The Oakley Ellipse doesn't borrow a logo, it is one. The frame takes its shape from the brand's ellipse mark, the oval that has sat on Oakley lenses and earsocks for decades, and turns it into a round, curved silhouette with a clear late-'90s feel. That makes it an ideal canvas for Kiko Kostadinov.
The Kiko Kostadinov x Oakley Ellipse first appeared on the Kiko Kostadinov Autumn Winter 2026 runway in Paris this March. On October 1, seven months later, it reached a small number of stores, NOIRFONCE among them.
Birdwatching, Magnified
The project comes from Kiko Kostadinov Women, led by twin sisters Laura and Deanna Fanning. Their AW26 collection was about observation: birdwatching, the outdoors and the patience of waiting for something to move, so they studied those textures at very close range.
The finishes are magnified textures from nature: wood grain blown up until it reads almost like a topographic map, and feather patterns layered over the frame like plumage. The reference point is Cindy Sherman's 1992 photographic series Fitcher's Bird, a dark retelling of a Grimm fairy tale in which a bride disguises herself in feathers to escape.
"Working with Oakley was a snapshot into their ingenuity," the Fannings said. "Magnifying wood grains and feather patterns reference our AW26 collection."
Two versions made it off the runway:
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Amherst Fade with Prizm Bronze lenses (OO9490-9332)
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Woodgrain (Brown Smoke Wood) with Prizm Bronze lenses
Underneath the pattern, it's pure Oakley: a lightweight O Matter frame, Unobtainium earsocks that grip more as you sweat, interchangeable Unobtainium nose pads for a custom fit and PhysioMorphic Geometry shaping the lens. The Prizm Bronze lens is warm and built to sharpen contrast outdoors, which is exactly what you'd want if you were actually looking for birds.
A Lab, Not a Logo Swap
The Ellipse was the start of a partnership that has kept moving all year. In March, the women's AW26 show in Paris presented experimental Ellipse variations alongside a 3D-printed prototype. In June, the menswear show went further, with a radical prototype from Oakley's Moonbase1 in five lens colourways and seven Terraforma iterations in exclusive colours. Oakley's Global Product Director Alex Ellinport called it "a natural collision between Oakley's legacy of innovation and Kiko's uncompromising design vision."
The pairing makes sense, because Kostadinov has always worked like an engineer who happens to make clothes: technical fabrics, odd proportions, workwear rebuilt from the inside. Oakley has spent fifty years doing the same thing with plastic and glass, and the Ellipse sits somewhere between futuristic, contemporary and retro.
What the Fannings added is softness. Where Oakley usually stands for speed, sweat and sport, their Ellipse is about stillness, the kind of frame you'd wear to sit in a hide for three hours and wait.
How to Wear It
The Amherst Fade frame does most of the talking, so the rest of the outfit can stay simple. Here are a few ways we'd wear it:
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Muted layers. Wear it with olive, brown and washed black, over technical outerwear or a worn-in field jacket, and the bronze lens will pick up every earth tone.
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Against tailoring. Pair it with a soft-shouldered blazer and wide trousers, where the '90s curve breaks up anything that feels too polished.
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With trail runners. The Ellipse belongs to the same world as a technical sneaker, so keep the palette quiet and let the shoe stay sharp.
Whatever you pair it with, keep other accessories quiet, since the frame is already both a statement and a reference.
Look Closer
Oakley built the Ellipse from its own logo, and Kiko Kostadinov covered it in feathers and grain until the brand mark read more like a field note. It's a pair of sunglasses that asks you to look closely, not just to see clearly.
The Oakley x Kiko Kostadinov Ellipse in Amherst Fade (OO9490-9332, €313.99) is available exclusively in store at NOIRFONCE Madrid, Calle Fortuny 51. Explore the rest of our Oakley collection, or read about another collaboration that rewards a second look: Mowalola x Air Jordan 14.
