An eyeful of Silmo

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Retro sunglasses continued their ascent at last month's exhibition in Paris, with retro optical frames not far behind. Rob Moss and Emma White report on new collections and emerging trends from the year's main event for eye fashion

Anyone making their way to Portes de Versailles on ligne 12 of the Paris Metro would probably have expected Silmo to play host to a little fashion plagiarism, but few would have foreseen the scale to which many designers are borrowing ideas from decades gone by.

The aviator, the chief retro model back in the spotlight, continued to fly high but it was joined by a cast of other retro styles preferring to look back beyond the 1970s and 80s to the 50s and 60s - albeit with a 21st century twist.

The biggest buzz of the exhibition came on the Marcolin stand with the launch of the former Gucci chief designer's sunglass collection of his own potential superbrand, Tom Ford. The atmosphere on the Marcolin stand this year and last were poles apart. Last year Silmo came just days after the company had lost Dolce & Gabbana to Luxottica, but this year visitors could sense the excitement as they thronged to get a glimpse of or even have their photo taken with Ford (see page 18).