Style Bubble

Clear Eyes

We're thinking there's some sort of special effects team working up in the skies of Beijing because I've thus far been here for two days with day one beginning like this.. intensely BLUE to the point where you can just about see Forbidden City from my hotel room...

Then I woke up on day two to find this... smog-infested beyond belief.    

I guess I won't be putting these new sunnies to good use then until I get back to London.  Finding out about sunglasses brands weren't really on my agenda or radar for this Asia trip but I found not one but two brands that are finding their own eyewear niche either within their own domestic market or on an international level.  ChairEYES is a Shanghai-based brand, designed by Yuan Chow, an ex-stylist who has been collecting vintage eyewear for years.  In search of the highest quality materials and eyewear craftsmenship, he began to create ChairEYES in Japan but has recently shifted production to Shanghai where he has found the right factories to show that Made in China (well, specifically Shanghai) can be as prestigious as Made in Italy/France/Japan).  The merit of a good pair of sunnies for me is normally in the weight, the feel of the acetate and the screw fixtures - all of which come up top notch in this pair of glasses called "Lance".  The finishing touches such as the embossed logo on the lens and the lovely curvaceous box seal the deal for me.  At just under RMB1000 (about £100), ChairEYES doesn't break the bank but of course in his own home turf, he comes up against stiff competition with all the glossiness of the big brands.  However Yuan feels that the younger generation of customers are starting to get a feel for locally-made, homegrown brands, hence why ChairEYES is in a good number of stores in Shanghai and Beijing.  ChairEYES is most definitely eyeing up ambitiously on being the first Chinese-grown designer sunglasses brand to break through internationally and it will be interesting to see how quickly that happens.  

................................................................................................

Moo Piyasombatkul is a mouthful but her glasses are certainly memorable, having already caused waves by having Lady Gaga as a patron.  Having graduated in jewellery from Central Saint Martins, Bangkok-born Moo embarked on her signature style of casting ceramic mouldings and applying them to vintage or deadstock styles of eyeglasses, making many of her sunglasses styles limited in quantity and physicaly precious because of the fragile nature of the mouldings.  I met up with her in Bangkok for a lovely afternoon tea, which is incidentally what partially inspired those delicate mouldings adorning her eyewear.  Opening Ceremony and Browns are already fans of Moo's work and she's also getting personal orders through her Facebook page.  A pair of Moo piyasombatkul glasses is quite an investment but then again, her eyewear isn't the throwaway, shove-it-in-a-soft-case type.  Even the velveted and cushioned case indicates that her eyewear is more like an ornate piece of jewellery.  I'll be wearing them with care...   

Super Eyes of the World

Being a one trick pony ain't such a bad thing when that trick is particularly good and completely distinctive.  Hope von Joel and Liam Motyer came together with her styling eye and his wood working skills and have steadily been building up their designs for Eye of the World, experimenting in their Peckham workshop with acrylic and wood to come up with statement belt accoutrements that immediately draw the eye directly to the waist.  Even with my now-properly-fattened up tum tum (there's not been a single day since the beginning of May during which some form of pork fat has passed through my lips), I wouldn't hesitate in donning an EOTW creation.  Neither a belt buckle or a clasp, rather they're objects that float on the body, becoming the centre of attention of any outfit. 

Their one sole trick however has just gotten a big upgrade.  For their new A/W 12-3 collection, it just got a whole lot more interesting as Liam and Hope have be busy expanding their use of different kinds of woods and different colours of acrylics, cutting up smaller sections, so that the designs are infinitely more intricate.  The name "Mayan Collection" is pretty self-explanatory as to where the collection was derived from and knowing that Hope and Liam have travelled extensively, they're unlikely to have picked on the theme in an arbitrary manner.   Hope and Liam bought their new collection over to my house for a cup of tea, so that I could marvel at each piece, holding them up to the light (one thing that my apartment isn't short of) to look at the way the different colours glisten against the different shades of wood.  The floating belt objects have become bigger, growing into large flat pyramid or semi-spherical centrepieces that require not one but two belt straps to wear on the waist.  As for Eye of the World's smaller jigsaw belt pieces that can be mixed and matched on the clear PVC belt, the patterns have become crazier as Liam plays with more diagonal lines, triangular sections and more bits of acrylic embedded against the wood.

Complicating the designs however, has not lessened the finish of every piece.  Like I said, holding each piece feels like a warmed up eroded pebble or a really lovely smooth marble in your hand.  The smoothness and flush edges feel incredibly satisfying.  If I was with Liam in D.T. (design and technology) class at school, I'd be a little green-eyed at his ability to get the final product pitch-perfect.   

Eye of the World have also expanded on belts to try and create neckpieces, which had yet to get the final finished fixtures and chains, when I saw them.  They're ambitious in size, with their giant U-shaped and slanted hexagonal breastplates that are again designed to draw the eye into their maze-like patterns.

They've taken their one trick and run away with it to the point where you start getting ambitious on their behalf, thoughts that have been with me ever since I saw their studio and workshop back in December.  Hope and Liam can certainly take their eye of the world and apply it to other areas, seeing things their way, should they want to.  

Crowning Moment

>> The Diamond Jubilee, the Olympics and all this ra-ra-ra-London stuff all seems terribly alien to me.  Having been out of London for well over a month, I haven't a clue what's going on, to the point where I had to check up on Google to see what bank holidays we had.  Turns out I had been completely oblivious to the fact that I'll be coming home to a FOUR day weekend.  That's reason enough for an animated GIF using ASOS' download n' cut-out crowns created by designers House of Holland, Danielle Scutt and Preen as well as illustrator Julie Verhoeven.  I'm not yet sure what exactly it is I'm coming home to but I can reassure myself that Heathrow will indeed be one big giant mess and that something kitsch and pretty will adorn my head.