In the 1953 film How to Marry a Millionaire, Pola, played by Marilyn Monroe, routinely walked into doors and mistakenly read books upside down in an attempt to disguise her near-sightedness.
“Men aren’t attentive to girls who wear glasses,” was Pola’s excuse for not wearing her horn-rimmed specs.
Today, though, four-eyed fashionistas are receiving their fair share of attention, poor vision or not. Ashley Olsen, Amanda Peet, Chloe Sevigny, Rosario Dawson and Eva Longoria are just a few of the actresses who have recently been spotted in oversized, professorial eyeglasses.
And the nerd look also triumphed on the spring runways. At Dolce & Gabbana, for one, models sported geeky turquoise glasses and severe topknots a look that’s usually more popular at your local branch library. In Paris, Balenciaga’s Nicolas Ghesquiere dressed his girls in hefty square-rimmed frames that might do double duty in a high school chem lab. Miu Miu showed teeny glasses in bright colors, while models at Marc by Marc Jacobs wore graphic black or white versions.
So what accounts for this newfound embrace of eyewear? The accessory’s popularity can be explained in part by its increasing superfluity. In this era of Lasik surgery and contact lenses, glasses come across as quirky and old-school. Retailers say that women are choosing to buy multiple pairs that reflect their personal style, rather than opting for a single, utilitarian model.
Designer Robert Marc uses the term “glasses wardrobe” to describe his customers’ changing attitude toward opticals. “More people have come to the realization that eyewear is just as important of an accessory as shoes and handbags,” he said. “Now, you see (fewer) people wearing one pair of glasses as their signature look.”
Or as Richard Golden, founder and president of the national chain See Optical, so boldly puts it: “A woman should not wear the same pair of glasses to work every day.” He estimates that his average customer buys three pairs a year, although some, he says, buy as many as eight. Retail prices range from $179 to $289 for the store’s in-house brand.
According to Blake Kuwahara, creative director of Base Curve, which holds eyewear licenses for Carolina Herrera and John Varvatos, “The more modern thinking is, Look, I have 40 pairs of shoes. Why shouldn’t I have at least two or three pairs of glasses?”
For fall, Kuwahara is noting a “return to femininity”, with eyewear inspired by ready-to-wear. “Looks are decidedly feminine,” he said, “with rounder silhouettes kind of that sexy secretary look.” Base Curve’s eyeglasses retail from $240 to $300 for John Varvatos styles and from $240 to $325 for Carolina Herrera ones.
At Safilo, director of product development Timm Parker, who supervises design for Marc Jacobs, Kate Spade, Juicy Couture, Hugo Boss, JLo by Jennifer Lopez, Nine West and Liz Claiborne, notes that the optical field is still being driven mainly by metal frames.
“But we’re beginning to see more plastics selling recently in some of the higher fashion brands a la Dior, Gucci, even in Kate Spade, and this has obviously been popular in sunglasses for several years now,” he said.
Anthropologie has recently been doing a brisk business in reading glasses, a.k.a “readers”. Currently, it carries various styles from four different brands: Eyebobs, A.J. Morgan, Glance and Melissa Eyewear. According to Sarah Wilson, the store’s eyewear buyer, three of its top sellers include Eyebobs’ Advert, a thick-framed tortoiseshell that retails for $58, and A.J. Morgan’s Bunny and Cannes styles, both of which come in brightly colored plastic frames, for $28 each.
The biggest eyewear trend at the chain this season is toward a dominant frame, in part influenced by oversized sunglasses. Color is also gaining steam, with red, blue, pink, aubergine and lemon yellow as key shades.
“People definitely have fun with readers because no one has just one pair,” noted Anthropologie’s chief executive officer, Glen Senk, who owns about 20 pairs himself. “It’s rare when people buy one style. Usually, they buy three or four.”
Base Curve’s Kuwahara perhaps puts it best: “In the past, there was that saying, ‘Guys don’t make passes at lasses in glasses’,” he said with a laugh. “So women used to be afraid. (But now) they’re finding that glasses can be quite sexy, and they can change up your look.”
Source: China Daily/New York Times Syndicate
Filed under: Companies and brands
Mr. Tabacchi, how do you explain the enormous success of your firm, and in general, the Italian glasses industry?
“It can be explained by the fact that we have been able to respond to a market that has completely changed its nature. The roots of this industry are in the paramedical sector: aids to vision were produced and these items were sold in pharmacies, not in fashion stores. Then, beginning in the 50s, people began to wear sunglasses and then we finally arrived at producing designer frames for glasses. Consumer demand completely changed, and we were able to respond in a positive manner”.
Would you have been able to forecast all this in 1935, when Safilo began?
“Up until the 60s people were ashamed to wear glasses. It was something that announced and emphasized a defect. Remember Marilyn Monroe in ‘How to marry a millionaire’: she was ashamed of wearing glasses, and so went about crashing into everything. Today the exact opposite is true: people flaunt the latest model by Christian Dior or Armani, and think of glasses almost as an ornament for their bodies”,
The Safilo trademark is among the most popular in the world, but you are under license from a great number of fashion designers. Can you give us their names?
“The list is quite long. Currently the latest is Marc Jacobs, from the Luis Vuitton group. But there are also Carrera, Gucci, Polo Ralph Lauren, Christian Dior, Diesel, Valentino, Cardin, Yves Saint Laurent, Armani and many others. Then there are the American brands: Fossil, Kate Spade, Jennifer Lopez. Overall we have 21 collections”.
Therefore the link with the fashion sector was decisive for you?
“Absolutely. Designer glasses, most of all in the high and luxury sector of the market, was a winning choice”.
And the reason for choosing this luxury sector?
“It was a calculated choice. For more than 15 years we aimed at the high sector of the market and became world leaders. You have to take into account that in the production of glasses labour costs play a big part – more than 50 percent of overall costs. And the competition from Asian producers makes it impossible to produce glasses in the lower range. Only in the high sector can we guarantee profitability and growth”.
What importance do you give to technological innovation in the productive process and the product itself?
“An enormous weight. The new factory in Longarone, in the Province of Belluno, is technologically one of the most advanced at world level. And then, basically, we remain manufacturers of technical articles with the highest possible quality level. It is not just by chance that we also produce specialised contact lenses, dedicated to those carrying out particular sporting activities”.
Mr. Tabacchi, what are the challenges facing Safilo in the future?
“The constant development of technological research, to be always ready to offer new solutions. And then to continue to be the first in the world in our sector”.
Filed under: Companies and brands
Italian eyewear maker Safilo and Gucci have announced the extension of licence agreements for the production and distribution of high end designer brands such as Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Alexander McQueen optical and sunglass collections.
The contract renewals dispel rumours that Safilo could lose the rest of its Gucci licences after Luxottica Group won the licence for Stella McCartney branded sunglasses.
Relations between the two groups began when Safilo presented Gucci’s first eyewear collection in 1989 and the signings extend the Gucci brand contract to 2018, Bottega Veneta to 2010 and Alexander McQueen to 2013.
Vice-chairman and chief executive officer of the Safilo group, Massimiliano Tabacchi commented after the agreement on November 10: ‘We are very proud that one of the most long-standing and successful partnerships in the luxury sector, that between Gucci Group and Safilo has been renewed.’
News of the agreement sent the value of Safilo’s shares so high they were suspended for excessive gains.
Filed under: Companies and brands
The three biggest companies are Safilo,Luxottica and Marcolin and they are Public Company. Mr. Tabacchi runs Safilo, Mr. Del Vecchio Luxottica and Mr. Della Valle is behind Marcolin. All glasses’ factories are around Padova and Cadore (north-east of Italy) because there in 1878 was created the first italian factory of glasses “Carniel” (this factory was then taken over by Tabacchi) and many small companies appeared all around, becoming later independent, like Luxottica. Every company has his own brands, called huose brands: for example Carrera and Oxido are Safilo’s house brands, Ray Ban and Paerson are Luxottica’s house brands. Then there are companies like Armani, Gucci, Dior, ecc, that charge others to produce their glasses; all this happens through contracts. Safilo,Luxottica and Marcolin make war to have the best brands and more commercial power.
