Sunglass Hut tapped musician, poet and actor Dua Saleh to put their own fashion twist on the brand’s latest range of eyewear. Sunglass Hut worked in partnership with Hypebeast to develop the all-new HYPEBEAST Curated Selection, a custom assortment of sporty, avant-garde sunglasses plucked from the brand’s diverse portfolio — styles include eye-catching silhouettes from coveted labels like Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Oakley, Ray-Ban, Armani and others. In a new collaborative campaign, the Sudanese American artist provides an intimate behind-the-scenes look into how they embrace fashion as an extension of their art.
Saleh made their acting debut in season three of Netflix’s Sex Education, where they play Cal Bowman, the show’s first nonbinary character. They are slated to reprise their role in the series’ upcoming fourth season. During the lockdown, the multi-hyphenate released CROSSOVER, a seven-track, Afrobeats-infused EP that packaged introspective anecdotes about gender and identity into glossy club bangers for the modern set. It showcased a microcosm of inspiration from the artist while encapsulating how vulnerable the world felt at the time. Saleh’s ever-evolving style hits on the same notes: embracing nonconforming avenues of expression and dismantling traditional beauty standards to nurture and encourage a fluid, queer identity.
Whether through their love of language and the evocative power of poetry and music, or navigating the intricacies of performing as an actor and leveraging the power of representation in media, Saleh unpacks how these creative mediums provide a space to dismantle stereotypes and misnomers about queer identity while challenging these constructs and setting their own precedent of self-expression. Each environment, including urban landscapes from the streets to the studio, informs the next and builds upon a larger tapestry of inspiration that Saleh embodies.
In this same sense, the artist’s approach to fashion involves effortlessly layering understated pieces, often experimenting with redefined Y2K aesthetics like gender-neutral workwear and outerwear featuring voluminous tailoring and sporty streetwear elements. For instance, Saleh marries an angular, black button-up with kimono-style sleeves, burgundy cargo shorts and retro-inspired Micheal Kors “Empire Oval Sunglasses” in optic white. The shades are a playful throwback to popular silhouettes from 1950s pinup fashion.
Another highlight pulled from the Hypebeast Curated Selection showcases rectangular shades by Versace, featuring neon purple frames, yellow-tinted lenses and the brand’s signature Greca motif decorating the temples. The punchy, two-tone colorway complements Saleh’s patchwork windbreaker, paired back to oversized denim for an airy, casual feel. “As someone who’s really fluid, I feel really empowered. It feels really good to express myself in different ways — sometimes in a very loud way, other times in a subtle, soft way. I’m also just an eclectic person, allowing myself to be grounded in indigenous expressions of self,” notes Saleh.
Growing up in Sudan, they fell in love with poetry and spoken word, a discipline bridging cross-cultural influences across the African Diaspora and Arab-speaking territories. Saleh’s style draws from this prismatic range of identity and their art aims to foster the same freedom of expression into the world. Putting their own twist on ‘90s-style minimalism, Saleh wears a warm-toned, oversized plaid button-up with distressed details at the collar and wide-frame Armani shades in yellow tortoise. The aviator and goggle-style designs of Oakley reinterpret this high-fashion obsession with sportswear in an elevated way while sleek, ultramodern rectangular styles by Dolce & Gabbana and Ray-Ban tap into Gen Z’s new wave grunge and the reemergence of goth and emo fashion.
Hear more about Saleh’s approach to fashion in the video above. Shop the styles featured in the lookbook on Sunglass Hut’s website and in stores using the brand’s digital Smart Shopper Tool.
