Easy way to my heart is through sunglasses. MYKITA always has great collaborations and I’m loving the Damir Doma Spring Summer 2014 ones.
Damir Doma x MYKITA Spring Summer 2014 Sunglasses
There are two styls, Vivien and Rita. I like the combination of transparent material and wisps of colour that penetrate throughout.
Damir Doma x MYKITA Spring Summer 2014 Sunglasses
“VIVIEN†& “RITA†are a statement, the two oversized butterfly-style frames are flamboyant, eccentric and larger than life. They are awash with colours that were infused into the transparent material employed: a frozen melange of rust-red, green, aubergine and blue colour clouds.
This two new sunglasses models are available in three colour combinations: Cloudy Blue (transparent with dashes of ink blue), Cloudy Brown (transparent with rust-brown hues) and Cloudy Purple (transparent with rust red, green, aubergine-coloured and blue colour clouds).
Both frames are fitted with tinted lenses from pioneering optical solutions specialist Zeiss and will go on sale in spring 2014 at all MYKITA Shops and the Damir Doma flagship store in Paris.(source)
So, this is the third post in my I want – I got Editorials group. I was blogging for the award-winning MasterCard Stylicity project this season and I organized three editorial shoots for the stores Philip Sparks, Nomad and Spectacle. The shots turned out really well so I’ve decided to showcase some of them here too. This is Spectacle.
I want – I got Editorials- Spectacle – My New RetroSuperFutures
I did the modelling for this shoot because I LOVE sunglasses and I was looking to pick up a pair myself. Dave Yan and I had a great time and the staff at Spectacle were very helpful. They didn’t mind us almost taking over the shop.
I want – I got Editorials – Spectacle
Spectacle has a ton of sunglasses and regular eyewear in the shop. It took me a long time to figure out what I wanted. Previous “i wants” from Charlotte Olympic x Linda Farrow and Prabal Gurung x Linda Farrow didn’t look good one me at all. I also tried on some pairs from Claire Goldsmith and Thierry Lasry which I really liked
I want – I got Editorials – Spectacle – Claire Goldsmith
In the end, I bought two pairs of RetroSuperFutures. They were reasonably priced compared to some of the other shades I have in my collection. One pair was featured in The Spectacled and the other are pictured above. One thing I learned at Spectacle is that if you see something you like buy it right away. They normally only stock one pair of any eyewear style. Some of these styles can be reordered but not all.
I want – I got Editorials – Spectacle – Thierry Lasry
You can see the rest of the shots in the gallery below.
Feather Cat Eye Sunglasses by Charlotte Olympia x Linda Farrow
Charlotte Olympia makes shoes and handbags I really like. I guess I can add sunglasses to that list too. The brand partnered with Linda Farrow to create the Feather Cat Eye shades. She’s got a great eye for accessories which isn’t surprising because Charlotte Olympia Dellal has amazing style. These sunglasses are around $410 and available online at luisaviaroma.com, charlotteolympia.com and lindafarrow.com.
I’ve been following Moda Operandi since it opened. In my mind, this is really one of the most exciting online fashion retailers. It gives the fashion lover a chance to secure those special items that you see in a collection but can never find when it hits the retail market. I’ve drooled over many of the trunk shows on the site but I finally bit the bullet when the Karen Walker Resort 2012 sunglasses showed up.
They have a purple and fluoro green acetate frame and brown CR39 coloured lens. Now the waiting game begins as the delivery window is from Aug. 20, 2011 – Dec. 20, 2011. I’m hoping it’s earlier.
I have a feeling Moda Operandi temptations will become reality much more often now that I’ve dived in.
I don’t know what it is about men that work in the eyewear industry that I find so fascinating. They always end up charming the pants of me (Well, not literally). Jason Kirk of Kirk Originals fits that mould to a T. He was so welcoming and pleasant when I met him at Karir Eyewear for the Kirk Originals media day.
Kirk Originals are known for their glittery frames and bright, saturated colours in materials like acetate and acrylic. Jason has a family history in the eyewear business so it made sense that he would follow in their footsteps. British based, Kirk Originals started in 1992. Currently, Jason and his wife Karen run the company from their home near Bordeaux, France. All frames are handmade in France also. Frames are architectural in shape and retro in design. Jason tells me that Kirk Originals isn’t for everyone and they really focus on their typical client.”The Kirk Originals wearer is creative, confident, irreverent and independent in their style choices,†says co-designer Jason Kirk. “We make glasses you can’t wait to put on in the morning.” I love that Jason understands that his product isn’t for everyone and doesn’t try to change that.
There are five lines in the Kirk Originals line up:
Kinetic – This line has lenticular images on each temple that produces a moving image effect
Kirk Heroes NG – This line takes a fun look at the Kirk’s family tree. The design is asymmetrical an inspired by a Kirk Hero.
Saturn – The Saturn line is one of my favourites. The surface has coloured crystals and the interior is covered in glitter. They aren’t for the faint of heart or wallflower.”
Sculpture – This line combines acetate and acrylic and the result is a large and varied colour palette
Sunglasses – The sunglasses collection takes design features from the Kinetic, Kirk Heroes and Saturn lines.
The first thing I noticed about Kirk Originals were the wide variety of colours. The Kirk Originals customer definitely isn’t looking for your classic black or tortoise shell frames. Jason pulled out trays and trays of brightly coloured frames for eyeglasses and sunglasses. The second thing I noticed was the glitter on the inside of the frames. It’s such a small feature but something that makes the frames stand out in a subtle way. Of course, I had to play dress up.
I’ve been on a crazy sunglasses kick this summer but I’m already planning my purchase. I love the Nymphette style in Ochre and gold glitter. Kirk Originals are available at Karir Eyewear boutiques. The price range is from $300 to $500. If you ever are in London, you should check out the Kirk Originals store. It’s has a great eyewear presenation wall design feature that looks really cool in photos. Jason was very proud of this and showed me photos on his laptop.
See all the photos from Jason Kirk Media Day at Karir Fashion Eyewear.
I’m very, very happy with my purchase. The MYKITA’s shape is understated but it’s necessary to offset the insanely bright blue colour. The blue lens casts a beautiful light on everything. It makes me happy. I get a lot of stares with these sunglasses. Hmm, that seems to happen with all my sunglasses these days. I’m getting a MYKITA bug now and I really want the Bernhard Willhelm red metal ones.
MYKITA‘s popularity is built on the snobbery of engineers. I laugh at this statement as Moritz Krueger and Philipp Haffmans describe their eyewear company’s rise in popularity. I met them at Josephson Opticians for MYKITA media day. They were in Toronto for a personal appearance and trunk show at the store. It’s rare to hear something that honest. So that kind of candor combined with the unstoppable ooze of cool the duo resonated made me like them immediately. How can you hate on a guy who can wear knickers and not look stupid? I thought it was physically impossible. I was wrong.
Philipp Haffmans and Moritz Krueger
MYKITA is a Berlin based eyewear company. Moritz and Philipp are two of the four co-founders with Daniel Haffmans and Harald Gottschling rounding out the quartet. The Berlin headquarters serves as homebase for all steps of the business from design, production and marketing. HQ is called the Workshop. MYKITA’s snob factor is based on their patented hinge design that removes the need for screws and soldering. Individual frame elements are cut from thin sheets of stainless steel. They are then manually shaped into a functional hinge. The result is an ultralight weight hinge with a number of fitting options for comfortable wearing. The hinge is the stuff of dreams for engineers and they took to bragging.
N01 collection
MYKITA produces a number of collections per season. The N01 collection debuted in 2004 and features all metal frames. Sport casual influences like 70s style skiers and oversize frames dominate the spring summer 2001 offerings. They also incorporate some elements of the 60s Nylor frame.
Decades Collection
The Decades collection looks to women’s eyewear from the 1950s and 60s in the butterfly Nylor style. I really like this spring summer 2011 style called Holly pictured above.
NO2 Collection
The N02 collection incorporates the patented MYKITA hinge and acetate. Spring summer 2011 influences include the 30s and the feminine with cat eye shapes. Â This style called Elsa is really nice too.
Lite Collection
The Lite collection features the lightest frames MYKITA produces. The frames are made from only three pieces. Spring summer 2011 influences include cycling, 1980s and recreational diving. Â Luxe is Mykita’s highest quality line that incorporates naturally sourced buffalo horn, platinum, white gold and other high-end material coatings.
2010 saw Mykita give birth to Mylon.  It’s a patented polyamide that is moulded into any shape desired via a process called Selective Laser Sintering. Form related limitations that conventional injection moulding tools face are non existent with Mylon.  The lightness of Mylon and its unlimited design potential leads to new frontiers in size and comfort.  The science nerd in me loved listening Moritz and Philipe talk all about the technical nature of their designs.  Science and fashion combined gets me every time so it’s not surprising that I love MYKITA.
MYKITA like to collaborate and their partners are in the world of fashion, beauty and art. Â Avant-guard designers like Bernhard Willhelm, Rad Hourani, Romain Kremer and Alexandre Herchcovitch regularly feature MYKITA sunglasses in their collections.
Bernhard Willhelm’s spring summer 2011 collaboration with MYKITA make use of the newly developed Mylon material.  Sausages and vintage scuba masks were the inspiration.  Moritz explained that Bernhard had a thing for the sausage shape and he really wanted to see that influence in the designs.  The result is some crazy oversized and super light sunglasses.  The scuba influnce on the collection continues right down to the model names. The three models in this collaboration are named after the famous french trio of divers, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Frederic Dumas and Philippe Tailliez. They aren’t my style but I kinda like the black ones.
Bernhard Willhelm and MYKITA also created metal based models. You might remember the gold aviators worn by Sarah Jessica Parker in the Sex and the City 2 movie. Well that’s Bernhard Willhelm x MYKITA . I initially thought they were kinda tacky, then I saw them in person and tried them on. Oh amazing. I love the totally not street legal red pair.
The MYKITA x Rad Hourani sunglasses were fun. They looked so much better on than I expected.
I got Andrew Sardone of Now Magazine to try on the Romain Kremer sunglasses. They looked great on him. I love the boxy shape of these and Rad’s.
I really loved the Alexandre Herchcovitch x MYKITA collection. They had the snob worthy metal hinge and bright colours. I ended ordering a pair at media day. They were too good to resist.
MYKITA and cosmetic company Uslu Airlines started collaborating in 2006 with their style of choice being the aviator. The names of the models are based on airport codes. The travel theme continues with the small suitcase packaging. The collection has three colour options: grey-brown, neon yellow and lilac. The Uslu Airlines x MYKITA collection also includes matching nail polish.
The sunglasses use the theme of iconic monuments. She used a fine line of gold paint to either draw the skyline of New York or pyramids of Giza horizontally across the lens. The collection is limited to 200 pairs. I really, really considered getting these but I felt the line would eventually drive me crazy.
I really liked the Moxy Creative House’s Framework. It’s a series of prints celebrating some iconic eyewear of celebrities like Warhol, Johnny Depp, Kurt Cobain, Shock G of Digital Underground, Truman Capote, Geordi LaForge and Malcolm X. I really liked the YSL version so I ordered the poster sized print.
One of the most revered designers of all time, Yves Saint Laurent demonstrated a deeper understanding of aesthetic when he said, “Fashions fade, style is eternal.†This could be no truer than when looking at the man himself, a veritable icon of style. The man understood that even a simple pair of black frames can inform who we are, and more importantly, who we want to be.(source)
This special edition eyewear design was created in collaboration with Jeff Staple, founder of Staple Design and Reed Space of New York. Since 1997, Staple Design has created one of the most respected street culture brands in the world. Oakley was founded in 1975, the same year Staple was born.
Jeff Staple continues to revisit the most legendary models of the Oakley brand, and it was the turn of the famous “Frogskins” to display the symbols of the brand of the founder of Staple Design and Reed Space in New York.Frame features two tones of grey, translucent plastic, “Pigeon” laser etched on the lens, matte black.
In addition to the reworked Frogskin, Jeff Staple created a new design for Oakley, the STPL Holbrook Sunglasses. These sunglasses are polarized and can fit prescription lens.
The color inspiration for the STPL HOLBROOK™ is falling snow, and the frame carries accents on the stems of its Polished White frame. Staple chose Oakley Chrome IRIDIUM® lenses to complete the look.
I’m totally loving MAYFOURTEENTH sunglasses. All their eyewear is shaped and polished by hand in their Buenos Aries factory. The MAYFOURTEENTH blog has a great post about a recent visit. It really gives you a feel of how much works goes into them.
MAYFOURTEENTH is an independent eyewear brand, committed to creating quality, handcrafted products that blend vintage glamour and contemporary culture. all products are made with careful hands and designed with sophisticated style.
Prices range from $180 – $240 for this San Francisco based company and they can be purchased on the MAYFOURTEENTH website.
I love the fluorescent green Postcard Sunglasses by Prada. They really were made for me and they match my Blackberry case.
They come in six colours that are dedicated travel destinations: Milan: green sunglasses dedicated to Forte dei Marmi; Los Angeles: light pink sunglasses dedicated to Santa Monica; Manhattan: transparent sunglasses with pink lenses dedicated to Montauk; Paris: transparent sunglasses with light grey lenses, dedicated to Biarritz; London: transparent grey sunglasses with orange lenses, dedicated to Cornwall; Lisbon: matte black sunglasses with black lenses dedicated to Setùbal.
I’ve seen these sunglasses at Holt Renfrew and Spectacle in the city. You can purchase them online at Prada.com or Sunglasses Hut
I have to admit the Balmain x Oliver Peoples collaboration is pretty nice.
For the 2010 season, Paris couture house Balmain collaborated with Oliver Peoples to create its first eyewear design. This Limited Edition sunglass, named simply Balmain I, is a bold, unisex style that reflects the edgy aesthetics developed by designer Christophe Decarnin on the runway. Featuring an exaggerated teardrop lens shape in a form-fitting wrap, the Balmain I is a mixed-media style, crafted with a metal top bar and temples, and an acetate eyewire. Unified with four screws along the backside, the frame also features a flexible hinge for added comfort. Two color options are available: solid black and a black/silver combination.
EDIT: I’ve discovered a Canadian retailer. Unfortunately it’s only in Toronto, Spectacle.
I love this collaboration of Linda Farrow and Roisin Murphy. It’s part of Linda Farrow’s Projects. They have joined forces to create two pairs of sunglasses sold that can be found at Colette. The sunglasses come in two options: 24 carat gold plated or silver plated.
This photo by Tommy Ton made me change my mind about the Alexander Wang cat eye sunglasses. They looks so fun.
Alexander Wang created these sunglasses in collaboration with Linda Farrow. Linda has done other collaborations with Raf Simons, Dries Van Noten and The Row to name a few.
UPDATE (April 11, 2010): You can grab a pair of these sunglasses at Holt Renfrew Bloor Street
I went to the preview of the new David Yurman eyewear line at Josephson Opticians who will be carrying the entire collection exclusively across Canada until end of March 2009. David Yurman is a famous jeweler who is taking the spirit of the jewelry collection and infusing it into the eyewear market. The result are really beautiful glasses that cost a pretty penny. The ones in this picture are about $1000.
I had a pair of Frogskins in 1987, I loved them to death. I thought they were the coolest thing ever. They got scratched and then lost. They came back into my life in 2007 when Oakley decided to bring them back from the dead. I have to admit, I’m loving them to death all over again.
Be a part of our history with a new spin on a pop culture classic, the Oakley Frogskin®!
At Oakley, we’ve spent decades creating original works of art that reinvent both technology and style. To celebrate the rich history of our brand, we decided to re-release a ground-breaking style that can be traced back more than twenty years to our “garage†company roots.
First introduced in 1985 and originally available in over 50 colors, the Oakley Frogskin was a part of the 80’s pop culture, a time like no other. Ronald Reagan was in the White House. “The Terminator†was in the box office and Run-D.M.C. was in certified gold. We have resurrected the original tooling from the early ‘80s to produce new limited editions, giving today’s culture a chance to own a piece of history.
WHY NOW, IN 2007?
The answer is simple: sometimes, amidst all the Mad Science here at Oakley, we get to waxing nostalgic. So we wanted to give you a chance to channel a core piece of our brand, circa 1985. Far from just reintroducing an older sunglass model, this limited, tiered release applies to those who appreciate the fine art of innovation; people who are setting the pace in today’s world of style.
For each original color combination of this coveted style, only 3,000 Collectors Editions will be produced. This is an opportunity to own a rare retro classic, and once supplies are gone, the window of opportunity will be closed forever!
There might be another pair at Ilori where I got mine. If you want to drool over expensive sunglasses, this is the place to be. So many gorgeous styles!!!!
95A Bloor Street West
Toronto
416-928-9385
Handmade beauties all based on the original vintage frames. This couture collection is exclusive to Josephson Opticians in Canada.
Josephson Opticians
Bloor Street West
Toronto
416 964 7070
The ready to wear collection can be found at
Spectacle Eyewear
752 Queen Street West
Toronto
416 603 0123
416 603 7227
