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Silmo Paris: notes on what’s to come

October 2nd 2019

Silmo is a key event in the optical fair calendar where we discover innovations, new directions and trends in eyewear for the season ahead. This year, the breadth of creative proposals was significant, and attendance by independent labels showed a strong movement toward individual design, high level production and experimental work and expertise in colour, materials and eco-oriented design.

At Silmo, Tavat Eyewear showed their new avant-garde SpamCan Collection, the next step on from SoupCan, inspired by the quadratical shape of the iconic spam can or tin. Made from an impressive material composed of bronze, zinc and nickel, this new departure is highly technical and elaborate, with 27 components and a hinge based on the high-precision Swiss watch crown mechanism. The sunglasses are fitted with melanin sunglass lenses. Find out more at www.tavat-eyewear.com

You Mawo’s showpieces at Silmo included the Metamorphosis 3D printed Limited series and a visor design (above) with futuristic 3D side pieces. The main line has also expanded with some strong fashion shapes (cateye model Lyra) and a beautiful round design called Selene. www.youmawo.com

Monoqool launched the SUSTAIN sunglasses, a first 3d printed design made from castor beans farmed sustainably in India through the Pragati Initiative (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHe1N43IN8o ). The company has entered the Sustain programme supported by the AM-Hub organisation in Denmark with the goal of helping a selected number of small/medium size Danish companies to develop sustainable manufacturing via 3D print technology. www.monoqool.com

Kirk & Kirk have done much to promote the benefits of colourful eyewear proposals from the UK, and continue to put out glorious colorations, in both their Centena and Kaleidscope collections, with emphasis on new tones of blue, pink and mauve. www.kirkandkirk.com

MIDO 6-8 February 2027. Welcome to Eyewearland

ROLF Spectacles: Titanium Skyline – advanced tech + crafting

The Skyline collection at ROLF Spectacles is exceptional in its avantgarde designs in 3D printed titanium. The new styles have stunning combinations of smooth and textured ‘volcanic-like’ surfaces as well as offering a lightweight, easy-to-wear eyewear solution – putting this line in a category of its own. Image above: Photographer: Clemens Ascher http://www.clemensascher.com and clothes by Mühlmann https://www.muehlmann.eu For more information about ROLF, visit www.rolfspectacles.com

New brands were plentiful at Silmo, the best ones focusing on advanced technology and technical know-how. VAERK Copenhagen puts the emphasis on beautiful engineering, tech and Danish design traditions. In collaboration with the renowned Danish industrial design duo Harrit-Sørensen, this brand has developed an innovative hinge concept that not only constitutes high level precision but also an aesthetically appealing link between the frame front and temple. www.vaerkcopenhagen.com

Covrt Project: high-tech urban design / made in Italy

In a completely different departure for street style aficionados, London-based designer and creative director Marcello Martino launched Covrt Project in the “start-up” area of the Silmo fair. This bold Italian made collection includes 7 sunglass styles with advanced tech features focused on enhanced comfort, durability and individual design. The collection is accompanied by unique accessories: find out more at https://covrtproject.com.

SILMO Paris will take place from 2nd to 5th October 2020 at Paris Nord Villepinte. For more information visit www.silmoparis.com Eyestylist will report on more trends and new updates following SILMO Paris in the weeks ahead. This feature was written by Clodagh Norton. Please seek permission for reprints. All rights reserved.

Design + Inspiration

Independent eyewear collab – Rigards for UJOH: Paris launch

September 27th 2019

Ti Kwa’s avant-garde eyewear label Rigards always has something special to show at Paris Fashion Week and SILMO at this time of year – and for 2019 it’s a very special cat eye inspired by nature.

Collaborating with UJOH, Mitsuru Nishizaki’s award-winning womenswear line, model RG0123UJOH+ builds upon the traditional winged silhouette, with its upswept double rims, one made of ultralight aluminum-magnesium and the other of surgical-steel. The semi-stacked construction and negative-space cut away creates an illusion that the inner rims are floating over the face.

The frame’s aesthetic pays special homage to dragonflies and damselflies, insects which the designer has studied with a keen eye. Despite their simple origin from “incomplete” metamorphoses and fragile wings of gossamer, they have come to symbolize beauty, ferocity, and purity of habitat, in almost every part of the world.

A second model – RG0123UJOH – was created alongside this masterpiece. This style is described as “a little more subtle” without the statement-making cut-out (and thus the colour contrast), yet still offering a resolutely distinctive and individual alternative for the less-audacious wearer.

Both styles are released in six colours, one of the highlights of which is Red—nicknamed ‘Akatombo’ (Red Dragonfly), a nod to the iconic creatures of Japanese nostalgia and song. Find out more by visiting Rigards at SILMO or Paris Fashion Week, or go to www.rigards.com – for previous features on Rigards via Eyestylist visit https://www.eyestylist.com/2019/08/the-viridi-anne-x-rigards-glasses-with-clip/ CN

Arts + travel

Independent eyewear: at Milan Fashion Week

September 24th 2019

Synonymous with quality and chic, trendsetting style, Milan’s fashion week continues to be a mecca for luxury street style, good taste and individual dressing. Here is a sneak peek outside the SS20 catwalks by Italian photographer Gennaro D’Elia. Above: Leila Depina wears vintage Cazal – model 913, first launched in 2001.

Jessica Wang (www.notjessfashion.com) looked stunning in oval metal sunnies.

Fashion buyer @SISSIZHANG wore the latest style in the Gentle Monster X FENDI collab.

Logos are worn with pride in Milan. Digital content creator and speaker Armela Jakova wore Gucci. For more photos from Milan Fashion Week visit our Instagram page @eyestylistmagazine. Photography by Gennaro D’Elia exclusively for Eyestylist.com.

Reviews

Titanium eyewear: Blackfin One and Bayou

September 12th 2019

New main line titanium styles by Blackfin are hot off the press for the Autumn season, with a careful focus on innovative technical details and uncompromising quality construction – features that have long been at the heart of this tech-loving, innovation-driven family firm. The five shapes releasing include a panto-inspired frame called Bayou, a classically round Blackfin design with ultra-flex titanium bridge and temples in beta titanium – a material selected for its extra strength and flexibility when combined with titanium.

The colour palette for Bayou ranges from the more masculine – dark blue paired with a bright red (below), black or midnight blue – to the more feminine shades of blush pink or midnight blue combined with the brightest tone of magenta.

Blackfin Bayou: a brighter lining creates a fresh colour mix

All the new styles in the range are fitted with tilting nose pads and Blackfin’s Swordfish temple tips. Find them at Silmo Paris this month and visit the website for all the latest releases as they appear at www.blackfin.eu. CN

For more on Blackfin visit: https://www.eyestylist.com/2019/07/blackfin-bocelli-musical-philanthropy/

Design + Inspiration

Recycled eyewear: Regrind by EOE Eyewear

September 11th 2019

The founders of the Northern Swedish company EOE have created the first edition of eyewear made from recycled broken and discarded plastic eyewear. The collection and campaign launch this month in Paris.

Commitment to research. Investment in new technology for recycling. And admirable perseverance to set up a workable system for recycling frames in Sweden in a collaboration with the Nordic company Synsam and Vision for All. The founders of EOE Erik and Emilia Lindmark have worked for over three years on the recycling project to create a frame material with performance properties comparable to new acetate and an aesthetic finish and choice of colorations suitable for the creation of high-quality trend-focused products.

Launching the concept with the Regrind edition of three sunglasses, attention has been placed on creating a chic look in the coloration using predominantly black frames for the “regrinding” process. Tiny smatterings of minute coloured frame pieces are just visible, and create a textured effect on the surface, the look of which is wholly dependent on the types of frames recycled, the predominant colours of the frame pieces and the quality of the acetate of the old frames. Above: EOE’s new video illustrates the concept developed by EOE for turning old unwanted eyewear into a recycled material for new chic eyewear.

EOE Regrind – Photography by Farago & Farago

Regrind debuts as a fashion collection in a stunning campaign by fashion photographers Peter Farago and Ingela Klemetz Farago (www.faragofarago.com) which highlights the idiosyncrasies of the material in a beautiful wild and natural Swedish landscape.

EOE recycled acetate material is produced by EOE together with engineers, chemists and physicists. The frames are shattered into small pieces and the metal parts are then filtered out. The plastic pieces then undergo a regrinding process to create new blocks of raw material. 98% of the old eyewear is recyclable. EOE uses recycled steel from Sweden to produce the metal parts of the frames. In August the company was recognised by Encouragement for Action – Stockholm Fashion District in the “closing the loop” category, part of an award scheme to raise awareness and bring attention to important ideas in sustainability, digitization and fashion tech.

Find out more at www.eoe-regrind.com or visit EOE at Silmo 2019 (the Paris trade fair) on stand 5A 119. / www.eoe-eyewear.com – Written By Clodagh Norton