Style spotlight

By Joan Grady

The long and continuing period of pandemic ambiguity has created enormous challenges for business executives, marketing planners and risk-management decision makers. For the optical sector, designers and opticians have generally weathered the pandemic tsunami and its relentless uncertainty, and their outlook is decidedly optimistic.

In countries where practices were closed only for short periods, or able to remain open, customers sincerely appreciated the opportunity to shop and discover new frames and acquire new lenses. From the shows that were able to take place this autumn, the variety of enticing eyewear to tempt optical clients was indeed promising. Expressive, creative and colourful eyewear characterises innovative thinking from international eyewear designers and companies.

Opticians and their clients welcome the prodigious variety of brilliant materials, exquisite colours, exceptional technical elements and the multitude of amazing options and opportunities available to them.

SLEEK, SLIM AND SMOOTH An ongoing theme in eyewear is simplicity in design, with streamlined geometric forms and elegantly uncluttered monochromatic tones. Minimalism with pure, graphic compositions is the crux of multiple collections. Götti Switzerland effectively portrays this message with a highly polished titanium and polyamide design in Ashley, beautifully crafted with finely engraved lines on the top of the frame. Traditional craftsmanship and inspirational 3D print technology enhance its character. Colour selections are sophisticated in nuanced tones of Moss Green/Gold, Slate/Gold, Ruby/Gold, Denim, and Stone/Silver.

Elegance, sustainability, functionality and beauty symbolise Danish design. For Birgitte Falvin at Falvin Eyewear in Copenhagen, nature and architecture

Ashley by Götti Switzerland

also play a staring role in her luxurious titanium creations. Uranus is superbly slim, lightweight and compelling with a voluminous aviator shape and smart double bridge – a keynote for spectacles for 2022. Featured in Rose Gold, Uranus is also available in Matt Turquoise/Matt White Gold, and Matt Onyx/Matt Black Gold.

Susanne Klemm’s designs for Suzy Glam express luxurious simplicity with discreet details in contemporary silhouettes, and she designs bold statement eyewear for spectacle wearers who value beautiful, contemporary frames. Turtle matt acetate is articulated in Travels Lighter with graceful 3D shaping for an eloquent frame. ENVIRONMENTAL HARMONY Eyewear is always evolving, particularly at this time when there is great emphasis on looking after the planet and developing greater sustainability in all aspects of life. Innovative material developments enable designers to create unique spectacles with high-tech components, lovely colours yet lightweight and sturdy.

Rolf Spectacles, with its designs crafted in the Tyrol region of Austria, has launched Substance children's frames using a species from the Euphorbiaceae family that has been so successful in its adult designs. “We want to inspire the younger generation with the simplicity

Uranus by Falvin Eyewear

Substance for children by Rolf Spectacles

Finn in Capri by Kirk & Kirk

and sustainability of our products,” said a company spokesman, “and with ambition and diligence, we want to fulfil our mission to produce honest and better eyewear.”

The Substance children's frames are characterised by flexible, colourful, adjustable and easy-to-handle designs. The patented flexlock hinge provides impeccable comfort, support and safety to ensure the highest standards necessary for quality children’s glasses.

Superfoods are an integral part of health and the wellbeing movement. Now these products – including beetroot, chlorophyll, tumeric and spirulina – are used in eyewear creations by the sustainable and unconventional Scottish brand, Hemp Eyewear. The company worked with scientists to source a blue spirulina that was strong enough to withstand the machining process.

The result is the charismatic Holy Mackerel range from the Superfoods series that includes Mariner, Starboard and Shipshape. The ‘sailor aesthetic’ of the collection is uniquely documented as the inside of the frames is decorated with white stripes and adorned with a small anchor design.

Land Rover, distributed by Eyespace Eyewear, is committed to sustainability and the new collection features a sleek design for men – Baldwin – composed of recycled stainless steel which is 100 per cent recyclable, lightweight, strong and corrosion resistant. The frame front is constructed from G850 Renew and represents Eyespace's debut use of this innovative material made from castor seed oil and certified as biodegradable. The round eye shape is particularly flattering for square faces, and available in fresh blue crystal, or clear crystal with metallic green temples.

CREATIVE COLOURS Eyewear colours include a range of subdued yet sophisticated tones as well as high-spirited, glistening expressions. In Switzerland, avant-garde and awardwinning Sol Sol Ito has teamed with Tamy Glauser, a well-known Swiss model, for its latest launch. Tamy has walked in fashion shows for Vivienne Westwood and Givenchy, and was involved in the creation of the frame that carries her name. Bold and strong, the luminous amber acetate design features a sleek frame front. The variety of materials now possible to create eyewear is constantly expanding. Kirk & Kirk creates creative wonders in acrylic, which is shatter resistant, lightweight and with an amazing colour potential. The latest addition to Kirk & Kirk’s collection is the commanding Finn in lustrous new shade Capri.

La Eyeworks is acclaimed for its edgy, chic and perhaps slightly mischievous eyewear creations. All of these traits are achieved in Sunfish, a whimsical shape with graphic wings in an arched silhouette. Sunfish in zingy Tee Shirt Tortoise complements eyebrows and cheekbones with graceful ease.

The diversity of eyewear designs reaffirms the status of spectacle frames as an authentic, stylish accessory that improves and supports better vision. On the horizon of a New Year, it’s an ideal moment for independent opticians to explore the numerous possibilities for expanding their customer base with frame selections that are innovative, expressive and superbly smart and stylish.

Holy Mackerel from Hemp Eyewear

Sunfish by LA Eyeworks