September 2011 - EyeWearGlasses

Sir Winston Churchill with Franklin D Roosevelt, Casablanca, 1943. Photo courtesy of the Franklin D Roosevelt Library and Museum ; version date 2009 CW Dixey & Son is the oldest independent eyewear company in the world. Its history straddles four centuries and its frames have been worn by an A-list unlike any other. The current owners of CW Dixey have spent the past couple of years creating the above collection, the centrepiece of which is Chartwell 01, replicas of the round glasses worn by Churchill. These are directly above, and at the top on the red background, alongside Chartwell 02, which is a remake of Churchill's reading glasses. Both frames are handmade in France from original dimensions, using the best Mazzuchelli acetates in light and dark tortoiseshell and black. There are then seven other limited edition frames (Chartwell 03 and 07 are featured above) in the collection which bring together sophisticated designs of the 50s and 60s to the modern day. So hats off to CW Dixey & Son - it's created a great new collection. But if there wasn't the back-story, the distinguished patrons, the coat of arms, the amazing history, this collection would still stand out as being extremely well made. I've had all nine styles in my hands and there tip top quality. Worth every penny of the £380+ price tag. Oh, one more thing: the spectacle cases are pretty fine too! HISTORY & PATRONS Forget Lady Gaga, Rihanna and the rest of the paparazzi's targets of today; how about Sir Winston Churchill for a little endorsement? Impressed? Then read on, because CW Dixey has the most astonishing list of customers I've ever come across. As well as Churchill, there are no fewer than 10 other British prime ministers, including: Harold Macmillan , Sir Alec Douglas-Home , Ramsay MacDonald and the Duke of Wellington . Who else? How about Queen Victoria ? Yes, alongside Prince Albert , George VI , V , IV and III . I could go on. Okay, a few more: Ian Fleming , Peter Sellers , Tennessee Williams , Boris Karloff .... the list is endless. Did I mention Napolean Bonaparte ? He had a telescope rather than spectacles but that's what Dixey did too. It was "Optician and Mathematical Instrument Maker". CW Dixey had premises at 3 Bond Street, London, below, which was sadly bombed in World War II.

Having deservedly won numerous awards for its great wooden frames Austrian glasses specialist Rolf Spectacles have created another first in the run up to Silmo, the year's big optical show in Paris in three weeks... Glasses made from stone! "The material stone with its strong structure brings a new surface into the optical industry. With the combination of the light material wood the frame provides a high wearing comfort," says Rolf in a pre-Silmo statement. Definitely a highlight of the year - I look forward to trying a pair out! In a nod perhaps to the Flintstones, the frame is called Dino.

HiStyley has been providing occasional images for Eye Wear Glasses for a while now but the LA streetstyle site has surpassed itself this time. Above is a picture from Melrose Street featuring what appear to be a pair of 1965 André Courrèges white Eskimo shades - Courrèges4 to be exact. Inspired by Inuit snow goggles , Courrèges' shades, made in France, are extremely sought after. Right, an image from Courrèges' 1965 spring-summer collection and below a pair from the M Vintage Sunglasses Collection . Indeed M is selling this pair . With thanks to HiStyley and M for the images.

Stylist Amelian Kashiro Hamilton wears big, bold, chunky, vintage Emmanuelle Khanh cat's eye sunglasses- with thanks again to HiStyley .

Wow! Look at the colour on these fantastic glasses from Kirk Originals . The new Beam and Sunbeam collections for 2012 are being launched at Silmo, the big eyewear show in Paris next week. These specs look amazing; but technically they're brilliant too. They're made of acrylic. Kirk Originals has been working on these for more than a decade and while the UK designer has been using acrylic for a while now in the temples, this is the first time it's made the front of this material too. Note the lack of any metal wire in the temple and the fantastic polish on the acrylic. Looking forward to trying a few of these on next week!

Having owned a Ron Arad Bookworm for the past decade, the prospect of the industrial designer/architect shaking up spectacle style is hugely exciting. So to learn today from my pals at The Optician that Arad is not only releasing a range of glasses next week but that they will go under the brilliant name, PQ Eyewear (follow link, take a look at the logo and then say it to yourself ). "When

Another Silmo d'Or nomination, this time for Face á Face. Inspired by Salvador Dali's Mae West lips sofa, these Senso sunglasses come in red or black. Genius!