Category Archives: Fashion

Makeup tips for girls who rock glasses

Posted on by

Glasses definitely make a style statement, but your eyes can get lost beneath your frames unless you adjust your makeup.

“Being a beauty expert, I’ve always been aware of how dlasses can transform the face and wanted to take the mistery out of how to choose the right glasses”- Bobbi Brown, founder and chief creative officer of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics Inc.

Here are her favorite ways to make your eyes pop from behind your lenses she decribes in “Everything Eyes” by Chronicle Books.

  • Eyeliner is key; it really adds definition from behind your lenses.
  • Always define your brows with a shadow the same shade as your hair color. This ensure that your glasses don’t overpower your face.
  • The glass in your frames can hightlight undereye discoloration and darkness, so corrector and concealer underneath the eye and in creases is essential.
  • Waterproof mascara won’t smage on your lenses.
  • If you have strong frames, you can get away with stronger makeup.
  • If your frames are delicate, or in a nude shade, don’t let your makeup overpower your frames. Choose softer colors for shadow and create definition with a dark liner and mascara.
  • The color of your eye shadow shouldn’t compete with the color of your glasses. If you want to do the same color as your frames on your eyelids, try a base hue that’s a shade lighter, and go a few shades darker for the crease color. Finish with black liner and mascara.
  • For an easy look, go with a bold color on your lips and just corrector, concealer, and mascara for your eyes. Put on your glasses and you’re done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.  An eye shadow color that is lighter and brighter than your frames will stand out, instead of competing with your glasses.

2.  When you have a mix of confident colors on your hair, lips, and frames, kep your eye makeup simple and clean with only a little liner and mascara.

3.  White frames highlight both your eye and makeup colors, making them a great choice to pair with statement eye makeup.

4.  Bold liner, with minimal shadow, looks amazing with thick, oversize frames.

 

Don’t go to Brooklyn to find Brooklyn Spectacles, they are here!

Posted on by

Established in April 2012 and based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn Spectacles grows fast. Inspired by the challenging requests of her Brooklyn customers, Jenny Ma, the founder, has composed a collection that matches their expectations. She creates quality-crafted eyewear inspired by local independent artists, musicians and trendsetters.

Brooklyn Spectacles offers a wide array of frames all with bold designs, quality craftsmanship and a comfortable fit.

“Our mission is to design eyewear that is fashion-forward, interesting and technologically advanced. We believe the future of eyewear fashion is the discovery of styles beyond the ordinary.”

We presently offers two Brooklyn Spectacles collections: Wood Collection and Classic Collection. The Wood Collection is not made with real timber. While the frames are made of plastic, they have a finish that makes them appear to be wooden which provides the unique look of genuine wood while enjoying the comfort of the versatile synthetic material. The Classic Collection is a traditional polished or matte acetate with invisible hinge.

The collection is inspired by the bustling atmosphere of the neighborhood. We offer solid neat frames for a very competitive price range of $195. These frames are perfect not only for wearers looking for a fresh new look and feel but for those patients looking for a hip new style.

 

Contemporary glasses from the heart of Brooklyn New York, come take a look at our great new brand Brooklyn Spectacles.

 

Elegant and sophisticated. New Dita Eyewear.

Posted on by

Model STATESMAN is availiable at Providence Optical

John Juniper and Jeff Solorio founded DITA in Los Angeles in 1996 with the mission to create innovative, finely crafted eyewear with a totally unique look and feel. They always shared the same passion for photography and design. Together they were inspired to capture their passions not just on film but in eyewear as well, thus creating the first collection of Dita frames.

Frames FOLSOM and VIDA

Edgy yet elegant with an East meets West aesthetic and design influences ranging from Hollywood’s glamorous Golden Age to the mechanized beauty of the Industrial Revolution, DITA’s ability to enhance and transform a wearer’s persona has earned the brand a cult-like following amongst the world’s most influential celebrities, stylists and trendsetters. Dita became a well-known company in Europe.

Dita is an independent and somewhat underground brand for edgy, unique people with style of their own. The frames are based on traditional shapes but morphed in the design and technology to be unique and original.  

 

While the design is made in Los Angeles, Dita Eyewear manufacture in Japan,  in some of the oldest and the most respected factories dedicated exclusively to producing eyewear which use laborious combination of traditional and modern production techniques and technologies to transform the world’s finest metals and acetates into luxurious eyewear. Dita eyewear is an innovative and unique juxtaposition of timeless elegance and mechanical chic dedicated to creating original artistic statements.

Come to experience the exquisite quality and beauty of Dita!

SINTRA in crystal cream color

 

Award winning eyewear is here!

Posted on by

Silmo Ceremony where Lucas de Staël won the Silmo d’Or for the Best Optical frame.

There’s something about a repeat winner.  Think Serena Williams, Tom Hanks, Peyton Manning, Lebron James, Meryl Streep.  You can rely on such people to give you an amazing performance again and again.  In the world of eyewear, Lucas de Staël has become a repeat winner, as he walks away once again with best ophthalmic frame design award from this year’s Silmo d’Or – the eyewear version of the Academy Awards. For a run-down of his previous Silmo award, see our blog posting of Oct. 17, 2012.

We’re proud to say that we’ve been working with De Staël for a long time. First, he brought us his innovative Undostill and Suprematic lines, which revolutionized the industry by creating frames from a single piece of steel with no hinges.  His next adventure was to craft frames of out of leather, including his Minotaure line, made of  cow skin, and separate collection made of goat-skin, which he dubbed “Monsieur Seguin”. The frames have hinged temples and high calibre stainless steel between layers of leather for durability. But don’t think boring leather shades like in shoe wear.  Think attention-getting mod colors.

Production of Minotaure cow-leather line at Lucas de Staël studio in Paris.

Fronts from Minotaure line.

His latest innovation is eyewear made of genuine stone like granite, slate and pearl schist. He has two lines using thin stone cuts, “Stratus” and “Petrus”. “Stratus” uses a combination of stone, steel and leather. “Pertus” frames have a stone front and stone temples. The the material is so thin that it actually bends.  Again, de Staël used a metal skeleton to provide support while minimizing weight.

Presentation of “Petrus” at Silmo 2014

Lucas de Staël and Onega Astaltsova at his studio in Paris

Fascinated by this unparalleled ingenuity, we visited de Staël’s studio-factory in Paris to see the manufacturing process for ourselves.  The site is as innovative as the eyewear it produces.  The two-story glass building nestled between two typical city buildings is light, spacious and well-organized.  Inside are machinery and tools created by de Staël and his team.  They have to create their own because no other technology can manipulate the natural frame materials in this unique way or produce such meticulous results.  For example, the layers of the frame have to line up with a minuscule 0.05 mm tolerance.

Production

Sheet of slate for “Petrus” line gives matté finish to the frame.

Since 2016 Undostrial line is available in asian, also known as universal fit.

Fall Holiday 2014: Garrett Leight New Releases

Posted on by

Amélie Pichard for GLCO: Frame “Pamela” with sparkling acetate on the front and in the lenses.

California based frame maker Garrett Leight and French shoes and bags designer Amélie Pichard launch this fall a limited series of solar retro glamor eyewear.

The singular frame shape presented in different color versions to express three very different personalities of feminity: Grace Jones for her fierce and fearless nature, Juliette Lewis the tomboy and Pamela Anderson the lively bombshell. This timeless line is composed of all classic features of Amélie Pichard aesthetics like glitter, sparkles, and radiance. Sparkles are present on the frame, incorporated in the acetate or on the lenses.

Amélie is everything that she claims her brand to be: dreamy but realistic, masculine but terribly sophisticated. She makes shoes in her image: timeless, surreal, and glamorous, but fitted to everyday life.

                  

For this season, Garrett Leight California Optical is also releasing new models for his own collection. It is about a return to classics. You will see some familiar shapes in rich new acetate colors and larger sizes.

Stop by Providence Optical and check them out. We will offer a 10% discount on all GLCO frames for the Holidays!

 

Don’t be fooled by the name: “Conservatoire International de Lunettes”

Posted on by

Alfredo Salazar, Paris-based Mexico-born photographer  in model 404 by Conservatoire International de Lunettes.

As we introduce New Englanders to an amazing and diverse collection that we discovered on a trip to Europe last month, we thought it appropriate to explain a little about the name Conservatoire International de Lunettes, which playfully juxtaposes truth and a little bit of fantasy.

Further seems forever, by Carlotta Cattaneo, an Italian graphic designer. Interpretation of model 107 for Conservatoire International de Lunettes.

Truth:  It really does involve a conservatory  –  not just one creator, but a whole school of artists, philosophers (yes, philosophers!) and entrepreneurs with brilliant minds and incredible talent.  These frames express their varied cultural backgrounds and professional experiences of their creators. Artists from all over the world came with their diverse style and methods to illustrate their personal vision of Conservatoire glasses. They incorporated Conservatoire in  their art works.

 

To see or not to see by Luca Rossato, an Italian photographer. Model 107 for Conservatoire International de Lunettes.

Truth:  The Conservatoire International de Lunettes collection embraces the classics, like tortoiseshell acetate, and marries it to modern creativity, like transparent layered color inside the frame, or thin metal temples.  The result is classic reinterpreted in a sleek, sophisticated style.

   

 

Fiction:  The name Conservatoire International de Lunettes is French, but the company is Italian, based in Milan, fashion mecca and home of the finest optical acetate products in the world.

Visit us to experience the very best of Italian craftsmanship, design, technology and fashion.

Mad about Hue

Posted on by

 

Tons of colors for Summer

Now that the summer season is officially here, it’s time to think about your new summer look for the office, at play or when you’re trying to impress others at social gatherings.  There are 10 distinct trends and we offer a bit of advice on how to pair eyewear with your outfits for maximum impact.

1- Color inside the frame creates a subtle flash of hue when you tilt your head.

1- Pants suits:  Of course you want to look sophisticated when you wear a suit, but then you might find you can’t resist this summer’s offering of colorful stripes, solids and florals.  To project that executive aura, choose a classy tortoise frame that features speckles of a bright hue mixed in.  Or, if you want to show a little spunk, go for a frame that is a solid black or brown on the exterior, but with a splash of color on the inside of the frame that shows when you tilt your head.

2- This fluorescent pink frame will go with your crispy white shirt

2- Classic White:  What could be more quintessentially summer than white?  But let’s face it, white can be b-o-r-i-n-g all by itself.  Spice it up with frames in a fluorescent shade and you will turn heads wherever you go.

 

 

 

3- Double color front for Pastels

3- Pastels:  The essence of delicacy in the summer palette, pastels needs a little help to keep them from falling into the category of dull.  Opt for eyewear with double colors to balance the understated tone of a pastel outfit.

 

 

 

4- Clean and refined matte nylon frame for sport inspired trend.

4- Sport Motifs:  The fashion runways this year featured sports-inspired fare such as varsity jackets, tennis-inspired dresses, baseball caps and stripy trims reminiscent of jogging-wear.  Follow through on this theme with lightweight nylon frames in playful colors.

 

 

 

5- Solid bright color frame with distinct shape to balance a classy black and white outfit.

5- Black and White:  This summer classic projects a clean, crisp look, but it risks being a little too unimaginative.  Add contrast and an element of playful shock with brightly colored frames in an edgy shape.

 

 

 

6- Matte finish available in different frames materials will tone down iridescent hues of your outfit.

6- Iridescent:  We love shiny, sparkly stuff for the summer, but it can be a little “too too” if your accessories also are shiny.  Tone it down a little with matte eyewear that balances your look.

 

 

 

 

7- Eyewear with a single distinctive line to go with any mesh clothes

7- Mesh:  Trendy and cool for the summer, mesh has a complex array of overlapping strong lines.  To avoid creating competing drama – or the opposite extreme:  a whimpy counterpart – choose eyewear with a single distinctive line.

 

 

 

8- Wear skin tone pastels eyewear with bright graphic sweaters.

8- Luxe Sweatshirts/Sweaters:

Another great look for this summer is a sweater or sweat shirt with bright splashes of color.  Don’t set up a competition with equally bright frames.  Instead, opt for understated eyewear in skin tone or a pale pastel shade.

 

 

This deep blue makes a bold yet classy statement.

Blue for Guys:  Great news for guys who are tired of elegant and classy, but somewhat boring, black accessories:  Blue is the new black.  Go for a strong look with navy or dark blue, opt for a more playful, sporty look with bright blue, or put on a sophisticated air with a distinctive but understated gray-blue.

 

 

9- Wear skinny lines, thin glasses with a trend.

9- Bold Geometrics:  Nothing says “fun” like a summer ensemble with a color block pattern or strong geometric shape in bold colors.  To echo, but not outdo, the look with your eyewear, choose thin frames with a distinctive look, either in a complementary bold tone or in an understated neutral hue.

10- With his Google Glass, Google launched the trend of wearable technology.

10-Wearable Technology:

 Available in 5 colors, Google Glass will definitely suits with any outfits.  Your Glass will follow you anywhere and will made technology available any time. The eyewear by Google has already reached the upper echelons of influence. It was featured in Vogue Magazine and has accessorized coral and turquoise garments at the Diane Von Furstenberg Runway Show during New York’s Fashion Week for Spring 2013.

How to choose Eyewear for 2014?

Posted on by

When people look at your face, the focal point – the first thing they see – is your eyewear.  It literally projects your image outward.  Don’t play it safe by hiding behind conservative (a polite word for “boring”) glasses.  Look for frames that make you smile when you open the case or pick them up from the dresser in the morning.  If you find eyewear that really expresses your inner self, you will exude an air of confidence and you’ll make those around you smile too.

Here are some style tips to help you make the right choice (or choices!)

What Works for Hue?

Don’t be afraid of color.  Both metal and plastic eyeglass frames come in a wide array of hues.  The key is to pick a color as an accent, not as something to blend with your wardrobe.  Matchy-matchy is a big no-no for 2014.  (Think 1980s bright red lipstick with bright red blouse — gack!) Accent colors are more interesting and can work with a whole wardrobe palette.

 

Get in Shape!

Like color, the shape of your eyeglass frame has to work with your face.  In general, you will look best in a frame that is the opposite shape as your face.  For example, if your face is very round, square or rectangular frames will provide geometric balance.  Similarly, if your face is very long and rectangular, don’t accentuate the length with glasses that have a huge up and down dimension.  Look for rectangular frames – ones that are wider than they are tall – to break up the long line of your face.  Or, soften the sharp angles of your jawline with frames that have rounded contours.

 

Color of the Year – We Have It

 

 

Pantone – the ultimate authority on color trends and matches for everything from printing ink to watches – has announced its Color of the Year for 2014:  Radiant Orchid.  It’s a sophisticated blend of fuchsia, purple and pink that changes hues depending on its surroundings.  Infused with the magical quality associated with purple, this color blend color sparks with energy and evokes a feeling of joy and well-being.

If you’re wondering how it looks in eyewear, feast your eyes on some samples from our collection:

 

2014 offers variety of interpretation on classic shapes like cat, Panto and rectangular. Skinny frames, made of light weight materials are so in