Spectacles frames

Vintage waves

Rather than major new trends, designer brands explore and expand on the favourite themes that have dominated this year, with vintage references retaining their key position. References to the '50s, '60s, '70s and '80s are seen across the men's and women's collections. At Diesel, sunglasses are bold and oversized, and follow a glam rock theme, with trendy logo designs, metal/acetate contrasts and vibrant colour ways appearing. The optical frames are inspired by street couture. Unisex models come in metal and acetate, with a rectangular design. The women's acetate frames feature an interesting effect using transparency, in shades of black/beige, purple/Bordeaux or cyclamen/Havana pink. Milan-based Versace, whose collections are produced by Luxottica, are offering a new prescription eyewear range that follows the elegant style the fashion house has long followed. Classic Medusa and Greek fret patterns embellish the frames, with diamante playing an important role in the women's styles. For men, the rectangular frames superimpose and alternate acetate with metal in an "unexpected combination". For women, Versace has produced a collection of elegant black and white sunglass styles featuring an elegant floral motif.

The Emanuel Ungaro collection, produced by Visibilia proposes optical frames enriched with luxurious appliqué and intertwined details. A Baroque theme connects the optical and sunglass collections; sunglass style is one of the most spectacular models in the collection, featuring an inlaid metal embellishment on the temple.

At Tom Ford, inspiration is rooted in the vintage theme, and particularly the '50s and the '70s. The '50s inspired men's Browline frame is refined and simplified into two new shapes, one which is compact and square and a second which is wider and more rounded. The women's optical frames by Tom Ford are modelled on the shapes in the sunglass collection, and include an exaggerated cat's eye with extra wide temples.

Classical colour choices are a key element of the optical lines for the coming season. These include black and white, light brown, tortoise, and beige as seen at Guy Laroche (from Optim), Blumarine (Visibilia), Pucci (Marchon), Gucci (Säfilo) and Gianfranco Ferre (Allison). Fresh eye-catching shades such as pink, yellow, violet, red and green were also represented through the optical lines at Miss Sixty (Marcolin), Moschino (Allison), Gucci (Säfilo), DKNY (Luxottica) and many other ranges. Brand names and logos continue to appear on temples as statements and high-impact decorative features. Subtle branding is also easily found, with names like Burberry (Luxottica) and Missoni (Allison) exhibiting their brand name using small lettering, intricately e-g'a.ec for a more subtle identification. Other brands move their logos or insignia away from the temple to another part of the frame: look for logos positioned on tips or even on the inside of the frame.

Decoration continues to be elaborate and playful. The women's optical ranges explore a wide range of motifs, from stars and flowers, to inlaid patterns and diamante detailing, which remains the most popular form of decoration in many of the high-end designer collections.

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