Hairglasses?

The japanese brand takumi presented their designs at the idea stand. Though its not necessarily optical, we couldn't help feature their 'hairglasses' headbands. White or black sunglass inspired headbands to replace the sunglasses you're using to hold back your hair.

Jason Schwartzman with Natalie Portman

From Perez Hilton: "Two of our faves, Natalie Portman and Jason Schwartzman looked cool as cucumbers at the premiere of their new short film, Hotel Chevalier, Tuesday night at the Apple Store in NYC."
This other film by Wes Anderson will be released on the DVD of The Darjeeling Limited which opens this week.

Here, Schwartzman looks great sporting a pair of gold round-framed glasses which go great with his outfit and classic Adidas Rod Laver sneakers he was wearing. Also, throughout The Darjeeling Limited Adrien Brody wears a big pair of square-framed sunglasses with lightly tinted lenses. Looks like the cast of this new hit film is quite an optical group!

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Uma Thurman and Paris Hilton in Chrome Hearts

photo: imnotobsessed

Uma Thurman has moved on from her days as the face of Louis Vuitton. The actress was seen looking chic in NYC's Central Park in Chrome Hearts "Elixer" Sunglasses, a much edgier line known for their signature silver gothic details, namely crosses, are available at their boutiques. Manufactured by the Optical Shop of Apsen, their flagship boutique is located on the East side. Uma wears the Elixer model in black color.

Model: "Elixer" Color: horn photos: brownsfashion.

Paris Hilton looking motorcycle-chic in Chrome Hearts "Queenie" sunglasses at Toronto International Airport. The larger lens fits this diva's ego and matches her new choppy tough-girl hairstyle.

photo: celebrity-gossip

Miss Hilton wears the tortoise with lime green.

Christopher Kane and Linda Farrow Vintage

Linda Farrow Vintage teams up with hot new designer Christopher Kane in a hot line of sunglasses furbished with over-sized faux gems and gradient lenses that are both glamourous and young.
Christopher Kane debuted his collection, Expectations superceeding expectations set on this 24 year old Scottish designer named the “New Scottish Designer of the Year”. Kane managed to make an impression with A-listers and celebrities.

New Sabre Psychotic Reaction Sunglasses

Here's a first look at Sabre's Psychotic Reaction Sunglasses:


We wrote a ways back about the maker and some of their other models, but this is by far our favorite yet. They're pretty out there, but simple and to the point. Plus, they really look great in the red colorway. The new Sabre's will be released internationally next week.

Rock and Republic Sunglasses

CEO and head designer Michael Ball of Rock and Republic has been gaining ground in the eyewear industry since they launched in 2002. There sunglasses are well designed, very exclusive, and being spotted on celebrities more and more.



This is the Maverick model. This model as well as the Apache model are especially flashy and something fresh in the industry.

The FBI Wants You To Take Off Your Sunglasses.

The FBI and Washington State lawmakers are working on legislation which would forbid banks to do business with customers wearing sunglasses in a bank. As an effort to combat bank robberies this legislation would also prohibit hats and hoods worn during transactions.

interesting...
read more about it here.

New Kanye Video for "Good Life" With Some Crazy Sunglasses

So many people have been coming to this blog to check out the latest in Kanye West's eyewear trendsetting for us to not give this a little write-up. Kanye's new video for "Good Life" (featuring T-Pain) came out today and is visually stunning. Completely in line with the fashion sense Kanye is putting forward, the video features lots of acid colors and neons. Of course, our favorite moment is when he takes out his aviator sunglasses and the illustrations illuminate the frames.
Give it a watch: here

Seeing Double?

Dolce & Gabbana's sunglasses have been all the rage Summer 2007. Supermodel Gisele Bündchen was spotted in their 6016 model in black and Kelly Ripa was seen with son Joaquin in NYC's Central Park sporting the same model in tortoise. Both bombshells rock these classic rectangular shades with a rather modest frame depth in comparison to the cheekbone-touching large frames also popular this season. The demure DG on the temple also contrasts other frames in Dolce & Gabbana's collection which don their logo large enough to be visible from the Hubble Telescope.

Ed Hardy Release

Ed Hardy has unveiled his sunglass line which combines elements of his popular tattoo-artist designs. Hardy incorporates metals, leather and genuine Swarovski® crystals for a set of shades that are pure attitude.



Ed Hardy style 003 and Koi Fish

Kanye West at MTV VMAs

Lots of visitors to this blog have been coming in search of more info about those Kanye West louvered shade sunglasses and his Jeremy Scott signature sunglasses too. Kanye performed Sunday at the MTV Video Music Awards at "Kanye West's Good Life Fantasy Suite" at the Palms in Las Vegas.

Kanye was sporting an all black and white tuxedo ensemble with matching leather gloves, sneakers (AF1), and a white pair of Super Sunglasses. These marvelously designed Italian sunnies are a well-crafted update the Ray-Ban wayfarer style, a model we've discussed at length here. Kanye opted for darker lenses to match his tuxedo, in our opinion a great match.

For everyone who's been trying to get their hands on a pair of those shades Kanye has been hyping up ever since his "Stronger" video, he handed out pairs to most of the audience at the show so you can expect to find some pairs on ebay soon enough.
check out Kanye's performance here.

Tse Tse and Original Fake

Japanese eyewear company Tse Tse has collaborated with streetwear company OriginalFake to produce a great pair of glasses.



They were designed by Brooklyn artist KAWS, who blogs here. The all-over embossed "x" pattern frames come in a choice of black or transparent gray, and are available on Colette's We Sold Out! for €440.

L.A.M.B. Spring 2008

Gwen Stefani's fashion label L.A.M.B. showed their spring 2008 line in New York City for Fashion Week.


This ensemble showcases the sunglasses shown with multiple outfits in show. Expected to be released in L.A.M.B.'s spring line, they resemble the white Ray-Ban Wayfarers discussed here. To their credit, L.A.M.B.'s pair has much darker lenses as opposed to the green tint of the Wayfarer. This solid black lens with a slightly more cat-eye shape makes the L.A.M.B. sunglasses perfect for the California look Stefani has been trying to achieve, and the black and white contrasting look she has been consistently showing of late.

While reception of Stefani's clothes by critics has been mixed in the past, public reception has been enthusiastic. If L.A.M.B. does begin to sell an eyewear line, check back here for reviews and the latest news.

For The Wild at Heart...

Historically a staple in both house's collections, Chanel and Prada incorporate leather in the form of snakeskin into their eyewear lines. While Prada boldly covers their thick plastic frames, Chanel opts only to detail the temples of their aviators in the luxury leather.

For those bored of imitation tortoise shell and horn patterns, götti eyewear handcrafts genuine natural horn into their classic designs including full and semi-rimmed styles. All polished by hand, götti's horn frames are veritably the finest horn frames on the market.

Badgley Mischka Spring 2008

Badgley Mischka showed their Spring 2008 line including eyewear this afternoon. Here are two of our fav0rite pieces.

1.)Badgley Mischka showed an updated version of the classic cat-eye as worn by stars like Tina Fey of Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock. This season the look is more goggle-like resembling a mask or the sheild with a deeper lens the look is a combination of popular styles in other eyewear lines such as Dolce and Gabbana's sheild-like drill-mount and increased lens depth, yet retains the angles of the retro/classic american cat-eye.

2.)
Also shown were Jackie O-esque round sunglasses, in sharp contrast to their angular designs. The round look is more soft and feminine and a direct reference to Onassis, herself as an American style icon. The designers also did a perfect job chosing this model to show their new sunglasses, as they compliment her heart-shaped face perfectly.

Samuel L. Jackson, Santana, Philip Johnson and I.M. Pei

Samuel L. Jackson was photographed at the Fashion Rocks Santana concert and shown inthis NY Magazine article wearing the pair of eyeglasses seen above.

These thick, round-framed glasses are strikingly similar to the type of eyewear the influential American architect Philip Johnson used to wear, or those that the Chinese American architect I.M. Pei wears. Is Jackson maybe trying to brand himself as an architect or designer-type?

Badgley Mischka Spring 2008 Collection Tomorrow

Mark Badgley and James Mischka, both Parson's graduates, started working together and launched their company in 1988. Since then they have been doing great things both in clothing and in fashionable eyewear.

Their show is tomorrow, Thursday the 5th of September at 2pm at the Tent at Bryant Park.

After that, look for their new line at Saks Fifth Avenue or Bergdorf Goodman, or either of their boutiques in Beverly Hills and Boston.

Fashion Week New York City

This week is Fashion Week in New York City. Designers will be showing their Spring 2008 collections. That means eyewear and sunglasses will be on the runways.


Here are some of tomorrow's highlights; look for eyewear to be showcased at the following shows.
Nautica 9am Bryant Park, the Salon
Perry Ellis 11am Bryant Park, the Tent
L.A.M.B 8pm Bryant Park, the Tent
Tommy Hilfiger 9pm Museum of Modern Art, 11 W. 53rd St., nr. Fifth Ave.


Check back here each day during Fashion Week for a uniquely optical point of view with updates and analysis.

Oliver Goldsmith Custom Eyewear

The British eyewear company Oliver Goldsmith, widely considered one of the founders of the concept of fashion eyewear, has been designing eyewear since the 1920's.

With as much of a stock of past designs as that, and their widespread sucess in fashion since the 60's, Oliver Goldsmith has an interesting current approach to manufacture of its eyewear.

They sell many ready to wear editions of their previously designed pieces, such as this "Eddy" model, originally created in 1969 and was favored by Peter Sellers.

One interesting option available, for truly unique eyewear, is to visit their Notting Hill showroom. Here Oliver Goldsmith's has a service starting around £230 that allows clients to pick from any past design in their archive, and customize it with choices of frame material and lens color. Each pair is then handcrafted and fitted to the clients specifications, "this is bespoke at its best."

Cazal's 858 Vintage

Cazal relaunched their vintage model "Cazal 858" with help from some of the most reveared Japanese companies in the fashion business. The model has an interesting asymmetrical look and is an angular take on a shield or aviator stunner sunglasses look.


Those temples might have been an influence on the Claw Money Gazelle aviator sunglasses we saw earlier this summer.

Each of the four different companies incharge of distribution carries a unique color, and each edition is limited.

Col. 251/252 is with Tric Trac Plus Funky One
Col. 252 is with Liquor Woman and Tears
Col. 253 is with C-C Country
Col. 255 is with Swagger and Phenomenon who have had some other great eyewear colaborations in the past.

Jack's Eyewear Los Angeles

Jack's Eyewear in Los Angeles is an excellent place to pick up a pair of vintage sunglasses. The shop is in the Mid-City West neighborhood of LA, and carries about 2,000 pairs of vintage sunglasses and glasses.


Its owner Jack Bernstein is an expert on vintage eyewear and the shop reflects this expertise. It carries; antique glasses dating back to the 18th century, some amazing multi-colored Casels (Gwen Stefani picked out a pair to wear on her album cover), great thick rimmed 1960's Persols, Ray-Bans, eyewear by Dior, Dunhill, Playboy, among others, and selection of Porsche Design original 6522 aviators (handcrafted by Carrera in its Austrian workrooms). They also carry a small collection from Oliver Peoples.

Their website isn't yet full launched, but is anxiously awaited by those who can't make it out to L.A. to see the great stuff Jack's store has in stock.

Address: 120 S. La Brea Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90036 Tel: 3239331402 Hours: Mon-Sat 11am-7pm; Sun 12pm-7pm