Colton, the alter ego of comedian Roderick Macintyre aka The Gstaad Guy, is technically a parody of Europe’s jet-set ski aristocracy. But ask anyone who has actually summered in Gstaad or wintered in St. Moritz and they’ll tell you: Colton is closer to documentary than fiction. His YouTube debut in 2020 was a case study in the humor of recognition, people laughed not because it was absurd, but because they’d seen those characters word for word on an actual terrace at the Palace Hotel. The act has since evolved into a sort of social anthropology: Colton showing the world that the people who live in 12-bedroom chalets often take themselves less seriously than outsiders imagine.
Chimi’s Scandinavian Straight Face
Chimi, the eyewear label founded in Stockholm in 2016 by Charlie Lindström and Daniel Djurdjevic, has always leaned into uniformity: sunglasses as daily tools, stripped of ornament but sharpened in execution. Their collaboration with Gstaad Guy in 2021 wasn’t about slapping a logo on a novelty product. It was about designing the exact frame Colton would buy in bulk squared matte acetate, dark lenses for plausible deniability, the kind of silhouette that could disappear into a Range Rover interior or a members-only lounge. The irony, of course, is that while Colton would never queue for anything, the frames sold out instantly.
Comedy merchandise usually dies with the punchline. This one didn’t. On resale platforms, Chimi x Gstaad Guy sunglasses have surfaced at double their launch price, a strange fate for a product that began as a joke. But that is the mark of good satire: it leaves behind artifacts that are sharper than the world they parody. The frames work because they belong to both realities. To the audience, they are a wink, proof you were in on the joke. To the wearer, they are simply good sunglasses, with Scandinavian precision hidden behind Alpine irony.
"The humor works because it’s not outside looking in, it’s inside looking out. A lot of the jokes are affectionate, even if they’re exaggerated, and that’s why people who know the world find it funny rather than offensive."
