They're not just a pair of glasses...

DETROIT – A few weeks ago, after Michigan beat Ohio State (for the third straight year), it was celebration time on the field at the Big House.

On the field, in their maize-and-blue uniforms, this year’s team gathered around Charles Woodson, the NFL Hall of Famer who won the Heisman Trophy as a 1997 Michigan defensive back. 

Woodson, in a moment of high Detroit style, slid on a pair of Cartier Buffs sunglasses. IYKYK. The Michigan football team went crazy.  

Hip-Hop and fashion go hand in hand. Fashion, though, varies by region. New York: you may think of Coogi or Timberland. Atlanta: the staple fashion piece would be Air Force 1’s, easily. 

If the conversation is about Detroit, it’s specifically Cartier Buffs. The term “Buffs” refers to the material used which is Buffalo Horn used to make the expensive glasses. A pair of these glasses range anywhere from $2,600 to $20,000 depending on the design and if you have diamonds on them.

In Detroit, it’s flashy and the way to say so is through jewelry. There’s no secret about that, either. The Detroit Pistons even implemented an “Ice Cam” throughout their games for the people of Detroit to show off their best pieces. 

Cartier Buffs can be worn at baby showers, clubs, proms, weddings, and more. Some people even get their eye prescription put into a pair. They can also be referred to as Carties, Cardis, 'Ye's, or Sticks.

Everyone else may love Cartier for its watches, LOVE collection and fine diamonds. But Detroit loves everything about their framework. They represent the image of extravagance and status inside the city of Detroit and the wider metro local area – out to and beyond Ann Arbor.

Taking control over his master’s workshop, Louis-François Cartier established Cartier in 1847, in the midst of the rebellious seasons of the continuous French Revolution. Cartier's business developed for more than 10 years, with the launch of the original Cartier boutique in 1859. 

Louis-François' son Alfred then assumed control over the business, moving it to the lofty rue de la Paix in the fine jewelry area of Paris. Alfred's own children extended the Cartier brand abroad, to London and New York.

Soon enough, Cartier found its way to Detroit.

Detroit? Keep in mind for those who would wonder – why Detroit? – that Detroit was at one time the mega-centers of American business and culture. The three main U.S. automobile manufacturers are based in and around Detroit. For years and years, there were only two U.S. cities that had standing committees that bid, religiously, for the Summer Games – Los Angeles and … Detroit.

In the mid-1960s, Motown music was – it. In 1968, the Tigers won the World Series. 

There was, indeed, a time when Detroit roared. 

As per the Metro Times, Cartier previously made its sprinkle in Detroit 1969 by means of Dr. Herman Bennett, who opened one of the primary Cartier stores “Au Courant” at Somerset Mall in Troy, Michigan, about 22 miles north of downtown Detroit.

At the same time in the 1960s that so much was going right with Detroit, it also has to be said that so much, too, was – not. 

The Detroit Uprising of 1967 proved fierce and disruptive, not matched in scale until the 1992 riots in Los Angeles.

The trigger in 1967, as in 1992 in LA: allegations of police brutality and provocation against Blacks. The underpin: dissatisfaction, disdain and outrage percolating if not raging among many Blacks confronting racist unemployment and underemployment systems.

The longtime upshot: white individuals moved out of the city of Detroit. Who moved in? Black people?

Streetlordz, a Detroit native underground group not only would go to define but all but deify the new style on well-known songs like “Love Me” and “Uncle Jesse James.” Blade Icewood advocated the act of putting jewels on wood Cartier frames — thus the name Icewood.

It all felt cool to us Detroit natives. No one wants to feel poor. It sent the message that we’ve made it and are no longer in poverty to the neighborhoods and community we grew up in. Whether you are or not. 

There’s a movie called “Buffed Up” that captures the importance of these glasses to Detroit culture. Ultimately the movie is about ​​three friends that go through outrageous levels to obtain a pair of Detroit's Medal of Honor.

Similarly a note from Cartier to Detroit rapper Payroll Giovanni, included in eyewear gifted to him, reads, “We recognize the influence Detroit has had on our eyewear over the years and how deeply rooted Cartier has become within the city’s culture. It is a relationship we value and will continue to strengthen.”

Even the first pick of the 2021 NBA Draft wanted to find favor and show his love to Detroit by matching a pair of Cartier Buffs with his suit on draft night.

“I already was hip to the culture,” Oklahoma State’s Cade Cunningham, taken No. 1 by the Pistons, said.

“I liked the culture. Hearing Detroit get the first pick in the lottery, along with the hard work I had already put in to get to this position, I was super excited. The 'Buffs,' I had to. Cartier 'Buffs,' that’s what it is. I had to, you already know."  

Cartier ain’t sending no other city the new buffs. What can we say? We’re Cartier crazy.