills has taken a tawdry totem and metaphorically upcycled it.

Pittsburgh-based visual artist Greta Bell recently collaborated with Wills on a dreamy video that heavily features the faux hair SWiLLS sunglasses, casting them in an alluring, Rick Owens-y apocalyptic light.

From this vantage point, the rattail somehow becomes regal – the platinum pair in particular looks positively chic. It’s trash into treasure and frankly, perfectly suited to the times.

OMG, why not wear it? is our column for fashion lovers who are up for anything. It is an inspiration point, a place for dreaming, and a discussion of beauty, weirdness, and thought-provoking design moments as forms of connection. Written by Odessa Paloma Parker (@odessapaloma)