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  • Faust
    kitsch killer
    • Sep 2006
    • 37852

    Sunglasses > IT Bag?



    IHT/NYT think maybe so. What say you?


    Love your sunglasses (should I know you?)





    Thursday, July 10, 2008




    THE
    Ilori store in SoHo must be one of the only sunglass emporiums with a
    VIP room. Lounging there with a flute of Moët, nibbling dark chocolate,
    shoppers can ponder just the right accessory to create the allure that
    they are Somebodies.





    Will these Tom Ford wood-and-steel aviators convince onlookers that
    my natural habitat is the red carpet? Will Ralph Lauren's $350 shades
    suggest I have stepped off a yacht in Edgartown?





    To see for themselves, shoppers can peer into six full-length
    mirrors around the store, the better to coordinate their eyewear and
    their entire outfit. This is what appealed to Olivia Munoz, who was
    scrutinizing her image from head to toe recently while trying on the
    wares. "I'm beginning to love sunglasses as much as I love shoes and
    bags and jewelry," said Munoz, 21, a student at the University of
    Mississippi. She added somewhat sheepishly, as if to justify her
    splurge, "It's going to be my birthday."





    Munoz typifies the shopper who has diverted her spending from Stella
    McCartney tunics and Balenciaga totes into high-priced designer
    sunglasses. Ilori, a chain that also has stores in Los Angeles, Las
    Vegas and Honolulu, seems to have positioned itself perfectly in a
    season when statement sunglasses are one luxury that consumers are
    still willing to splurge on.





    Prices for designer sunglasses have jumped to $350 or more in recent
    months, from an average of $250, retailers say, and the price spike has
    not turned off shoppers. "The youth of America has discovered
    sunglasses to be the aspirational and prestige item of the moment,"
    said Marshal Cohen, a senior analyst with the NPD Group, a market
    research firm. He predicts, "Sunglasses will replace the handbag as the
    image item" among teenage girls and young women.





    While sales of handbags declined 14 percent in the last year,
    according to NPD, total sales in the $3 billion eyewear industry rose
    by 10 percent, even while the number of individual glasses sold has
    slackened ? an indication there has been significant growth at the
    upper end of the market, Cohen said.





    Why are designer sunglasses bucking the downturn of other luxury
    goods? Retailers and other fashion authorities cite It-bag fatigue
    (women have bought more bags in recent years than they can store in
    their closets), whereas sunglasses are still a novel way to acquire the
    cachet of a designer brand.





    Sunglasses at the top rung of the price ladder are in step with
    trends, changing shapes and colors seasonally to reflect the whims of
    buyers. This summer, a heightened enthusiasm for aviator and wraparound
    frames and vintage Jackie O styles is contributing to their status as
    the luxury accent of the hour.





    Designers are playing into shoppers' desire to be recognized, at
    least by those in the know, by downplaying big logos and incorporating
    more subtle signals of provenance. Bottega Veneta offers frames with
    woven leather insets that are recognizable to connoisseurs of the
    house's hand-woven leather goods. Prada butterfly frames echo the
    motifs of the brand's recent runway collections. Chrome Hearts frames
    are embellished with sterling bolo designs and leather trim reflective
    of the company's rough-rider image.





    Such stealth-wealth signifiers appeal to Sylvia Toporkiewicz, a
    visitor from Poland, who was browsing late last month at the Sunglass
    Hut on Spring Street in SoHo. She weighed the hip factor of a pair of
    crystal-encrusted Versace frames against some equally costly but
    understated Ray-Ban glasses, choosing the Ray-Bans, because, she
    explained, "I don't want to look Paris Hilton."





    She is among those turning their backs on ostentatious styling, and
    especially on the owlishly super-size frames popularized a few years
    back by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, in favor of scaled-down rectangles
    in bi-colored plastic, imitation tortoise shell, wood, titanium or even
    gold.





    Over all, "people are leaning towards the classics in rich
    materials," said Richard Talmadge, the chief operating officer for
    Safilo, which makes Balenciaga, Jimmy Choo and Valentino eyewear. The
    company's best sellers include Marc Jacobs aviators and
    television-screen-shaped plastic frames worthy of Anouk Aimée in "La
    Dolce Vita."





    The most coveted styles have a candidly patrician cast. "They look
    back to the 1970s," said Jayne Mountford, a trend consultant in Los
    Angeles. "They represent the iconic look of the jet setter."





    In contrast to the '70s originals, which made people seem aloof or
    anonymous, contemporary variations often feature gradient lenses that
    are tinted on top and clear below ? a more approachable look.





    "Sunglasses aren't armor anymore ? they're not about saying don't
    touch me," said Ed Burstell, the vice president for cosmetics and
    accessories for Bergdorf Goodman in New York. Among the more rarefied
    labels at Bergdorf are Bulgari, Bottega Veneta, Alexander McQueen, Marc
    Jacobs, Chanel and Barton Perreira, a six-month-old brand coveted by
    aficionados.





    In the fall, the store plans to expand its already large sunglasses
    boutiques by 25 percent. Bergdorf prices range from about $300 to $750
    for a high-end tortoise-rim version of Ray-Ban's Wayfarers, or $1,395
    for frames from the brand Gold & Wood, which have diamond-studded
    temples.





    Despite the price, Burstell described luxury sunglasses as
    relatively accessible to shoppers used to paying in the thousands for
    bags or dresses, a "fashion purchase that doesn't break the bank."





    The demand for luxury sunglasses has spurred designers to quickly
    affix their logos to the latest styles, including some designers who
    had not previously had eyewear lines. The roster includes established
    giants like Tom Ford, Karl Lagerfeld and Giorgio Armani, and
    cutting-edge brands like Stella McCartney, Proenza Schouler and
    Thakoon, some offering wares for both women and men.





    "Men have embraced sunglasses with a passion, and may even be
    driving sales," said James Spina, the editor in chief of 20/20, an
    eyewear monthly. "Unlike men's previous pet object, the watch, which
    half the time is covered by a sleeve, sunglasses are always visible, a
    kind of jewelry for the face. They give men an identity."





    Browsing at Ilori last month, Matthew Knoll, the owner of a catering
    company in New York, seemed inclined to that view. He was prepared to
    spend $400 or more for a distinctive look, he said, adding, "I don't
    want to see my sunglasses on someone else's face."





    Toporkiewicz continued to scour the Sunglass Hut for frames she
    hoped would compliment her steeply-angled cheekbones. She would be
    happy, she said, to spend $300 for a pair that gave her an
    old-fashioned Garbo-esque allure. "But if they are really nice," she
    added, "I would pay any price."






    Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

    StyleZeitgeist Magazine
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