Brixton Village #1: Josephine wears Alain Mikli glasses

New camera at the ready, I bumped into Josephine in Brixton Village on Saturday and she was kind enough to let me take a pic of her in these wonderful Alain Mikli specs that she bought at Bromptons. The colour of this frame is perfect, is it not?

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...

Eyewear: A Visual History - another optical opus reviewed

You wait all year for an eyewear book and then two come along at once. New York eyewear designer Moss Lipow's Eyewear: A Visual History, at 360 pages, is a bigger book than Cult Eyewear, reviewed here last month. It's a very different hardback, but equally compelling.

Eyewear is for flicking through. Each page is marvellously illustrated with carefully photographed life-size frames, most of which come from Lipow's own collection. As well as this array of stills, he has sourced amazing pictures such as this one above (1956) from old magazines, catalogues, advertising and films.

Lipow begins in the first chapter - pre-1900 - at the very beginnings of glasses, charting the history of the early optical devices. There are lorgnettes, optical fans, scissor spectacles, pince-nez and monocles, but it's the second chapter on 1900-1945 in which you really begin to appreciate the extent of his glasses collection.

I was intrigued by the story linking sunglasses and billiard balls, and the detail provided around some early cat's eye designs and driving glasses is enlightening. Eyewear is providing Eye Wear Glasses with some much need early eyewear education! Brands to be found in this chapter include Shuron, American Optical, Bachman Bros and Montgomery Ward and some Bausch & Lomb aviators from the 1940s. There's even a pair of 1920s protective glasses from the Soviet Union.

The middle section covers the post-war sunglass boom, between 1945 and 1960. Find out here how the demise of ornamental hair combs is linked to eyewear manufacture. And it's from here on in that the book becomes an absolute joy with page after glorious page of amazing eyewear designs. The chapter on the 1960s is superb, with a focus on op-art, featuring contributions from Silhouette, Pierre Cardin, Spec-Trim, Renauld, Ray-Ban, Paulette Guinet, Oliver Goldsmith, Pierre Marly, Oleg Cassini (below) and American Optical (next down).

Continues below...

Above: Shutter sunglasses by Alain Mikli. Above those: are Italian metal sunglasses from Maga Design. And the big blue ones above those are Futura sunglasses from Silhouette. These final three feature in the final chapter, The Age of the Licensed Brand which features yet more amazing styles from Christian Dior, Bollé, Cazal, Moschino by Persol, and some astonishing Jean-Paul Gualtier sunglasses by Murai of Japan.

I particularly like the inclusion of Taiwan or Korea-made sunglasses alongside the Western brands, and Lipow describes the ramifications of Asian-made eyewear on the West's eyewear industries; he even features a Taiwanese "knockoff" of Alain Mikli's famous 'Picasso' 030 frame, directly opposite the genuine spectacle.

Moss Lipow's book is a eyewear design treasure trove, providing exactly the visual history its title promises. It's eyewear eye-candy, at times you don't know where to look! His writing is entertaining and informative and includes numerous little-known gems. But this book is first and foremost about the images, approximately 1,200 of them and every one is presented at a scale such that you can spot wonderful detail. Well worth investing in!

Hover over images for photo credits.

Eyewear: A Visual History by Moss Lipow.
Published by Taschen. UK £34.99, US $59.99, €39.99. 360pp. English/German/French.
ISBN 978-3-8365-2565-7

Also available in Italian/Portuguese/Spanish.
€39.99. ISBN 978-3-8365-2780-4

Buy your copy here:
UK | USA | Deutschland 
España | France | Italia

2012 Eyewear: 12 designers, 12 frames (VIDEO)

Eye Wear Glasses returns from Silmo, the huge eyewear show in Paris, having caught up with 12 designers . They talk about 12 frames for 2012. Featuring contributions from Graz, Kirk Originals, Ron Arad at PQ Eyewear, Lena Hoschek, Oliver Goldsmith, Kilsgaard, ProDesign Denmark, Claire Goldsmith, Ørgreen, Lunettes Kollektion, TD Tom Davies and Blue Magic Eye.

MUSIC: Frigidaire by Delko

Original Alain Mikli 030 sunglasses in Hawaii, 1986

One day EWG will do a list of the most iconic eyewear styles ever. Until then I give you a snippet of what may appear in that list: Alain Mikli 030, aka 'Picasso'.

Above pictured by Alan Light, left an example from Zone7Style.

MATT acetate sunglasses from Alain Mikli are available now...

As featured on Eye Wear Glasses late last year, here are a couple more from Alain Mikli's MATT collection, now becoming widely available:  AL1069 and AL1070. Retailing for $545.

Alain Mikli MATT acetates - classy camo eyewear from France

Eyewear fans will see more matt finishes in 2011 but few frames will be as classy as these colourful, camouflage-inspired from Alain Mikli's "MATT" glasses collection.

These four frames not only benefit from outstanding acetate finishes, they come with inspiring, original contours, that you come to expect from Mikli. As well as the classy acetate and the designer's signature gap hinge, these glasses also feature ROK technology, a manufacturing method that ensures the material does not deform over time. Hover over frame for model numbers...

Available from top opticians all over the world.

Alain Mikli 2011 sunglasses - more acetate ingenuity

One of the biggest eyewear events in the world is only weeks away and the big names are already promoting their latest wares. Here the fantastic French framemaker Alian Mikli tempts us with this sturdy-looking curved acetate sunglass for 2011.

Who makes Jo Brand's black and white glasses? Alain Mikli, that's who

Primetime UK television got the twitterati talking this week when Jo Brand presented Have I Got News For You wearing an unusual, asymmetric pair of black and white glasses.

To be honest they didn't go down very well in most tweets; eyewear ignorance prevailed.

But Eye Wear Glasses thought they were bloody brilliant. Alain Mikli at his best. The style worn was AO715.

If you want to see how these Alain Mikli specs look on Jo Brand you can watch HIGNFY on iPlayer here... Until the BBC takes it down on Friday... Oh, and you can only watch this if you're in the UK.

Must do more on Mikli... Thanks to contactsandspecs, who sell the above specs, for the picture.

Alain Mikli - yours truly in luxury Devo sunglasses

People occasionally comment on my bold eyewear...

These astonishing Alain Mikli A0109-04 sunglasses during our fun at last week's Orgreen do at the Eye Company - they're limited edition Miklis but reminded of those Devo glasses from the 80s, only a tad more glam.

Tag Heuer 27 degrees of invisible hinge - a sunglasses design classic

Anyone following a little more than average my optical obsession will have noticed a slight compulsion towards hinges. Mykita has two great hinges, IC! Berlin one, Alain Mikli another (probably more), Face à Face another, Lindberg has a screwless affair and Silhouette has none at all. There are more.

Swiss watch brand Tag Heuer launched its invisible hinge in the early 2000s, with its first eyewear collection, "27 degrees". Unlike those above, its clever hinge is hidden, "invisible" even.

Some kind of mathematical magic means that by cutting the temple at 27 degrees, you cannot see inside it: open, closed or anywhere in-between.

Acclaimed British designer Ross Lovegrove was the man with the 27-degree plan - genius.

Look and learn. The video gives you an idea, but the guy from Sunglassesavantgarde.com underplays the hinge big time.

Alain Mikli glasses - check mate

A classic Alain Mikli look.

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.