The Aviator is ninety years old this year — and Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have made sure it doesn’t go unnoticed. The Dolce&Gabbana x Ray-Ban collection launched on April 16, 2026, bringing together two of Italy’s most recognisable names in a collaboration built on shared DNA: a love of bold design, unapologetic self-expression, and deep roots in Italian craft.

The collection centres on two reimagined Aviator silhouettes. The Shooter is the louder of the two — a slim metal frame with a mother-of-pearl brow bar, a built-in cigarette holder lifted from the archives, and teardrop lenses available in orange, pink, green, blue, and yellow, with mirrored and transparent finishes. The classic pilot shape creates a deliberate separation between lens and frame, landing somewhere between rimless refinement and full vintage drama.

The Outdoorsman II takes a different approach. Its prominent brow bar gives the frame a graphic presence, while the lightweight metal construction uses negative space to keep things from tipping into excess. Lens colours run to blue, powder pink, beige, brown, and green — all in mirrored or transparent options — and both frames carry the co-branded logos of Ray-Ban and Dolce&Gabbana.

Packaging, as you’d expect from D&G, is an event in itself. Every pair arrives in an exclusive leather case fitted with a leather strap and a gold-tone metal carabiner, designed to be clipped directly onto a bag or belt rather than buried in a drawer. The campaign was shot by photographer Gray Sorrenti, whose images lean into the heat-soaked, maximalist energy that both brands do so well.