Last week I spent some time in the highly impressive sunglasses heaven also known as the Oliver Peoples headquarters. At Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, they know how to make some serious covetable spectacles.
As with most creative processes, it all starts with some the inspiration. With Andy Warhol being a recurring favorite for their Sheldrake frame, next seasons styles are inspired by the natural colors of the spices and fabrics to be found at the Grand Bazaar in Turkey.
I spoke to the brands Design Director (how cool is that job?!) Lise Tyler about the rest of the process of creating a pair of sunglasses, how she keeps things new and interesting and asked her for her own personal favorites.
Every part of a millimeter counts.
Lise started working at Oliver Peoples 18 years ago, just 7 years after Larry Leight founded the brand in 1987 after he spent ten years of getting experience in the industry as an optician, fitting people with their frames, cutting lenses, etc. The Design Director explains that at that time, frames were really big, colorful and kind of crazy and then Larry showed up with these 20′s, 30′s and 40′s inspired frames that all the editors and stylists fell head over heels in love with when he personally showed them his collection.
So, with all these sunglasses brands out there, how do you keep things new and refreshing?
“Ironically, one of the reasons is because we have a lot of history and heritage and therefor are very clear on what our philosophy, aesthetics and our brand DNA is. Nowadays, the vintage inspired look is a thing and all the brands are kind of doing it, but Oliver Peoples started that whole look.
We are super passionate about what we do, Larry is very involved with everything and we are not really about what is the trend. We are in this wonderful position to just design what we think is beautiful and it is very instinctive and intuitive, really organic and authentic in that way. It is whatever we think is beautiful at the time we come up with it and because of that, sometimes we are even a bit ahead.”
A crazy amount of acetates to choose from (ps: tortoise and gradient frames take more time and are harder to make).
The brand itself is not visible on the frames and yet very recognizable. What is your secret?
“Discrete branding is really intentional, it has been that way since the beginning and it is an important part of our philosophy. This way our customer has to discover the brand and will mostly have their own story on how they discovered it. People either know it or they do not. If they have been introduced to it, they love it. It is kind of that discoverability that we think is cool.
Let’s say you see an image in a magazine and the brand is not credited. It makes it a little hard to find out what it is, so by the time you do find it, it has been kind of a journey.
Also, I think it is the little details that go into a frame. Our acetate frames are all custom made by an Italian manufacturer that has been around since 1849. We regularly go to Italy, dig through the archives, dusting off the plastic – it’s all dusty – and we find these amazing colors that we will then re-introduce or tweak a little bit. We could also find buttons at a Parisian market that we get color matched… Or we find some tigers eye or lapis that we send to be custom colors. There is this tortoise color called Cocobolo* that people will ask for, which is amazing.
Our lenses are exclusive to us too. Apart from this, there are some other subtle details that will tell it is Oliver Peoples. The core wire has our logo repeated on it and some frames will have the logo on its temple tips. That is behind the ear, so you will not see it, but you will know it is there.”
Is there any style that is your personal favorite?
“Is it ok if I show you my favorites of this week? I could not just pick one, so I will go with the Jacey, because it feels fantastic, it is glamourous and very feminine. I hate to reference Audrey Hepburn, but it is that.
Then also the Alisha, it is something really fun and fresh and the Sheldrake, since it is our classic**.”
The store at 8642 Sunset Boulevard.
Lise adds that if you are looking for a new pair of sunglasses, one should choose like choosing a pair of shoes.
“Firstly, what is the occasion? Is it going to be an everyday frame for work? Go for something timeless like black or tortoise. Get a frame with polarized lenses if you are going to the beach, because those kind of lenses will make you squint less (which means less wrinkles…). It really depends on the event you are going to use it for. Then look at fit – it should not be too low or too high on your nose or touch your cheeks when you smile – and of course what fits your personal taste.”
Ok, so I always just randomly picked my frames on whether I liked them or not and to be honest did not even know what all the special lenses were meant to be for. After this conversation, I will not be just picky about the frames, but also about the rest of the little details that go into a pair of sunglasses. With these still being my current favorites.
* Zooey Deschanel wears this color as Jess throughout the whole first season of New Girl.
** It is the one inspired by Andy Warhol.
Source:
http://www.afterdrk.com/how-sunglasses-are-made/