SHARP SHADES When future historians are citing examples of post-millennial madness, surely they’ll point to the “It-Bag.” Costing up to five figures, with enough hardware to sustain a small plumbing supply company, these markers of social status are also studies in planned obsolescence. The whole point is to prove you can afford a new one every season. Perhaps this is why sunglasses are emerging as the newest fashion “must.” Costing a fraction of the average bag, shades are the accessory of the moment, telegraphing affluence, style, and cultural savvy. By emphasizing the eye, they draw attention to the individuality of the wearer. Where accessories are concerned, surely shades pack the biggest fashion wallop. A great pair can lift the most casual outfit up a notch or two. Pair a cheap T-shirt and a pair of old Levis with a Donna Karan frame, and you project an air of urban savvy. Switch to Marc Jacobs for a hipper edge, or Versace for instant chic. Best of all, a well-tended pair may last for years. Some eyewear designers have seized the moment to create provocative and unconventional marketing campaigns. Fashion contrarian Alexander McQueen styled model Chanel Iman as Grace Jones, she of sharp-shouldered blazers and Nightclubbing fame. Like the most famous images of Grace Jones, McQueen’s eyewear appears powerful and slightly jarring. The frames’ colors and lines stray just enough outside of our comfort zone to make us wake up and think. While so many other eyewear styles seem intended to make their wearers look like pampered Malibu princesses, a pair of McQueen shades conveys strength and self-assurance. Speaking of pampered princesses, designer Marc Jacobs offers a collection that would flatter their lovely faces very nicely indeed. But he also saves them from any lingering vulgar impulses. His eyewear collection, while clever and hip, is generally devoid of hysterical bling. One of the keys to Jacobs’s success as a designer is the fact that he’s in on the joke. With an ad campaign featuring former Spice Girl and soccer wife Victoria Beckham, Jacobs doesn’t defy existing style norms as much as push them to their limits, and therefore challenge them in a different way. Beckham is the queen of the pose, so impossibly studied in her projection of feminine appeal that she has become a caricature of herself. By photographing her in precisely the kind of disarray that she normally seeks to avoid, Jacobs’s ad campaign reveals her goofy, playful side, which makes her seem all the more accessible and likeable. Of course, nothing lifts the spirit like a shot of pure, unadulterated glamour. Versace, a house that can always be counted upon for unapologetic chic, does not disappoint this season. Graphic black-and-white frames with rhinestone-studded rosettes are continental yet opulent, as though Audrey Hepburn were channeling Cruella de Vil while vacationing on Cap Ferrat. The haute appeal of Versace’s eyewear collection aside, the bar has now officially been raised. Even premier designer frames are a bargain compared with those of cult fashion house Chrome Hearts; their eyewear starts at around $600 and can run into the thousands. Established in 1988, Chrome Hearts began as a leather goods company and has evolved into an international luxury lifestyle brand that integrates classic designs with the best possible quality of materials and fabrication. Chrome Hearts eyewear is characterized by innovative aesthetics, exotic materials, and superlative construction. Each pair appears to be so well-built, the rest of the pack can seem flimsy by comparison. But don’t expect showy logos; a gothic-looking cross motif discreetly signals the brand to the discerning observer. Stealth-wealth in action, Chrome Hearts caters to a select society of uber-luxury consumers. Perhaps the most stealth luxury of all is eyewear so secure in its craftsmanship and aesthetics that it practically dispenses with logos altogether. Enter the two-year-old, California-based eyewear company SALT. SALT.’s shades are known for their wearability, harmonious aesthetics, and suitability for outdoors. Indeed, according to company literature, SALT.’s 2008 collection is “a tribute to the elements found in nature…Lavender Hawaiian orchids, brilliant Fijian coral reefs, the majestic pines of the sierras.” Rather than photographing their glasses on anonymous-looking mannequins, SALT.’s advertising and promotional campaign features attractive yet interesting-looking individuals, conveying the notion that SALT. is for independent thinkers, rather than the logo-seeking herd. Perhaps the SALT. ethos is the next wave in eyewear marketing. Their Japanese manufacturing puts them at the top of the heap in terms of quality, and their styles are up-to-the-moment, yet have a classic, enduring quality that can withstand the fickle winds of fashion. SALT eyewear is “relevant to today, tomorrow, and wherever your independent lifestyle takes you in the future,” as their literature boldly states. A philosophy more antithetical to the irrational it-bag dictates couldn’t be more succinct.
|
|
|
