The good people at Need Supply Co. have recently blessed the blogosphere with a brief history lesson on Ray Ban’s classic and timeless Wayfarer. With countless copycats running amuck, its good to know there’s still love to be given to one of the grandfathers of cool.
“Since it’s creation in 1952, the shape of Ray-Ban’s Wayfarer has become an icon by itself. You can find it’s impostors hidden in the seas of other impostors. But when it comes to timeless style and design, the Wayfarer is a piece of fashion and history that transcends any fad.”
Oliver Peoples recently announced their Original Vintage Circa 1987 Collection. Founder, Larry Leight, went into the archives and dug up nine iconic frames partnered with vintage-tinted lenses in Sky Blue, Green, Rose Brown and Spearmint from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. The frames are available at Oliver Peoples’ Boutiques and select optical stores worldwide.
Style Salvage ran an interesting interview with Erik Schedin this week. Shedin is a man who seems to know exactly what he wants in the products of his every day life. As a result, he’s put together a short list of pieces he loves and produced whatever fell short of his standards. His retailing began with just three products: white sneakers, American Optical Frames and Pledge Furniture Wax. His line has grown slightly and caught the eye of some important buyers in London.
Here’s an excerpt. Head over to Style Salvage for the full interview.
SS: Could you talk us through your current range and how it has evolved …
Erik Schedin: I designed the sneakers in the beginning of 2004, they were first produced in one size only, 44, and released on my website in 2008. In the beginning I had three products, the sneakers, the American Optical frames and the Pledge furniture wax. The frames had previously been used by the Swedish army and when they where being phased out I got the opportunity to buy the remaining stock. The Pledge furniture wax is unfortunately not possible to get anymore either, they stopped producing it at the same time as I released my site and I think that I got some of the last bottles. It reflects a sense of perfection and pokes fun at me being such a control freak.
A former Dutch government employee and the search for perfect frames led to making a single pair of handmade frames with a German atelier. Fast-forward 4 years and Vaessen now designs handmade luxury frames made of natural buffalo horn. The frames are all made at the German atelier and retail for about 1,000 Euro via retailers such as Colette.
Dazed Digital has an interview with the Dutch designer here about his upcoming collection, inspiration, favourite designers and his preference for buffalo horn.
Oliver Peoples released a video campaign a little while back featuring Elijah Wood and Shirley Manson repping some great pieces from Oliver People’s Spring/Summer 2010 collection. One of my favourites were the flip-up shades that Elijah sports; such functional beauty.
With a little research I found that you’ll be able to get both Oliver Peoples’ Riley frames (pictured) as well as the Sheldrake in a clip-on/flip-up version. They’ll be a great way to distinguish yourself from the Wayfayers this summer.
Moscot Eyewear has been around for generations in the Lower East Side of New York, but in recent years they’ve been getting a lot more attention in the fashion scene. The store sits on Orchard Street near East Asian kiosks and minutes away from exceptional retailers including ALIFE and In God We Trust.
The ground floor of the store is a clean showroom with white walls, glass cases and one scenester employee on staff doing nothing apparently productive. One floor up is where you want to be. The scene is in stark contrast to the first floor; cluttered display cases, old Italian opticians, and framed pictures of numerous celebrities in their Moscot moments fill the space.
Above are a few of the standout pieces from Moscot, the top one being our favourite: The heritage brand has taken their oldest Miltzen shape from the 1930s and revamped them in titanium. They’re a great piece if you want a bigger shape, but something distinctly different from the plastic standard.
Here’s a great video from Oliver Peoples for their 2010 Campaign featuring their coming eyewear collection. The eccentric video stars Elijah Wood and Shirley Manson are featured as an odd couple sporting exceptional eyewear at their estate.
“Les enfants sennuienet le dimance” (The children are bored on Sundays) has great shots from Autumn de Wilde reminiscent of Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums. Simply an exceptional video full of exceptional eye-wear.
Tom Ford’s Spring 2010 eyewear campaign previews some exceptional pieces and some exceptional shots. Featured in the campaign are Nicholas Hoult and Carolyn Murphy. When Tom Ford isn’t being featured as the face of his creations, he’s close by. For the Spring Eyewear 2010 shoot, Tom Ford shot all the pictures himself. Proven as an excellent photographer, director, designer we’re looking forward to Tom Ford’s next venture.
These frames were awesome simply because of their aesthetic, but then with a little digging, it turns out they’re also a pretty interesting company. Here’s the education.
The company was founded in 1972 by two engineers with the mission “to focus on advanced engineering principles in the manufacturing of premium performance eye-wear.” In 1982 they became the supplier of eyewear and specialist vision products to the US Military.
Prior to a recent hiatus, they’ve been known for their performance, style and a few Hollywood appearances – I think a revival is in store.
SUPER – our favourite, Italian, handmade, Zeiss Lens optics company – has come out with the new “People” model. The silhouette is a short departure from SUPER’s existing models, but it’s great to see the brand consistently doing their thing so well. Here’s a couple of our favourite colourways:
Update: SUPER announced that it’s going to make a limited run of their classic flattop model in a leather wrapped finish. The Italian leather versions will be available through the SUPER Online Store from December 3rd – 10th.
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