Polaroid unveiled its latest sunglass designs to the media and a small number of practitioners in London recently.
The launch event, jointly held with distributor Norville at The Sloane Club in Chelsea, showcased the new Best Under the Sun collection. The 10-frame range re-creates some of the company’s most stylish designs from the 1930s to the 1980s, but is made from contemporary materials. Polaroid explained that each design was an iconic representation of a particular decade, reflecting the keynote fashions of the time.
‘The 1930s style Swing is a rounded, soft-coloured frame reminiscent of the sophisticated Fred and Ginger top hat and tails fashion of the day,’ explained Rebecca Harwood Lincoln, Polaroid’s sales manager for the UK and Ireland. She revealed that the 1940s, which saw the first development of the Polaroid teardrop lens shapes, were represented by Victory.
Marilyn and Broadway, two cat's eye frames, represented the ‘showbiz style’ of the 1950s. The generous frames and graduated lenses of Memphis were designed to be evocative of the 1967 summer of love, while vivid styling characterises the 1970s designs, Donna, Flower and Rebel. The 1980s models in the collection feature big frames in strong colours with graduated lenses.
Aside from Best Under the Sun, 1950’s ‘high society’ fashions have inspired Polaroid’s 2011 sunglass collection; strings of pearls, cashmere sweaters and blue blazers were the style and colour palette inspiration, said Harwood Lincoln.
The men’s frames come in classic colours, including dark gun and light gold, with retro-inspired features such as double bridges and integrated temple detailing, while lens colours include smoky browns and blue-blacks. Smooth designs and soft lines characterise the women’s collection with big ‘hide-me’ frames giving way to sleeker, more flattering medium-sized models. Diamonds and decorative flourishes still feature on the sides, but in a discreet fashion.
For what Polaroid described as ‘the growing street-style market’, it has developed a retro-influenced collection of sunglasses centring on classic frame-styles with mirror lenses. Aviators are in all colours, tailored shapes and sizes, while sharp black frames with pitch black lenses also cater for the street-style market.
A selection of point of sale materials and merchandisers to complement the new collection will be available for practitioners. Polaroid said that a major marketing campaign would also support the range in the UK press and online. The collection is available now from Norville.
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