Polished acetate glasses always shine through

Now I can tell these glasses are good, but I've no idea who they're by. I love the way the acetate material appears to be more reflective than the lenses.

Great photo thanks to Jérôme Chalansonnet.

Think you know who they're by? Let me know!

Louis Vuitton sunglasses in white with bling bindi

What is that in the bridge? Bling bindi?

Found this picture of Louis Vuitton sunglasses by André-Batista and am intrigued by the bridge detail, although I can't quite make it out.

Also, I like the 1980s flattened front with what appears to be an all-in-one visor lens.

ic! berlin - Freitag, ich bin in der Liebe

There was me doing a top 5 of all things Swiss, missing out Freitag, those guys who - any day of the week - make bags and accessories from truck taupaulin but make it sehr cool.

Now they've teamed up with German specsters IC! Berlin to create one of those limited edition collaborations.

The Freitag brothers designed the aviators in the IC! Berlin screwless sheet metal style, and have then made some tarpaulin sleeves to keep said shades in...

Carrera sunglasses - more shades of the 1980s

Carrera sunglasses, from the 1980s, astonishingly took until March this year to be blessed with a relaunch. What took them so long?

Great picture above, thanks to Thierry Perre. More of his Carrera sunglass pictures are here

If you want more of an idea of the variety and colours, you can watch this video from the "Carrera vintage sunglasses" launch party, although I think they meant "retro".

Highly talented people share their deepest thoughts... Turn volume down or your ears may bleed.

Five brilliant things about Switzerland - götti get some

5 Yodeling...

It's pretty amazing. I went to see Morrissey last week. He kind of yodels a little here and there, but nothing like the Swiss.

4 Army knives...

I'm off camping next month. Am I fretting about all the things I might need? No, for I have a Swiss army knife.

3 Alps...

Big and beautiful. Good for skiing.

2 Institutions

In second place, all those international organisations that do good: the WHO, the Red Cross, the UN...

1 Götti glasses

But best of all, Götti, a young glasses design outfit founded by Sven Götti which has always impressed me since I first came across it in about 2004. They also give their frames a name. This is Eugen... hand-polished black acetate. Simple.

Alain Mikli glasses - check mate

A classic Alain Mikli look.

Polinelli sunglasses from Lunettes Brillenagentur in Berlin

Italian eyewear designer Ricardo Polinelli launched Polinelli Occhiali in the late 1970s. This looks like a vintage pair from around that time, perhaps 1980s. I love the octagonal corners.

With thanks to Thomas Angermann for the picture. He bought them from Lunettes Brillenagentur in Berlin, which also has a rather brilliant Lunettes Online Shop for classic, never-worn, vintage eyewear.

Quentin Tarantino rocks in Face à Face at Inglourious Basterds premiere

... in Cannes in May.

Have had these terrific Face à Face Rocks1 sunglasses up my sleeve for a while and thought the premiere of Quentin Tarantino's Jewish revenge fantasy Inglourious Basterds in London last night a good opportunity to share them.

I love the colourful 1980s twist on the frame front where classic rivets might normally appear. A closer look shows different colours on the inside.

Rihanna was pictured wearing some great glasses also but I imagine her hair will get more headlines... would love to know who these are by.

Mykita Flash sunglasses for 2010: Rodney and Winston

I've always loved the names Mykita give their products - I have a pair of Nils, but I wish they were Winstons!

Winston’s lens is egg-shaped, Rodney is squarer.

Not to be mixed up with Dave, you plonker!

Ray-Ban Optical or Orgreen Optics - spot the difference

Now I'm a fan of Ray-Ban sunglasses as you can probably tell. It has a rich heritage which its owner Luxottica knows full well since it paid Bausch & Lomb US$1.2bn for the brand a decade ago.

After buying it, Luxottica decided to take the brand a little further and use it on to side of eyewear where the sun's rays are not banned. I've never been especially keen on Ray-Ban Opticals. Occasionally they borrow from the Wayfarer's or Clubmaster's styling and it works, but they don't do this enough.

Although... what do you think of these?



Not bad, eh? A little powder blue and a temple shape from a summer Wayfarer making its way into the optical collection, a little understated for specs... Good work Ray-Ban.

Oh, but what about these?



Spot the difference! The second one is from Orgreen Eyewear (remember my Molly Sims post?)or more accurately Ørgreen Optics, from its Intruder range in 2006.

“We're not offended, in fact we’re more honoured than anything, but why didn’t they just call on us for help?” Henrik Ørgreen asked after seeing the latest collection of glasses from Ray-Ban.

“Let’s just call it very strong inspiration”, he added. “And let’s congratulate Ray-Ban on their great taste.”

Can you catch your glasses on your face? Me neither.

I can throw a peanut into the air and catch it my mouth, but apparently that's no big deal...

Many of you will have seen this before. Not sure if NeverHideFilms are sponsored by Ray-Ban or if they just love Wayfarers. These are the same guys who did the colour-changing Chameleon film I blogged the other week.

Alex Petridis discovers a sunglass blog - not mine but nearly

There was me, lying on the grass in the Horniman Gardens, laughing uncontrollably at suggestions in the newspaper that Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire - the town where I went to school - should be renamed Royal Wootton Bassett! Parp! Ha!

It's always a bit special when you read about something you're familiar with.

I was then quite surprised and excited to see that the Guardian's Alex Petridis had written about a blog I follow in his column on men's fashion in Saturday's weekend magazine:

"This summer, we've had conflicting information about sunglasses. See-through Perspex frames are in. If you're not wearing Ray-Ban Clubmasters, you'll lead the life of a social pariah. You may not care, but I wouldn't mention it within earshot of the guy behind a supremely entertaining, insane blog, sunglassesonstage.com..."

Have to admit, I was even a little jealous. But then I checked Sunglasses Onstage and guess what, they'd written about my Emilio Pucci sunglasses post -Result!

And so now I think I know who helped me identify the Pucci glasses. Thanks Sunglasses Onstage! I love your blog too.

Clearly S.O. and I share, as Alex Petridis described it, a "monomaniacal" devotion to eyewear because they got equally excited by these shades.

Keep up the good work and congrats on being picked up by the Guardian!

As for reflections when taking photos of sunglasses, the topic of S.O.'s post, I've always quite liked it - it adds a certain authenticity.

Zanzan shades are something else - limited editions

One of the problems with starting a blog half way through summer is that I've missed some of the major sunglass launches - I'm playng catch-up.

Zanzan is a new British brand (but made in France), extremely exclusive stuff and great build quality. Each style is limited to 100 pairs.

Apparently, Zanzan is the name for the exhilarating feeling of wearing something stylish for the first time, in 1960s Maltese gangster speak.

Top ii Black Rio, left is Zazou and below is Le Sept - I love the pale colour and light lenses. I've mentioned Deirdre Barlow once already haven't I? May be she should be my next icon post!

Have a good weekend all and thanks for the support.

Oakley sunglasses - limited edition Frogskins in yellow

Anyone who thinks all Oakleys are designs from future, think again. The fashion for Wayfarers and all things 1980s made Oakley resurrect tooling from 25 years ago to spawn a limited edition run of Oakley Frogskins, as worn by Conner above.

I love the combination of neon yellow with the "fire" flash mirror lenses. Check out Conner's great photos, including a fair few specs pics.

Cool 1970s Emilio Pucci sunglasses from a New York flea market

I had no idea who these fantastic white sunglasses were by but I loved them. So I posted blown-up detail of the brand on the temple - and "info" (either shy or some default Blogspot name) commented and told me they're by Emilio Pucci from the 1970s. Thanks "info"!!

With thanks to J Bautista in New York for taking this terrific photo of Reese in Brooklyn.

Lego sunglasses - JC de Castelbajac or Lynx Optique?

After yesterday's 1980s-fest in the shape of La Roux's eyewear, I bring you some 80s-ish eyewear in, well, just about any shape you like.

Sometimes the web, fashion, marketing and eyewear meet in the strangest of ways. All this began BEWG, before this blog started.

In May, I spotted a few posts here and there about Lego sunglasses. Cool, I thought, how geek-chic can you get?

I bookmarked the page, which stated that said nerdy building block bins were available through Lynx Optique, an optician chain/co-op a bit like Specsavers or Lenscrafters, but French.

Then, last month, I saw Lego sunglasses again, only this time they were "Jean-Charles de Castelbajac's Lego Glasses" on Dazed & Confused's website.

Now admittedly JC de Castelbajac is a bit 80s- indeed Lego-obsessed, but come on, Lynx beat you to it!

Dazed shows how they these Lego shades even look quite good on.

Can anyone help Jessica find out where to buy Lego sunglasses? She's posted a question on Yahoo!RarelyAnswers - one of the great suggestions so far:

• eBay? - yup, would never have thought of looking there. This is what you'll find...

Is La Roux's Elly Jackson a new eyewear icon?

La Roux's Elly Jackson in sunglasses, Elly Jackson in glasses, Elly Jackson in more sunglasses. And not just I'm a celebrity, I'm gonna wear shades to hide from fans and photographers. No, proper eyewear style.

Elly Jackson is one half of 1980s-inspired electro-popsters La Roux (about the only thing not by Michael Jackson in the top of the charts).

And I've found a fair few pics of her wearing some incredible eyewear. Am trying to find out what they are. Here are a few links.

Elly wears 1980s round sunglasses in this photo shoot - watch video to get best look

Scroll down a bit more to see an interview with her in the glasses shown right.




She's even managed to make rust-tinted lenses look cool in this video!

Do you know who any of these frames are by?

Vintage glasses from American Optical - 1950s

Wow - these vintage Amercian Optical horn rim eyeglasses are great. With thanks to Teresa who sells classic pieces on Etsy. I love the ornate detail on the corners which include an "AO". May have to buy a pair!

Dita sunglasses - well framed shades and photos

When I started this blogging lark I'd forgotten how much bloody good photography there is of people in glasses.

Dita was set up in 1996 by Jeff Solorio and John Juniper. They've been mates since school and share a passion for design and photography. Take a look at the Dita Eyewear site for more ace pics and specs.

I love the modern take on a classic shape and the graduated colours. They're called Holiday - model number 22000C.

How good are these sunglasses? But who are they by?

Thanks to Zoolette Des Bois for this image of some as yet unidentified sunglasses. Do you know who they're by?

I love the 80s-influenced random lines of colour - c'est tres bien!

Mosley Tribes are a shade better than most

Ray-Bans might be everywhere but it's nice to find something more original and any glasses wearer worth their lens cleaner and cloth should crave a pair of Mosley Tribes sunglasses...

These are Freecity2.

Eyewearglasses readers will soon learn my appreciation of graphs as well as glasses. If you share this statistical bent to your eyewear fashion, looky here to check the Tribes' search growth.

Want a sneak preview of next year's look? Mosley on down to their blog

Ray Ban Wayfarers show their true colours

I've been amazed this summer just how much Ray-Ban Wayfarers dominate London summer fashion. This video is by NeverHideFilms, fantastic film makers and Ray Ban appreciators...

Mind the gap: Alain Mikli eyeglasses

The hot British weather sent me a little sunglass mad and I've realised I haven't posted a spectacles picture for more than a week.

Alain Mikli is a French glasses designer of huge importance. I have a pair of his frames not dissimilar to David Choe's in this self-portrait.

Click on the pic to enlarge the image and see Mikli's signature gap between front and temple. The clever hinge stops the glasses feeling too heavy on the nose.

Oliver Goldsmith and Hoffmann Natural Eyewear collaboration

Playing catch-up - these beauties were launched late last year from Oliver Goldsmith and Hoffmann Natural Eyewear. Handmade-acetate front meet horn temples... not bad!

Sandra Bullock wears Face à Face sunglasses in The Proposal

Which sunglasses does Sandra Bullock wear in The Proposal? They're Face à Face, a great French brand available from many high-end opticians.

She's pictured here (with actress Betty White) wearing Face à Face Ylang1... product shot below.

Face à Face are one of those brilliant brands that has something for everyone - I have two pairs!

Ray-Ban fish-eye sunglasses make their Mark

Mark shows that Ray-Ban's domination of the classic retro sunglasses - especially its Wayfarers - are not the only thing it can do.

I love these fish-eye shades, and big thanks to Sarah Scicluna for the terrific picture.

Children need to wear sunglasses too

Continuing the cheaper end of the market theme, here's Frank, aged 2 wearing his Mothercare sunglasses.

Get kids wearing sunglasses young and they don't think twice about them. We smother children with factor-50 cream but rarely protect their eyes from UV light.

Jo wears £1 Primark powder blue shades

Good shades don't have to be expensive!

(Photo note: I will soon invest in a decent camera)