Established in 2016 by Jamaican-American designer Edvin Thompson, Theophilio is a contemporary ready-to-wear label celebrating culture, community, and diversity. The Brooklyn-based label produces a range of bold staples that nod to Jamaica’s dancehall culture and New York’s restless urban energy.

Edvin’s young life in Kingston has always been an influence on his work and he brought a catalog of inspirations, both broad and specific, into this collaboration with Warby Parker.

Memory is a powerful raw material. Together, Theophilio and Warby Parker, has translated it into eyewear with a limited edition pair curated by Black Fashion Fair.

Theophilio has been a frequent collaborator of Black Fashion Fair since its launch in 2020. Black Fashion Fair founder Antoine Gregory also serves as Brand Director to the CFDA-award winning label.

In 2022, Edvin’s designs appeared on the cover of Black Fashion Fair’s inaugural publication shot by Quil Lemons and worn by Joan Smalls. The publication, which was supported by Warby Parker, launched to global and critical acclaim.

An unidentified pair of sunglasses, worn by Edvin’s dad in an early-’00s photograph as he boarded a flight from Jamaica to America, served as the foundation for Shaunie’s oversized and rectangular silhouette.

Simultaneously sentimental and forward-looking, Shaunie splices traces of ’70s and ’90s Jamaica with a current of early-aughts New York—and novel design elements, too.

The construction at play is technically complex. It marks an entirely new construction for Warby Parker, and one that Edvin and Antoine were intimately involved in.