11 posts tagged "Oliver Peoples"
A Perfect Pair: Oliver Peoples and Parabellum
In a craftsman meeting of the minds, Oliver Peoples has joined forces with fellow Los Angeles-based luxury label Parabellum for a limited-time run. “It’s an honest L.A. collab. It’s very local and a very organic project,” Mike Feldman, one half of Parabellum’s founding team, along with Jason Jones, said of the partnership. “We’re actually right down the street.” For Lise Tyler, design director of Oliver Peoples, collaborating offered her the chance to contribute to a design process that bears integrity to each brand. “They have a similar discoverability that Oliver Peoples does.”
Handcrafted locally in Los Angeles, the exclusive design is a riff on the iconic seventies-inspired Linford aviator imagined in two wearable limited-edition colors—one in matte black with custom black acetate detailing and another in rose gold with Sahara tortoise acetate detailing.
“They’re instantly recognizable as Oliver Peoples,” Tyler explained of the unisex frame’s temple detailing. “And we’ve been able to add another discoverable detail for the wearer since we do custom glass lenses,” Tyler said excitedly of the breath logo that is revealed when you breathe on the lens. Known for their work in bison leather, the duo behind Parabellum set out to create an accompanying case that was of equal importance to the glasses. “We went through the history of older cases and it really came down to functionality,” Jason Jones explained of the lightweight bison leather pocket case, their first foray into eyeglass cases. For his partner, Feldman, it came down to the set’s local-leaning elements. “The way that houses are built and designed and decorated in L.A., things are done really well but they’re not done in a rigid fashion, they flow. Between the glasses and the case, there’s a natural flow and feel.” For her part, Tyler stands in agreement: “The materials they use are super high-end but really understated in a way that feels very L.A.” Cue the Indian Summer.
Oliver Peoples for Parabellum, $695, available now at Patron of the
New, 151 Franklin Street, NYC, (212)-966-7144, and at Oliver Peoples boutiques starting September 1.
A Tribe Called Mosley
It’s always sunny in Los Angeles, and for that, Mosley Tribes has come out with an assortment of new unisex shades—the Bensen, Carden, Colden, and Cosley, to match. Tribes (part of eyewear label Oliver Peoples) founder and creative director Larry Leight says of the collection’s inspiration, “Growing up in Los Angeles has given me an appreciation for the city and the many cultures that live within it. I am constantly inspired by what is going on around me in the diverse and vibrant landscape.” To show off the frames ($210 to $245), he assembled a tribe of L.A.-based creatives, Indio Downey (son of actor Robert Downey, Jr.), Dianne Garcia, Jun Cha, and Victor Garibay, and photographed them his favorite, distinct areas of the city. The ad campaign images will be up on the newly designed site today, but Style.com has a few of the exclusive shots of Garcia (wearing the clear Benson) and Downey (wearing the Cosley), above. The new collection is available now on MosleyTribes.com.
The Soloist Tries Its First Duet
To rehearse an old line: Designer Takahiro Miyashita marches to the beat of his own drum. (Asked once about the inspiration for one of his collections, the Sphinxlike Miyashita said, “I don’t know—ask my brain.”) He was the genius behind the much-loved, much-missed menswear line Number (N)ine, which he shuttered in 2009. He returned the following year with a new, unisex label called, appropriately enough, The Soloist. The Soloist has remained a cult item, available sparingly outside of Japan and priced in the contemporary-art range. (New York’s IF is one of the rare U.S. stockists.) But this season, The Soloist has a new collaborator: Oliver Peoples. Miyashita worked with Peoples creative director Larry Leight on two styles—a round ($425) and a teardrop aviator ($455–520)—inspired by the frames of the twenties and thirties and in many cases, using stock parts from vintage pieces. (Where deadstock parts were not available, new ones were created on original tools for a similar effect.) The unisex frames come in optical and sunglass models; they’ll hit Oliver Peoples stores for Resort this month, and continue to roll out at department stores and boutiques through the spring.
“Four-Eyes”? With These, It’ll Be A Compliment
As summer shades into fall, the sunglasses start to retreat. That’s no reason to go without specs, especially when brands new and old are coming out with chic optical options like these. From more-the-merrier collaborations (like Selima Optique’s longstanding project with J.Crew) to ultra-luxe pairs from Linda Farrow to classic styles (like Moscot’s Miltzen, worn by Andy Warhol and John Lennon) updated for the here and now, the new frames on the market will work with every wardrobe—whether you actually need glasses or not. Since when is fashion about necessity, anyway?
From the top: Selima Optique for J.Crew crystal-clear glasses, $325, available at www.jcrew.com; Linda Farrow Luxe square-frame acetate optical glasses, $500, available at www.net-a-porter.com; Moscot Miltzen-T second-edition matte glasses, $425, available at www.moscot.com; Illesteva Lenox Half Half, $230, available at www.illesteva.com; Oliver Peoples Sheldrake, $315, available at www.barneys.com.
Killer Specs
“We wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for that,” said Oliver Peoples founder Larry Leight. He was referring to the O’Malley frame (above), one of the styles created at the brand’s launch in 1986, and soon to be reissued, along with two other classic frames, as a tribute to Peoples’ history.
Inspired by Andy Warhol and named after former L.A. Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley, the frames have since had an even more notorious mascot—American Psycho‘s Patrick Bateman, who wears them in the 2000 film. That’s a bit of historical accuracy, actually. Psycho is set in 1989, a time when Peoples were omnipresent on the fashion scene. “Wherever we went, we had every editorial in the world in 1986-1990,” Leight reminisced fondly at a preview in New York recently. He’s exaggerating—but not much.
The remade frames—beside the O’Malley, there’s the first frame the company produced, the filigreed OP-505, and the contrasting-tortoiseshell OP-1955—will be available in limited release at Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys, and the brand’s own stores. They’ll be made in the Japanese factories that made the originals, so that everything—down to the thinness and coloration—remains the same. “We want to keep it so the frame never dies,” Leight explained. “Ever.” In that case, maybe best to keep them away from Bateman.
Keep reading for a video of Leight discussing OP’s classic frames and history. Continue Reading “Killer Specs” »