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Tony Gross, co-founder of British eyewear brand Cutler & Gross has died, aged 78. Gross was an advocate of fashionable, trendsetting eyewear design that attracted fashion circles and celebrities including Elton John, Princess Diana and Grace Jones.

The Cutler & Gross label was started in London in 1969 by partners Tony and Graham, who met at optometry school in London in the ’60s. The entrepreneurial duo opened their first store in Knightsbridge in 1971, stocking handmade bespoke frames, designed, unlike most at the time, as a fashion accessory.

“Tony truly believed in the transcendence of spectacles from unattractive, government-funded pieces of eye science to a genuine fashion accessory infused with sex appeal and glamour.” Extract from Forty Years of Vision and Style, 2009.

“I still have vivid memories of meeting Tony at Optometry College in London,” says Graham Cutler. “We were looking for something to occupy ourselves at lunchtimes, and Tony suggested poker. So he taught me how to play and groups of us would play each day for money. He had been a professional player before going to College, so was very successful! We also discovered that we had met a lot of the same people in our earlier rambles around Soho.

“After college our friendship continued, and we ended up working for the same group of Optometrists in London, and often working together. We started talking about opening our own practice, where we would each be able to work just six months of the year. Obviously that plan didn’t work out!”

Marie Wilkinson, Design Director for over 30 years at Cutler & Gross said: “He was, without question, a pioneer, turning eyewear into the genuine fashion accessory infused with sex appeal and glamour that we know today. The first three decades of the brand’s existence had much to do with Tony’s formidable social appetite and his ability to mix just as easily with Royalty and music stars, as with his wonderful friends that filled the Cutler & Gross stores. Tony’s enthusiasm and taste were undeniably infectious, and coupled with his skill as an Optometrist, drew huge cross-sections of people to the brand. His spirit continues to give Cutler & Gross its unique and much loved personality to this day. He will be sorely missed.” Portrait (top) by Dennis Rolfe / www.cutlerandgross.com  CN

London’s fair at ExCel, 100% Optical, presented an array of new looks in eyewear, from designers and companies across the international frame and sunglasses business. The UK demand for individual glasses is growing, and astute independent opticians have realised the gains in searching for the less easy to find labels, offering creative shapes, innovative, technical frames and beautiful eyewear materials and  colours. Above: TAVAT Tactile: from Italy, an evolution in its timeless collection of fine acetate and metal/acetate combination designs. www.tavateyewear.com

Highlighted at the fair, Silhouette’s extensive launches for 2018 include a collaboration with Perret Schaad, representing a new re-craft of Silhouette’s iconic Titan Minimal Art frame for Spring/Summer 2018.

Johanna Perret and Tutia Schaad, the pair behind the label, are best known for sleek, minimalist designs. For Silhouette, the resulting frame takes the form of a unique modified hexagon shape  – with cutout on the outer side of each lens -which embodies influences of architecture and geometric styling. Despite the dramatic angles, the design personifies the designers’ passion for minimalism and weightlessness. www.silhouette.com

The colour palette for 2018 encourages bold, exciting statements and 100% helped to highlight the very latest hues. Along with an array of new neutrals, we were impressed by the prevalence of the colour purple, which, with many other pastel tones from pale pink to baby blue and pistachio, is making a huge impression for the coming season. Fresh colour combinations were particularly lively at the independent labels we visited and tone-on-tone effects where lenses match the frame, were fresh and sophisticated. Above: Andy Wolf’s sunglass model Austin, in lilac. The lens tone blends with the frame hue: www.andy-wolf.com

Protective, stylish cases are an important element in eyewear and the array of styles has become more creative and luxurious. Butti Eyewear Cases, a new British label, produces a refined slip case design with a hard protective layer and a silk lining, perfectly suited to modern tastes. A small leather tab releases the glasses! Made in the UK, the brightly coloured cases are produced in Italian leather with a smart lustrous finish. Butti made their first appearance at the 100% fair: find details at www.butti.co.uk 

This year, 100%’s excellent “Celebration of Vision” competition for RCA students offered a fascinating insight into the creative talent of the future in the UK. Two winners were announced this weekend: well done to Julia Hauss, (Womenswear – Fashion, Year 1), who designed frames based on children’s birthdays and the joy they bring, and Ely Cao, (Womenswear – Accessories, Year 1), who proposed “a gift from the crazy optician” – a box containing 94 imaginative multi-coloured modular eyewear pieces, “full of possibilities”. 

Next year, 100% Optical will take place on 12th to 14th January 2019. For further details visit www.100percentoptical.com CN