Atelier Eyewear: the Future of Personalized Glasses

2013 brought Atelier Eyewear, a fashion-forward eyewear line that keeps infinite understanding of its customers. It brings, in a sense, the modern age of bespoke frames that are personalized for you.

Atelier Eyewear was founded by Tim de Rosen and Leslie Kent. They had worked for thirty-five years previous to this joint effort in various educational, internet-related, and marketing endeavors. Together they bring a sheer passion and love of the industry — along with a great drive of knowledge.

They understand the current styles in a different context; for example, they know that nerd glasses frames are “in” right now. But at the same time they have an inherent respect for classic fashion, for art history, and for the ingrained culture in the country around them. They aren’t creating Atelier Eyewear to simply cash-in on a here-today gone-tomorrow industry. They’re meant to stick around.

A Trip around the World

Atelier Eyewear’s initial spark grew in 2010 when Tim de Rosen began researching the market of custom made eyewear. He understood after only a few days that such specs were meant for only a privileged group of people. With prices in the thousand dollar range, he realized that many people had to simply “do without” glasses that fit their face shape or preserved their sense of style.

His research took him out of his comfort zone. He traveled across the world, taking stocks in places like Italy, England, Germany, and Japan. Truly, he turned over every leaf in the eyewear industry and utilized his understanding of world culture and world economics to analyse it. After months of travel and inspection, he stumbled upon a Chinese manufacturer in Shenzhen, southern China. It was fate.

Here in Shenzhen, Tim found a factory owner, a descendant of an original craftsman of personalized glasses who operated in the 19th century. The owner held a strong desire to recreate his ancestor’s eyewear manufacturing. He longed to create personalized, different pieces of eyewear for different people, and he had the understanding of the required skills and the talent to make his dream a reality.

However, he did not have the capital or the experience in the greater eyewear fashion world. Luckily, Tim de Rosen and Leslie Kent invested their experience and, of course, their capital to fuel the Chinese manufacturer’s dream.

Flash forward to present day. Tim de Rosen and Leslie Kent currently introduce an entire range of Sunglasses and Optical pieces. Each item reflects the old Chinese craftsmanship and retains assimilation to the past. They’ve placed state-of-the-art eyewear expertise in order to blast this cultured, beautiful craft into the present tense.

Why Do You Need Atelier?

Atelier Eyewear attempts to rejuvenate your life. If you wear glasses, you probably utilize them for some sixteen, seventeen hours every single day. And, if you don’t have a thousand dollars to casually throw at a fashion statement, you probably haven’t enlisted the assistance of a bespoke company. Therefore, your glasses do not fit you. Period.

This current time of big box companies has generally eliminated the old bespoke, artisan glasses. Because you are a person of the world, you’ve had to assimilate into mass production, therefore the glasses you currently wear are probably worn by some other, trendy individual a few miles away. Chances are, your face shape and your nose shape and your general, overall bone structure are completely different than that person’s. However, the mass production of eyeglasses hasn’t accounted for that.

Atelier Eyewear is bringing unique quality back into the industry. It’s utilizing state-of-the-art online technology in order to understand your precise measurements. You must simply send them your prescription over the Internet, and allow a special software to “fit” you into your designated pair of glasses.

Not only that, you can choose from some forty original styles in both acetate and metal. Currently, Atelier is offering forty colors and finishes to match your personality — or just Thursday’s outfit. When you receive your personalized eye piece, it will actually come with your name on it. At roughly half of the cost of normal tailored, crafted eyeglasses, Atelier Eyewear allows you to prescribe to the very real theory that you are unlike anyone else — and you deserve to feel that way.

Therefore, if you find yourself trying to dress in the current times: like, say, a hipster or a sort of ironic nerd, seek your custom-made glasses with Atelier. Find Buddy Holly styled glasses, shutter-shades, and Ray Ban Wayfarer styles.

As mentioned, Tim studied the thriving culture of eyeglasses and knows the history of each of these eclectic styles. He recommends that if you look for individuality and purpose in your life, you must merge from the box-store ideas of eyeglasses to the stylish, one-off, measured eyewear from Atelier. Only then can you be truly the chic version of yourself.

Oakley Glasses: the Spirit of Top Performance and Innovation

Designer eyewear brand, Oakley, couldn’t have stemmed from more humble — yet adventurous beginnings. Founder James Jannard was something of a renegade: a college drop out with a mind of his own. He spent an entire year roaming the Southwest on his motorcycle. In 1975 after time on the road, James found himself with revving ideas, with constant questions about industry standards with regards to motorcycles and other technologies.

As it happens, his questions were left unanswered in the greater community, so he went into business by himself with just three hundred dollars and his workshop: a garage. He proclaimed he would make products that not only looked better — but products that would work better than anything else on the market. James named his company “Oakley” after his dog.

Sounds Great, But What about Oakley Eyewear?

Jannard’s initial invention involved a particular kind of motorcycle handgrip. The handgrip was meant to formulate to the rider’s hand, rather than the rider’s hand trying to grip something it simply wasn’t meant to grip. This initial idea: to reverse the current item trends and create a user-friendly model, was the entire backbone for the Oakley brand.

Eventually, he created sportswear sunglasses — items that began as necessities and became luxurious and fashionable. Greg Le Mond, a cyclist in the Tour de France, wore a pair of Jannard’s sunglasses the same year he won, thus bringing the Oakley name to the world.

In fact, much of the Oakley name rides on celebrity endorsements. Andre Agassi, a renowned tennis player, sported the glasses for free because he liked Jannard — and he liked the style. Michael Jordan was seen wearing Oakley’s specs quite often as well.

Several decades after this initial marriage of technology and fashion, the brand finds itself at the top tier of eyewear luxury — striving for constant innovation. Oakley, Inc. does not make its eyewear available to the mass-market sales, therefore allowing the brand to remain high-end, on the exterior of the unfortunate drive toward “sameness” or lack of individuality growing in our current markets. With Oakley eyewear, you’re wearing something unique — something made for a particular purpose.

Innovative Technology with No Limits

Today, you can find a whole host of Oakley designer eyepieces, each with a fashionable and technological leap forward in the industry. Because of company’s dynamic history, each pair of glasses formulates a sports eyewear collection — one that allows movement and vibrant life while wearing the glasses. Jannard understood that life was full of adventure at a very early age, and his sense of joie de vivre translates well into his current lines.

The Oakley Crosslink Switch, for example, is a featured piece of Oakley eyewear. It brings a sense of modern, geek chic style, while also providing limitless utility. Like the rest of the line, the Crosslink Switch offers Oakley True Digital Technology and Oakley Stealth coating. But what are they all about?

Because Oakley grounds itself in the sporting world, its utilization of Oakley True Digital Technology is quite important. The lenses are developed with unique Dual Peripheral Technology — a know-how that formulates better motion recognition and peripheral vision. Any glasses wearer understands the importance of this; if you’re on the baseball field and the ball is coming from your right, for example, you wouldn’t be able to see it if your lenses didn’t wrap around a bit utilizing the True Digital, 3D technology. Furthermore, this “wrappage” provides comfort and ease for any shaped head.

Oakley Stealth coating is an advanced lens treatment on all company’s optic products. The coating is meant to be anti-reflective, better for sporting events, and optimal for durability. According to company’s reports, this technology maintains scratch-resistance, allowing your specs to create a seamless, clear vision. It further repels water, prevents streaks, and reduces smudge marks with an oleophobic and hydrophobic surface treatment.

Further Oakley optic technology offers ophthalmic-specific frames, or personalized frames for your face shape. After all, no two people should wear the same pair of glass because no two people have the exact same face shape. Oakley offers metal frames with intrinsic shape memory that allows the shape of your glasses to never falter.

Furthermore, Oakley Activated By Transitions SOLFX lenses are said to be the very first proper interchangeable prescription lens. The glasses can darken in sunlight and lighten in darkness automatically and much more quickly than any other transition lens on the market.

Partnership with Google Glass

The future of Oakley thrives in continued innovation. Its current transition to the first digital music eyewear, Oakley THUMP, brings music directly to your ear from your sunglasses.

Google Glass, a brand new technology that allows you to hold a computer on your eyeglasses for easy access, has recently partnered with Oakley and another high-end eyewear company, Ray Ban. Because Oakley has long held technology and fashion to a high standard, it is the perfect innovator to try to bring Google Glass to the forefront of the greater world. Right now, no one’s paying attention to Google Glass — not really. But no one was paying attention to James Jannard when he started Oakley from his garage, either…

Photo Credit: thecombined.com, Oakley

Ray Ban Eyewear: Timeless Classics with a Twist of Modernity

The initial years of the Ray Ban brand brought ultimate grandeur — grandeur that would formulate a glamorous, luxurious optic company for the following nearly eighty years. The initial year was 1936 when an American test pilot John A. Macready felt he had permanent eye damage from the bright sun during one of his balloon flights. He asked Bausch & Lomb to create a sort of sunglass protection that held all of the sophistication of a handsome uniformed man — like himself.

The following year, Bausch & Lomb followed up on Macready’s request. They created the very first Ray Ban model: an “Aviator.” Gold-plated metal frames wrapped around a deep green, anti-glare glass lens. The lens was specifically designed to filter out ultraviolet and infrared sunrays, thus protecting the eyes.

In these initial years before Michael Jordan wore Oakley’s or Victoria Beckham sported dark framed nerd glasses, a man named General Douglas MacArthur donned the Ray Ban model and became a sort of war hero endorsement. He stood on the shores of the Philippines mid-World War II and rendered himself as an icon of sophistication. And thus: the Ray Ban brand was born.

The Ray Ban Wayfarer brought a different frame material, turning away from the metal frames in the 50s to a more of-the-age thick plastic. These styles are quite popular now in optic glasses, and the Wayfarer’s deep, engrained culture during this time is much of the reason for that.

Think of Audrey Hepburn in her iconic film Breakfast at Tiffany’s: she dons Wayfarer’s and currently blinks out from beneath them in every college dorm room in the world. An iconic symbol! And this dramatic grandeur continued throughout the century. Find Ray Bans on James Dean, John Kennedy, Bob Dylan, Bono, John Lennon, Buddy Holly and Marilyn Monroe — some of the biggest names in the history of the world. As they stand in their très chic Ray Bans, they emit every formation of cool.

In 1999, an Italian company Luxottica Group bought the Bausch & Lomb frame business, bringing Ray Ban into its mix. Afterwards, major expansions began to assimilate into the company. In 2003, Ray Ban Optical was formed, providing a specific inspiration for prescription lenses. Its mission was to bring the culture and sophistication of the sunglasses into the optical sphere.

Ray Ban Glasses: A Room for Personalization

Ray Ban’s current status as center of attention in the optic universe is apparent. Look to their marvelous selection: the classic, inspired shapes in their optic collection Legends, and their clean, sharp lines in their Tech collection. Ray Ban Kids boasts funky, energetic colors and shapes that bring a bit of pep to the young children’s style. Various Ray Ban frames are offered with bizarre and wonderful textures; they include touches of fine art tweaks and bits of leather.

The Ray Ban optics collection allows you to personalize your eyewear. It allows you to choose from four broad styles: Active Lifestyle, Highstreet, Icons, and Tech. Each broad style seems representative of a different part of Ray Ban’s elaborate history. The icons style, for example, brings you back to Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Some of the Icon style rims are romantic, Hollywood-esque. Several promote browlines fashion, reminiscent of the 50s, a lost era. The Aviator optic glasses are absolutely represented here, bringing the entire realm of Ray Ban’s historical years at the forefront of glasses fashion. A perusal through the Tech style section renders Carbon Fibre glasses: glasses that bring high technology in order to formulate better utilization. Ray Ban understands that while the icon styles are beautiful, they no longer hold as much utility. Therefore, they’ve assimilated themselves into the changing times and created the Tech styles.

The Active Lifestyle styles are sleek, sharp, and modern, while the Highstreet styles are fashion-forward, bringing modernized, present-day touches to current hipster trends. Each style allows you to choose from ten different colors and two different frame materials: metal or plastic.

Furthermore, Ray Ban’s extensive technology has brought five different frame innovations, each formed from a different material. Carbon fibre, light-ray, light-force, titanium, and memo ray are available. Memo fiber is both strong and flexible, while carbon fibre provides utmost comfort. The light-ray holds no screws and is hypoallergenic, while the light-force is both light and durable. The final frame, titanium, promotes itself as the lightest, strongest frame.

New Day Technology and Partnerships

These days, Ray Ban has partnered with a brand new eyewear industry: Google Glass, which provides a computerized mechanism on your glasses; it allows you to utilize it like a smart phone — without your hands. The only trouble is, Google Glass brings no beauty, no fashion-forward thinking, and certainly no iconic brand. They’re a technology brand, first and foremost. However, this partnership could have the world singing a different tune.

After all, celebrities throughout the decades have donned Ray Ban. They felt the necessity to feel completely cool while protecting their eyesight. Therefore, people could find reasons to have computers in their immediate eyesight if Ray Ban provides them with a cool, chic reason to do so. With Ray Ban as the Google Glass partner, we may find a different, more technologically-focused fashion future.

Photo Credit: mressentialist.com

Google Glass: Nerdy Gadget or Fashion Accessory?

Google Glass emerged like a futuristic game-changer in April of 2014. Wearers walk with strange gadgets on their faces — just like actual glasses — and communicate with their face-computer with basic, natural commands. What a joke — you say!

These glasses display information like a sort of smart phone on the screens, allowing wearers to look up information, take pictures, or download directions — with no hands. A slight tap on the side of the glass further allows more utilization. For example, sliding “backwards” command allows users to see current, real-time events. They can view the traffic situation or the current weather. A swipe “forward” shows the past events: phone calls made, photographs taken, etc.

Despite some current objections from confused spectators — people who think that constant “hidden cameras” are quite dangerous and obtrusive — Google Glass has been seen as one of the premier new technologies of the decade. It has been named one of the best inventions of the past few years. And it is, truly, changing the ways in which people operate their lives.

Supercharged Glasses: the Right to Exist

Current Google Glass designs are modern-looking, like a new-age Star Trek model. However, most recently, Google has partnered with an Italian eyewear company Luxottica that owns fashion-forward brands like Ray-Ban and Oakley. Most definitely, they’ll have the ability to supercharge Google Glass into the fashion world. But does it belong there?

There is, of course, the issue of ‘nerd’-ism. Current years have brought an upswing of wearing glasses for simple joy of — well, looking like a nerd or hipster for the sake of it. Past decades of the nickname “four eyes” have flipped on their head, allowing these same four-eyed people to be the true fashion-forward folks in the greater, cultural landscape. Celebrities like Victoria Beckham, Ryan Gosling, and Brad Pitt all don thick-rimmed glasses — appearing literary, smart, and, of course, fashionable.

Some of these four-eyed people from grade school grew up to create Google Glass — that much is for certain. And they’ve produced something that, at least pre-relationship with Luxottica, makes people look like super-nerds — not chic.

Sure, Google Glass is proclaimed as the next big thing of the future. But can people really assimilate it into their lives if it, essentially, makes them look like big robot-speaking morons? After all — people avoid tons of things because that thing might make them look like idiots. For example, men might agree that a Prius would be better for the environment, would be better for their gas-saving endeavours. Except for one thing: these same men might feel that a Prius isn’t masculine enough to be a car they would own. They’d be better off with a truck, thank you very much. Regardless of anything’s benefits, if it doesn’t make us look cool — we don’t want anything to do with it.

Therefore, how will Google Glass assimilate into the regular-wearing world without its fashionable uptake? We suppose their recent partnership with Luxottica will help. However, it won’t take them far if they don’t find fashionable nerds wearing them. Horn-rimmed, thick-frame glasses jumped back into style with the surge of celebrities — like Brad Pitt and Victoria Beckham. But with Google Glass still living in the realm of ugly, the future doesn’t look bright.

Designer Diane von Furstenberg, however, has recently brought her talents and purpose to the Google Glass community. In the 70s, she nearly single-handedly matched the wrap dress with women’s liberation — thus proclaiming her stance as an able-bodied woman who knows what should be hip.

Von Furstenberg’s glasses range from classic cat-eye frames to 80s aviators. Starting in June 2014, she began offering her specs with the Google Glass inclusion, thus bringing a few shades from nerdy to luxurious.

When asked about Google Glass, von Furstenberg said that it seems like a natural extension of the various other technologies currently on the market. We’ve extended the simple flip phone to an all-out computer; and for the people who have been wearing glasses their entire lives — like Diane herself — Google Glass is simply another level of utilization.

She further adds that wearing Google Glass and looking “up” to find information instead of “down” at your phone is empowering. Slouching to look at your phone promotes negativity, while standing straight up allows you an intimate feeling of positivity — which is, in a sense, infinitely fashionable.

Going beyond the Fashion

Despite its struggle to burst into the regular-use, fashionable world, Google Glass is finding its way. For example, The Atletico Madrid assistant coach, German Burgos, wore Google Glass during his team’s 2-0 win against Getafe. He received current statistics through his gadget and was able to make better play decisions.

Furthermore, young children at the Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston were able to utilize the Google Glass to take a tour of the local zoo. With the vision directly in their eyes, they could imagine themselves more readily in the zoo landscape.

Regardless of your stance on Google Glass, it seems it’s finding its way into the future — both on the nerd fashion side and the technological, life-enhancement spheres. Time will tell.

Photo Credits: fastcompany.com

Wear It Like No One Else: Hipster Fashion at Its Finest

Photo Courtesy of Marc Oeder

Hipster fashion is calling to you from your wayward journey through the consumerism-stocked mall hallways. You’re choking on Abercrombie & Fitch thick-cologne-smell, and you’re dying in the lack of individuality of the fashion world surrounding you.

Sure, you’ve heard of the thick-glasses trend. And you’ve noticed some quirks in your surroundings: was that guy at the coffee shop really strapped in some suspenders? But you’re aching for something different. And, at its core, hipster fashion takes on several different ideas — with the natural, individual twist you’ll add to them.

Because fashion is no longer a team-game, you will no longer find yourself in the same sweater everyone else swept up at the Gap during sale season. Your clothes will be uniquely yours. Your fashion will scream your name only!

Where to Begin Your Hipster Fashion Renewal?

As you step away from the malls, it’s best to continue your label research. Familiarize yourself with a different group of brands: Vans, Brandy Melville, Free People, Urban Outfitters, and, of course, American Apparel. But try to avoid your natural course: don’t just randomly flock to the various stores.

Hipster style isn’t about supporting consumerism. It’s about making conscious purchases that benefit both your style and the world. Try buying local — several of your surrounding independent boutiques probably stock their shelves with the trendy wear. And your local second-hand shops are sure to hold some gems.

Do you remember reading “Little House on the Prairie”? Do you know what your granddad used to wear by the fire winter after winter, tucking in beef stew and putting his feet up after a hard day in the world? Flannel. The answer for our Prairie friends and your granddad was always flannel. And it can be your style answer, too!

But try to execute flannel intelligently; don’t seek a mannish, overly-large design (even if you’re a man). Try to look for something fitted. It should fit smoothly at your shoulders and highlight the make of your arms. Try leaving a little skin bared at your chest, a few buttons undone. But don’t leave your shirttails in the wind.

Oh, it’s sloppy, and hipster style is so often anti-slop. Tuck those puppies into some high-waist pants or a high-waist skirt. That way, you’ll sort of class up the old, flannel look. You’ve individualized it and also pegged yourself as a hipster.

Continuing along your granddad’s wardrobe habits, you’ll probably learn he wore some sort of hat: for driving, for formal occasions. And you should, too, just to proclaim your hipster-ism. Look to the classic wide-brimmed hat. It’s best paired with a sort of loud outfit — the hat should be black, solid. Atop your head, it will make a curious statement without any sort of patterns or colors.

Facing the Most Important Hipster Accessory

Continuing down your face, think again to the classic Buddy Holly and his favorite frames. But try not to over-do: they are loud, overzealous. And underneath a broad hat and atop a glaring flannel outfit, they would be screaming “hipster” from even the quietest roof of Brooklyn.

Your hipster glasses should come out of the case for special occasions. When you find yourself dressed up — and, in most cases, dressed up means a simplistic wardrobe — usually one color. The hipster frames allow you to bring your individualism to any occasion, sure. But they don’t overwhelm your outfit when the rest of you is simple and chic.

Check Out the Top Favorite Hipster Frames on Amazon

	Ray Ban RX5206 Rectangle Glasses	Ray Ban RX5184 Wayfarer Glasses	Ray Ban RX5154 Browline Glasses

Amazon Rating
Customer Reviews		67 Reviews	36 Reviews
Frame Material	Plastic	Plastic	Plastic
Dimensions	5.5 x 2 x 1.3 inches	5.7 x 2 x 1.5 inches	6.4 x 2.9 x 1.5 inches
Price*	$$$	$$$	$$$

* $ = under $10, $$ = $10 to $40, $$$ = $40 to $100

Stay Warm, Stay Cosy: Sweaters Are Not Just for Christmas

Grandpa and Grandma sweater time! You remember the ugly, baggy sweaters they don. Make one of these your own — the more patterned and garish, the better. But, if female, try to make sure the sweater can push toward your knees: allow it to be a sweater-dress!

It’s best worn ironically with your finest pumps. Highlight your legs, your body, with this questionable sweater. You’ll be getting wow comments all day long. Best of all — you’ll be renewing old clothes and staying world-conscious. Win!

When looking to further your hipster-dome, guys, look to the chiseled cheeks of your forbears: your grandpa, probably. Full out your beard. Make yourself a little outdoor-rugged — a little nineteenth century up there. The trick is to allow the juxtaposition of a crazy, straggly beard with fine, fitted clothes. This will seal your hipster look.

And ladies: remember that while June Cleaver evoked negative-feminism, you can still dress like her and create a fashion-forward hipster style. Try some patterns: floral works excellently and comes in such a wide variety, it will be difficult to duplicate.

Hope for a dress that buttons at the chest: button all the way to the top for this look. And pair the dress with footwear that held no realm in June Cleaver’s era. Opt for some kitchy slip on shoes — anything to make the look a little more playful.

Remember: hipster fashion is all about individuality. It’s all about being world conscious and executing a ban on consumerism. Push yourself to find your own top brand: it won’t be like everyone else’s label. And it’ll hold just a taste of your own style, of your forbear’s wardrobe. Keep the past alive and in the sun!