Main » 2012 July 26 » Man of the Peoples: Larry Leight on a lifetime in celebrity eyeglasses
4:56 AM Man of the Peoples: Larry Leight on a lifetime in celebrity eyeglasses |
Given its proximity on the centre on the Are generally studio universe, stylish old movies are an influence on Oliver Peoples creative director Larry Leight, but "we go further afield,” he tells. Breakfast At Tiffany’s? Please. That’s almost too obvious. Instead, try the Mande — an oversized two of sunglasses inspired by ones worn by Catherine Deneuve inside 1968 film Manon 70, a film also memorable on her chic Emanuel Ungaro wardrobe. I quiz Leight about famous frames both don / doff screen – like Pierce Brosnan as Bond (he wore his own Oliver Peoples over the last one), Aristotle Onassis ("an original Onassis became a Persol frame plus the oft-claimed Jackie O, for whose Capri-era goggles I’ve heard at the very least five different heritage brands claim ownership ("hers really are a extra difficult but one was a Nina Ricci, for certain”). Leight answers easily while he’s the L.A. optician who co-founded Oliver Peoples together with his brother Dennis in 1986 which has a single store on West Sunset and also on this kind of day, with an afternoon at Holt Renfrew in order to meet customers and assist them to pick frames, Leight is wearing TheSoloist, from your brand’s collaboration with cult underground Japanese designer Takahiro Miyashita. At first sight the stele is often a typical aviator, but you can find modifications allow it a twist: vintage parts are incorporated, like a brow bar. Iconic eyewear shapes – horn rims, cat’s eyes and aviators – happen to be the core of the trademark throughout its 25 years or so and have surged in recent years. "The current recession has been about basics,” Leight explains, "more classics. People aren’t likely to splurge on numerous frames,” and that's why he thinks that even from the recession, business kept going "excellent.” "People know they’re getting a thing that last. Besides the [acetate] quality but our styles, too, tend to be more timeless-type styles than typical licensed brands that season by season by season and big-time reinvent the wheel when. Around, we often need to like things longer and many our designs are timeless.” "We also appear to design lots of frames that individuals want to use for films as they are timeless and don’t possess a period around it. Take Johnny Depp, who wears our Sheldrake,” he says. "And you could’t date the film and the glasses – if it’s his brand new one you aren't. That’s section of the west – that’s how you design frames. We don’t do logos, which may date, either. We don’t do super-recognizable issues that put a period thereon. People dream to things like that now – the anonymity of your brand.” "We’lso are tried to maintain a reputation men and women can take onto – status,” Leight continues. "At this point, twenty-5 years later, it’s a rely upon the name and brand. owning it truly is similar to owning a Rolex, that’s might know about wish to think.” Leight, a born and bred Angeleno, feels a robust link with Hollywood culture. Which may mean supplying Robert Evans with pairs in their signature medium tint or sharing in a historic Hollywood eyewear moment that dates to even before Oliver Peoples was founded. Recently, the brand worked with Tony Peck (a son of actor Gregory Peck) and a longtime customer. "He has the shop all the time and a couple of years ago, in the anniversary of To Kill a Mockingbird, he mentioned he had an original frames, abdominal muscles two of glasses [Peck] wore inside movie.” They duplicated both frame and colour, with profits traversing to a charitable foundation.
|
|
Total comments: 0 | |