House of Flora: Red Hex Spex

We're enjoying London-based House of Flora's bold sunglass designs. Above is the wonderful Red Hex Spex as worn last year in a UK Elle photoshoot of Rihanna. Above that is the gloriously named Ping Pong and top is Basquiat. As well as eyewear, House of Flora also designs amazing hats and jewellery.

Top photo: Nick Tucker; model Illy Jay.
Second photo: Max Oppenheim; model Immy at Storm; stylist Vanessa Minshull. 

KISS in John Varvatos Eyewear Spring 2014 ad campaign

Well before Miley Cyrus was showing us her tongue, New York rockers KISS were putting their taste buds on display, with better make-up to boot. Here are some striking images from John Varvatos Eyewear's Spring 2014 ad campaign. Inspired by the KISS album, Dressed to Kill, the images feature the group in full makeup wearing John Varvatos sunglasses and suits.

Spike Lee stars in Cazal's 2014 lookbook

Cult film director Spike Lee makes a guest appearance in Cazal's 2014 lookbook, shot by photographer Armen Djerrahian in Brooklyn. Here we give you a taster but to see the full lookbook, visit Cazal...

Christiane Schaumburg-Müller in Kilsgaard

Danish actor and TV host Christiane Schaumburg-Müller dons a rather fetching pair of Kilsgaard frames, from its PSB collection.

London Olympics 2012 #3: Tia Hellebaut in Oakley, Mo Farah and Usain Bolt

Our last Olympics post, a week later... EWG was lucky enough to be at the final evening of athletics last Saturday. Obviously, seeing Usain Bolt in the 4x100m men's relay and, in particular, Mo Farah winning the 5000m, was unbelievable, but there aren't many spectacles in track and field. Luckily we spottted Tia Hellebaut, the Belgian high-jumper, on the big screen in her red Oakleys, above, to give us the excuse of sharing a few more photos from the night...

Liam Gallagher's sunglasses: Slip inside the mind of Pretty Green Eyewear

Pretty Green Eyewear, as worn by Liam Gallagher. Top is PG383, above PG2576 and below PG2653. Thanks to Brillor.

"Where would one buy glasses like the pair worn by oneself?"

The Queen, seen here thanking the nation's people for their goodwill over her busy Diamond Jubilee weekend, purchases her spectacles from Roger Pope & Partners on New Cavendish Street, London. And very good they look too, although I did quite like Her Majesty in those 3D glasses as well!

Pope also has a practice in Dulwich Village.

Les nuits sans Kim Wilde by Laurent Voulzy - Glasses feature heavily

Can anyone identify these glasses in Laurent Voulzy's very-1980s video?

Oliver Goldsmith round glasses remade for 2012 – as worn by John Lennon

New York-based  actress Emily Bennett wears Oliver Oval/Pro from Oliver Goldsmith – a titanium remake of the original Windsor-bridge spectacles worn by John Lennon.

Suitable for ladies or chaps...

Who made Kanye West's shutter glasses?

Shutter glasses, also known as Venetian blinders, were made for Kanye West by French eyewear supremo Alain Mikli. Kanye West brought them to the fore again, after a period of popularity in the 1980s, in his video Stronger. Why am I writing about them now, five years later? You'll see...

The first example I found of them being worn was in Simple Minds' 1982 video Glittering Prize below...

You'll see that the original 1980s frame above – image from my review of Moss Lipow's excellent book Eyewear and courtesy of Taschen – and the gold one in the Simple Minds video had only a narrow frame at the temples and is quite different to the Stronger aviator-shaped white pair worn by the Kanye West .

Others have made them too.

Indeed there's a company called Shutter Shades who churns them out in every colour.

And Mykita collaborated with Romain Kremer for this version, left,  in stainless steel.

But I think, partly because of his amazing blog post on how he did it, my favourite is Ch00ftech Industries who adapted a pair for 2012 New Year's Eve partying...

Hip-hopticians: Oscar O'Maliey at Selima Optique in SoHo, NYC

Hip-hop artist Oscar O'Maliey chose Selima Optque's SoHo branch for the location of the video for his debut single 'Ques an Chârdé'...

Kirsten Dunst wears Bulgari Le Gemme sunglasses

Kirsten Dunst wears Bulgari Le Gemme sunglasses... Dunst is also promoting her new movie, Melancholia, directed by Lars von Trier.

I like these sunnies, an inventive tweak on a classic design, with some Bulgariness on the side...

Kelis in gold and black Chanel sunglasses at London Fashion Week

Photo: Jill Carin Adams, StreetStyle London

Kelis wore these Wayfarer-like sunnies last weekend at London Fashion Week, but who are they by? With thanks to Jill at StreetStyle London for the image and for her great LFW coverage!

UPDATE – 2 Oct 2011
Thanks to everyone who suggested who these were by. Julia at Gogosha Optique in LA came up trumps with Chanel. I should coco!

Who makes these glasses as worn by Dinosaur Jr's J Mascis?

Rather fittingly, following yesterday's stone glasses, we have received a query from James asking if I know who makes these crystal spectacles, worn here by J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr fame.

We're not sure but wondered if anyone out there might be able to supply the answer...

Left, have a listen to Not Enough by J Mascis.

CW Dixey launches Chartwell glasses collection including frames worn by Sir Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Churchill with Franklin D Roosevelt, Casablanca, 1943. Photo courtesy of the Franklin D Roosevelt Library and Museum; version date 2009

CW Dixey & Son is the oldest independent eyewear company in the world. Its history straddles four centuries and its frames have been worn by an A-list unlike any other.

The current owners of CW Dixey have spent the past couple of years creating the above collection, the centrepiece of which is Chartwell 01, replicas of the round glasses worn by Churchill. These are directly above, and at the top on the red background, alongside Chartwell 02, which is a remake of Churchill's reading glasses. Both frames are handmade in France from original dimensions, using the best Mazzuchelli acetates in light and dark tortoiseshell and black. There are then seven other limited edition frames (Chartwell 03 and 07 are featured above) in the collection which bring together sophisticated designs of the 50s and 60s to the modern day. So hats off to CW Dixey & Son - it's created a great new collection. But if there wasn't the back-story, the distinguished patrons, the coat of arms, the amazing history, this collection would still stand out as being extremely well made. I've had all nine styles in my hands and they're tip top quality. Worth every penny of the £380+ price tag. Oh, one more thing: the spectacle cases are pretty fine too!

HISTORY & PATRONS Forget Lady Gaga, Rihanna and the rest of the paparazzi's targets of today; how about Sir Winston Churchill for a little endorsement? Impressed? Then read on, because CW Dixey has the most astonishing list of customers I've ever come across.  As well as Churchill, there are no fewer than 10 other British prime ministers, including: Harold Macmillan, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Ramsay MacDonald and the Duke of Wellington. Who else? How about Queen Victoria? Yes, alongside Prince Albert , George VI, V, IV and III. I could go on. Okay, a few more: Ian Fleming, Peter Sellers, Tennessee Williams, Boris Karloff .... the list is endless. Did I mention Napoleon Bonaparte? He had a telescope rather than spectacles but that's what Dixey did too. It was "Optician and Mathematical Instrument Maker". CW Dixey had premises at 3 Bond Street, London, below, which was sadly bombed in World War II.

Amber Rose-tinted glasses at the Vintage Frames Company, Montreal

American model and eyewear fanatic Amber Rose took advantage of her recent trip to Montreal to pop into the Vintage Frames Company for a private eyewear consultation. Well, it would have been private, were it not for this quick video. Amber is pictured top with vintage eyewear aficionado Corey Shapiro, who runs the store and the Vintage Frames Shop, one of, if not the most, exciting vintage sunglass destinations online. Corey describes Amber as a sunglasses beast: "One of the only people I fit for frames where everything looks smashing!"
Can I skip the pedicure when I make it over there Corey?

Ogi Eyewear and Seraphin face the musicians at Lollapalooza 2011

Ogi Eyewear and Seraphin managed to get their eyewear on to some famous faces at the Lollapalooza 2011 festival in Chicago earlier this month.

Top to bottom: Bo Koster from My Morning Jacket, Perry Farrell from Jane's Addiction, Damian Kulash from OK Go, three members of The Local Natives, Fitz from Fitz and the Tantrums and finally Teri Gender Bender from Le Butcherettes.

And I can't mention OK Go without sharing this amazing video...

Re-released Manhattan sunglasses mark 50th anniversary of Breakfast at Tiffany's

As revealed here in January, Oliver Goldsmith's Manhattan sunglasses were to be re-released to mark the 50th anniversary of Breakfast at Tiffany's.  Audrey Hepburn's Holly Golightly wears the shades in the 1961 film and Oliver Goldsmith has now launched an exact replica of the frame.

What's more OG has made it available in five colourways: the classic dark tortoiseshell with green lens (below), as worn in the film above, as well as black/caramel split (next down), dark wood, grape and ink.

And why not. Or rather Y-Not (bottom) another OG sunglass made available this summer - as worn by Lady Gaga.  Manhattan and Y-Not are available from the OG boutique in London or in the best opticians around the world (see stockists here).

Chanel AW 2011 eyewear campaign featuring Claudia Schiffer

The Chanel eyewear campaign for autumn-winter 2011 features Claudia Schiffer...

Who makes Heston Blumenthal's new glasses as featured in British Airways' Great Britons campaign?

Well Mr Headline Writer, that would be Kirk Originals. Michelin-starred chef Heston Blumenthal – pictured above with Brit artist Tracey Emin and actor-director Richard E Grant (piss artist Withnail)  – and his new spectacles have featured on this domain before. Blumenthal, in his good-but-perhaps-not-as-good-as-these-new-ones, bespoked Bugatti frames, and the Kinetic collection from Kirk Originals. Specificaly, the Kinetic Java, I think, in aubergine.

The best thing about this great frame, of course, is that the temples incorporate lenticular prints that change with movement. Fun stuff and only fully appreciated with some moving images, below. More Kirks posts here...