Encouraging youngsters to value the importance of eye care and the benefits of quality frames can set the stage – and cultivates – a lifelong appreciation of fine eyewear. Artisan eyewear designers encourage this educational process by creating frames that children – and their parents – will approve. Most importantly – that kids will love to wear! With Back-to-School underway, there are impressive and “eye-inspiring” frames to kick-start the academic year.
A dynamic new launch is the beautiful collection by Sven Götti – Generation Next – featuring superbly-crafted 3D creations. Said the Swiss designer: “Creating a collection for children has been on my wish list for a long time. But I know that just doing a smaller version of existing frames is not enough. Selling eyewear to children has a lot to do with respect and responsibility, and it is so important that this will be a good experience. Plus comfortable fit and a cool look, so children have confidence wearing glasses.” Generation Next ticks all the right boxes with designs that combine fashion, fit, quality, and durability. Featured above: DUMU – a sleek little round shape mirroring a silhouette which both kids and parents love to wear. www.gotti.ch
The enduring beauty of tortoiseshell is stylishly interpreted by Lafont Paris in Cowboy – a contemporary form in acetate with trendy nuances. Designed for youngsters 7-12 years old, Cowboy is ideal for pre-teens and small faces. Lafont also has super selections for babies to three-year-olds, and children 4-7 years old. www.lafont.com
In Marseille, headquarters of JF Rey, children gather to participate in creative workshops (above) organised by designers, when they are creating frame designs for kids. The children are able to chose from diverse colours in acetate that brighten little faces, create their own motifs, and select shapes they like the best. www.jfrey.fr
Stylish, flexible, lightweight, adaptable, comfortable fit and fashion cred – LINDBERG titanium wire is the magical material for children’s frames by the Danish brand. LINDBERG Kid air titanium rim Lucas (above) is also hypoallergenic, perfect for young, sensitive skins. www.lindberg.com
Zoobug has a superb collection of lively, colourful designs that captivates children’s interest. These opticals were created by eye surgeon Dr Julie Le, who fully understands the importance of quality frames for children. ZB1027 features a timeless shape in acetate, for 7-12 year olds, with print sides for additional style pizzazz. Shown above in Raspberry, the frame is also available in dynamic blue or subtle candy floss pink. www.zoobug.com
Parisian Caroline Abram designs fun frames – Tetes à Lunettes – in a marvellous array of colours and shapes for youngsters 3-12 years old. Solid and two-tone colourations provide intriguing choices for young spectacle wearers. Explore more at www.carolineabram.com
Sabine B launched a charming collection of eyewear for kids with her innovative designs for mini be – frames with playful shapes including mini be cat’s (above) plus a gipsy theme frame, and round and rectangular shapes in neon tones. www.sabinebe.fr
Children frequently like to emulate what their parents are wearing, and clear crystal acetate designs are a perfect example by Very French Gangsters. www.veryfrenchgangsters.com JG
Be bold: wear a classic
Oliver Goldsmith Vintage Archive Collection
“If you wear spectacles then do it with panache and bravura” Oliver Goldsmith (Jewish Life, August 1966, from Top of the Optic Pops)
Bold style is not so new. Some of the standout designs of the past were thick-rimmed in the most conspicuous colours, contrasting with skin tones. In the 1960s, actor and style icon Michael Caine’s signature was undoubtedly his unmistakable Oliver Goldsmith spectacles. He has been much applauded for giving glasses a stylish reference at the time: while the era was literally bursting with creativity in eyewear his everyday classics and the way he wore them with assurance and ease – he had several 1960s Goldsmith designs – paved the way for a confidence in cool suave statement eyewear styling for men that remains to this day. Above: A Goldsmith classic: model Ingema in dark tort acetate – worn by Michael Caine on and and off set.
1966 ©SUPPLIED BY GLOBE PHOTOS, INC. / photo courtesy of Oliver Goldsmith
With so much history in its favour, the beautifully structured model Ingema worn by Caine (and several other jaw-dropping creations that turned into icons in the same decade) is back in the Oliver Goldsmith Vintage Archive Range, available as a special bespoke order. The OG store in London (All Saint’s Road, W11) is the best place to view the archive of styles available in this range and discuss styling and prescription needs. It’s a space that is packed with history….celebrity endorsement inspiration from the past, exceptional vintage designs and rare eyewear that you won’t see anywhere else.
Today the company is run by Claire Goldsmith, the great-granddaughter of Oliver Goldsmith and a designer in her own right, whose collection is also on show in the store, distinctive in its links with the family style and excellence in quality, with modern touches in colour and detail and keen pricing, with handcrafted frames in acetate from £230. For more information visit: www.olivergoldsmith.com CN
Accessories highlight: Diffuser Tokyo
“While spectacles are a growing fashion phenomena, there are too many unattractive and unfashionable items in the eyewear accessory market,” says the owner of Diffuser, a Japanese independent label that is already a leader in its field at home in Tokyo. Masaki Hirose, formerly at eyewear brand Dita, questioned the situation and turned his attention to developing attractive, distinctive accessories designed for men and women with discerning taste.
Launched in 2012, Diffuser’s concept is to create a well designed set of timeless accessories – with more accessibility for men, in well crafted quality materials, including leather and silver. “We are offering customers the satisfaction of wearing a better product – at an affordable price,” says Hirose. “The range now includes glasses cords, eyewear cases and pouches and some small leather goods – all of them coordinating with one another.”
Diffuser designs are original and come in a tasteful colour palette which includes natural tan, navy and black, with gold lettering – well suited to luxury eyewear and classically focused yet in line with contemporary trends. The accessories are widely available in Japan and are stocked by a selection of handpicked optical stores worldwide including Milan Lunetier (Paris), Haute Eye (S. Korea) and Senses Optik (Hong Kong). For more information visit: www.diffuser-tokyo.com CN
PFB 03 Peoples from Barbados: new colour
Narrow golden temples and a brightly patterned front in acetate: the new PFB label from Barbados has a colourful entry for all occasions in model PFB 03, now in a hot pink/red (colour C2). The design is one of several in this chic collection designed to embody the Bajan spirit: warmth and individuality in a graceful and softly feminine frame with a high-tech finish including screwless hinges and a lovely lightweight feel.
Peoples from Barbados is the new line by Alicia Hartman, the owner/optician at EYE Q Opticians in Limegrove (Barbados). The frames are designed in Barbados and made in Japan. Coming soon to selected optical boutiques in the UK and US: www.peoplesfrombarbados.com CN
New opening: Gentle Monster, London
We took a look for ourselves and discovered tiny aliens with an obsession for kung fu. This is the inspiration behind the installations at the new 2-floor Gentle Monster store in London, a space that is more straightforward in its conceptual presentation than sister stores in the US or Korea, where part of the fun is the architectural excellence of the spaces and unexpected surprises encountered as you literally “journey” through the stores.
In London, the experience is more about the installations themselves: they include a huge kinetic apparatus with a gong that sounds every three minutes, a Kung Fu “training field” and “battle ground” for the aliens and a waterfall video installation by artist Ryoici Kurokawa, referencing the places where an aspiring Kung Fu master would typically train and meditate.
And then there are the glasses and sunglasses: not so much at centre stage, and displayed in typical Gentle Monster style, in amongst the installations, usually on minimal, open shelves, but always designed to invite us to pick up and try them on as much as possible, the experience of which is positively encouraged at Gentle Monster.
The eyewear and sunglass designs available here offer a mix of wearable and very flamboyant metal and plastic shapes, colours and forms, and are priced – unexpectedly – at more moderate prices than we had imagined (some just under £200 – all made in China or Korea). Highlights include very classic plastic sun styles in easy colours – the collab with Tilda Swinton was a memorably classy one – and a few outlandish sci-fi pieces with metal details such as the capsule, Once Upon a Future. Much more is promised, with London Fashion Week being the immediate focus for September and, as in other GM shops, a changing and evolving theme, a part of the DNA of the label, will ensure nothing stays the same for too long.
The new store is located at 28 & 29 Argyll Street London, just near Liberty’s in Central London. The opening in the UK follows a second store in LA and a new pop up in NYC at DSM and Selfridges on Oxford St., London. Gentle Monster was founded in 2011 by Hankook Kim. www.gentlemonster.com CN