Contemporary Luxury Experience the Eyewear Volume #01

An exciting new event took place during the weekend, just a few steps away from the official AIFW runway venue: Contemporary Luxury Experience the Eyewear Volume #01. In an original setting, some of the world’s most interesting eyewear designers showed their collections. Not Just Vision invited labels like Paul Smith, Badgley Mischka and Linda Farrow to connect to the audience.

Simon Jablon

We talked to Simon Jablon, son of the legendary Linda Farrow and creative director of the company, who told us he only relaunched the brand 6 years ago. “My mother designed throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s and worked together with brands like Sonia Rykiel and Balenciaga. After 3 decades of hard work she quit mid 1980s. It was like 6 years ago that I found this warehouse filled with my mother’s vintage designs and decided to continue her work. I redesigned some models and now we here we are.” And Linda Farrow is definitely here to stay, again. Celebrities like Nicole Richie, Madonna and Pixie Geldof have been spotted wearing Linda Farrow, but their best ambassador is probably Lady Gaga: she seems to absolutely love all the extravagant designs. Currently the Olsen Twins are working together with Linda Farrow as well: they asked the brand to create a special collection for them. The revived eyewear label is also working together with amazing fashion designers like Dries van Noten, Raf Simons, Alexander Wang and Matthew Williamson.

Besides the designs, the choice of material is also very special: titanium, 24 carat gold and mammoth tusk (!). Jablon explains:: “The melting of the polar ice caps has exposed quite a lot of mammoth tusk, enough that some of it has found its way to market. We are among a few labels around the world that are allowed to use this material, and we only produced a small number of frames form it.” It certainly adds another value to this brand that is highly original and innovative.

Photos by Maria Rudnaya

Written by Lisa Goudsmit