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Tom Ford has taken serious heat over the years for their risky advertising strategies that mix nudity with fashion. While this concept isn’t new (Abercrombie has been doing it forever) it was taken to a whole new level by Tom Ford when they did a series of photo and video ads with same-gendered couples in the midst of passionate acts. Meanwhile, excesses of male nudity seem to make people more uncomfortable than seeing nearly nude female models. Call these double standards if you like, but Tom Ford continues to support this risky ad strategy as in the very least, it is causing a buzz, and as we all know—that’s free press!

Several of the ads feature entirely nude women or men in Tom Ford eyewear and other accessories. Meanwhile, one commercial that aired in 2009 depicted a man and women at their own separate apartments getting ready for a night no the town. They rush towards each other in downtown New York only the viewer is shocked when the man and woman run right past each other and into an embrace with a person of their own gender. This caused waves as two women kissing while two men made out in the background was a lot to handle for some people without any warning. Meanwhile, Tom Ford, who is himself homosexual, defends the ads as no different than heterosexual relationships used by companies to promote their products.

So did the ads go too far? Who cares, we love the drama and we still love Tom Ford’s creative and fresh new eyewear designs. We’re happy when they advertise, and we’re happy when they get free coverage in the press. We’re even happier it’s a bit fun to look at in addition to selling eyewear.

Darker frames, like those Billy Holly made famous when he punched the sunglasses lenses out of his Ray Ban Wayfarers, are in style for beautiful women. If you are like many other fashion followers you’ve probably been wondering why and where this trend started. Here is our opinion.

Ugly Betty was an instant hit. Many young women can empathize with Betty, an ambitious and kind young woman who tried to make it in the fashion world despite her apparent lack of fashion. Women empathize with her because most women feel awkward and unsure about fashion and feel judged by those who they perceive as fashion-forward.

Tina Fey makes the working woman cool again. With the success of 30 Rock, Tina Fey has stepped into the mainstream. Her sexy look is complemented by thick black sunglasses which help her look sophisticated and sexy, despite the jokes her on-stage coworkers harass her with. Women love Tina’s sense of humor and ability to cope with being a working woman in a man’s business.

Female politicians are coming to power. With the success and respect for politicians like Janet Reno, Hillary Clinton, Sara Palin, Madeline Albright, Angela Merkel, etc. women are idolizing a new kind of female heroine. These women get to powerful positions with intelligence, hard work and determination, and the recent surge in more conservative clothing and black frame glasses pays homage to their successes.

Women want to be taken seriously. Despite the successes of women in the last generation, many still feel their chances are hindered by their gender. Dressing and acting professionally helps advance the female cause, and the professional-looking librarian eyewear helps women look the part.

Christmas is neigh upon us as fall draws to a close and the leaves on the ground are covered in frost in the early morning hours. While many do not consider winter a fashionable season, Prada begs to differ. Winter fashion is one of the key markets for the designer apparel and eyewear industries, where winter specific items are as hot as the nights are cold.

Winter eyewear is especially popular with designer brands like Prada, Gucci, Dior and Versace, who have designed whole outfits around their winter eyewear. Without the leaves on the trees, there is nothing to stop the sun’s harsh rays, and the snow, ice, sleet and rain only act to reflect light into the eye all winter long. Instead of straining all season this year, hop into a classy pair of designer eyewear.

Winter specific sunglasses are usually plastic, as metal frames could freeze or become cold against the skin. Likewise, they are light weight, with smaller temple bars so that wearing a hat or ear muffs over the sunglasses will not put extra pressure on your ears.

Giving the gift of designer eyewear is a great way to help your loved ones stay fashionable, protected and chic, and to give a gift that they don’t toss in the closet and never use again. When buying sunglasses for a winter gift keep in mind your recipient’s hair and eye color, doing your best to match the sunglasses to the person. For darker skin, hair and eyes it is best to go light with eyewear, usually white, silver or bronze. With lighter skin, hair and eyes a safe bet is to go dark and simple or with a safe color like blue, brown or black. When in doubt about what style will fit your friend’s face, remember that with fashion even if it doesn’t suit 100% they will still rock the show because of the brand’s power and the power of the look.

So, in the words of Charles Dickens, “God bless us, everyone!” and happy shopping this holiday season!

For those of you who pine for the olden days, retro fashion is coming back into style this fall with huge infusions of wood tones and sleek, 50’s lines and designs. Pull out your mama’s old Jackie O’s (or pick up a new pair by Dior) or your daddy’s old Ray Ban Wayfarers without lenses, and you’ll be set to go this season.

The retro looks that are coming back include thick black frames without lenses (or Ray Ban frames with prescription lenses rather than tinted lenses for the great outdoors). This Billy Holly look has returned to the fashion world with a twist, this time around its beautiful women in tight pony tails who are donning the Billy Holly Wayfarers without lenses. Don’t believe me? Check out Dior’s new ad campaign featuring just such fashion. While the cheaper option would be to reuse your dad’s old frames, the more classy route would be to buy the newer, female-sized Dior look-alike frames.

Ray Ban has brought back the Clubmaster design, and the retro look is all the rage along the California coast. Get your modern Clubmaster in any bright color for a new remix of a traditional look. For optimal retroness (if I may coin that word) pair your clubmasters with a high-tops and tight Levi’s for a true flash back to the past.

While the retro look is sure to be a short-lived fashion trend in 2010, it is a cyclical look that returns every few season, so an investment in a pair of retro shades or eyeglasses can be considered a long-term investment when one considers the trend will return often in one’s lifetime.

Clever and creative marketing makes all the difference in the fashion industry, especially the eyewear industry where some of Hollywood’s biggest stars are recruited as models for the fashionable frames. From Versace to Persol and Fendi, only one can claim the title of the designer eyewear best logo. Several of the designer logos are overly simple and a bit bland. Prada, for example, is simply a white background with the word Prada written on it. Perhaps they think the weight of their designs does not warrant over creativity. I disagree. Versace, on the other hand, has created a logo that is so intricate and complex that it is not easily recreated and is too intricate to weave into normal eyewear designs as a trademark. Gucci, with the simple name and the circular logo that is so recognizable, has managed to find the best possible way to combine simplicity with a bit of creativity to end up with a logo that is truly unique and versatile.

Police sunglasses, though unique and present a wide range of styles and designs, has a logo that looks like copyright infringement on Emporio Armani’s black striped eagle. Both designs are great, but the fact that the eyewear industry is relatively small means that one of them should consider hiring a new marketing manager.

In the realm of sports eyewear, no one has a logo quite as recognizable as Nike, though adidas is a close second. Oakley’s ripple-water O is easily recognizable and presents a sharp and modern look.

All things considered, we think Gucci takes the cake on best logo design for fashionable eyewear.

Brown-eyes beauties have it easy when it comes to fashionable frames while the blue-eyes darlings have several things to consider when choosing colorful and fashionable frames. Prada, for example, is a design best suited for brunettes with dark features and high cheek bones. While Prada on a fair skinned person is common, especially in Hollywood where everyone idolizes fashion, it is not recommended. Prada is a dark brand that favors thick lines, bold textures and seemingly daunting shapes. It takes a very strong face to hold Prada shades, and most blondes do not have the features such bold designs require.

For blue eyed babes, the best bet is to show off your peepers with frames that follow your cheekbone line and sit, nearly invisibly, on your face. Brunettes may have it easy, but blondes still have more fun. Here are some fun alternatives to the ‘back in black’ Prada trends that have woefully swept the nation.

Dior sunglasses offer something unique in the fashion world– gradient tinting that isn’t tacky. For blondes, this is the manna from fashion heaven. With light eyes, light hair and light skin, your features demand subtle color and soft lines, not dark and harsh frames. Dior offers thin metal frames, usually very appealing on a blonde, as well as colored, gradient tinting to extenuate your eye color and bring out the highlights in your hair.

Like Dior, D&G offers gradient tinted lenses and lightweight, metal frames. Choose the design and model that fits your cheek and jaw line and looks natural on your face rather than overbearing. Remember that fashion trends are not for everyone, if you are blonde then pass on Prada this season. This year, Prada has proven that too much of a good thing can be bad!

Nothing screams ‘no!’ more than a woman in a skirt wearing sandals and socks, or a man in Burmuda shorts for that matter. While Prada is cool, it is not the only name in designer gear, and should not be relied on as the catchall for fashion. Below are three fashion mistakes to avoid lest you appear the modern sandals-and-socks person in your area.

Don’t over accessorize. One common mistake in the fashion world and with armature style enthusiasts, is that they go over the top with accessories until they are little more than crystal chandeliers with a person hiding inside. Jessica Simpson made this mistake at the MTV awards when she had hair bling, ear bling, an abundance of makeup and frilly, over-the-top clothing. She should have scaled down the accessories to complement the dress or scaled down the dress to make way for all of the diamonds.

Don’t match colors across space. Meaning, if you are wearing red shoes it is not tacky to also carry a red bag. Matching accessories across your body was popular in the 1970s but in 2009 this is fatal fashion. Likewise, don’t wear all of one color. White suits were popular in the 1940s, but that style has, thankfully, faded.

Don’t mix-match designer accessories. A Dior bag with Police sunglasses, Prada shoes and a Burberry jacket will only serve to make you look confused and uncoordinated. Do not go the other way and wear multiple accessories from any one designer, either. Your best bet is to wear one or at the most two designer objects against a plain canvas wardrobe of simple clothing.

The most important thing about coordinating your Prada eyewear with other accessories is not to match brand names together, which can appear poorly cliché and over-matching. However, one of the top tips would be to blend brand-name accessories with vintage and no-name clothing that mimics current trends or timeless styles.

A perfect pairing for metal framed Dior sunglasses are simple denim jeans and a plain white T-shirt, which is a look that is timeless and classic. Dior shades, with their creative and intricate designs perfectly compliment the simplicity of the jeans and T-shirt look. This is a popular look among celebrities and athletes.

For flowery summer dresses, Prada can be a bit over the top, as can the elaborate designs of Dior, the best pairing would be Bolle, whose simple clean clines and natural colors are an attractive and elegant accessory that adds character and charm to any look. Like Bolle, Burberry eyewear.

One subtle and creative way to match accessories is to coordinate corresponding textures. While this is a subtle trick, it is an effective one. Prada’s iconic texture is, by now, world famous. Pairing the rough and durable fabric of a Prada bag with the soft, smooth lines of Oliver People’s sunglasses and a jacket of fur or another soft and full texture. This will help to build character in your look while not overreaching.

One additional secret to pairing brand name, designer accessories with classic simple clothing is to make the most of every accessory by buying bold and intricate, creative eyewear, purses, shoes and jewelry to enhance your features using your clothing as a canvas. Prada makes great purses as well as top-of-the-line shoes for women.

For the emotional nihilist, one who cares for nothing but tries endlessly to make this apparent through their sense of style. For the nihilist, designer eyewear companies work hard to create designs that can help you look thrown together and sleepy. Ray Ban Aviators, for example, are the perfect eyewear for the avid nihilist. They give the impression of subtle devil-may-care style while offering protection from the sun (which, if you are a nihilist, you hope will crash into the earth).

Arnette eyewear, for extreme athletes, has a slightly nihilist vibe. People who throw their bodies off cliffs tied to plastic gliders or propel themselves down icy mountainous slopes without helmets, luckily, have protection for their eyes from the sun’s dangerous rays provided by Arnette. This has a slightly nihilist ring to it and nihilists everywhere can unite (if they cared to) behind extreme sports enthusiasts and agree that peering through Arnette eyewear, at least until the end times, is a decent way to view the world. This alliance of extreme sports and nihilism could also be joined by Oakley and Bolle, other extreme sporting favorites in the eyewear industry.

Yves Saint Laurent eyewear – especially their sunglasses- offer an oft overlooked sense of modernism and style that the emotional nihilist could really get excited about. With the world in disarray and the globe being polluted by chemicals and other byproducts of modernity, what better way to face the end than wearing a product that epitomizes the nihilist’s problems with the planet? Check out the YSL 2200 model, which comes highly recommended for anyone who finds themselves an antiestablishmentarian.

With the summer, and the birthday season, approaching, you will want to have a stockpile of exquisite, designer gifts from Prada, Versace or Dior ready for last minute invites and stellar parties. One of the best gifts of the season, for men and women alike, are a pair of designer eyewear.

Sunglasses make great gifts because they are a necessity. With all of the global warming concerns as well as an ever more health-conscious populous, buying designer sunglasses for a friend or relative shows that you are in tune with popular sentiment.

Designer eyewear is coveted the world over, yet is hardly something people regularly purchase for themselves. Buying designer eyewear for a friend or relative shows that you are paying attention to their sense of style and know what they want.

A perfect way to go the extra mile is to discover your friend or relative’s prescription and purchase him or her new designer eyewear with their prescription already inset. Everyone needs a back-up pair of glasses. If you go designer and buy a brilliant pair for someone you are sure to replace their main stay. It is the gift that keeps on giving, and a constant reminder of your friendship.

Another way to show you are paying attention is to buy designer eyewear for your loved one that really corresponds well to their skin and hair tones. Remember that dark hair and skin demands bolder colors and lines while the opposite is true for lighter skin and hair.

Finally, designer sunglasses and eyeglasses are good gifts because at the end of the day they put all the other gifts in a pile and smile, but they have your gift riding comfortably and proudly on their face. It is easily one of the most useful and lasting of gifts.

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Quotations

• "On the night of the 1st of September we observed for the first time signs of the natives being in the neighbourhood. Fires were seen on the low land near Cape Frederick Henry, and at daylight we saw the natives with our glasses."
• William Bligh of the HMS Bounty
•  
• "Famous people come up to me, but I don't know who they are because my sight is so bad. It's always at the pool of the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills when I don't have my lenses in and my glasses are in my room."
• Helena Bonham Carter
•  
• Pol Pot - "And how he told someone was intellectual or not was whether they wore glasses. If they're that clever, take them off when they see him coming!"
• Ricky Gervais
•  
• "People have a tendency to see country life through rose-colored glasses."
• P. J. Harvey
•  
• "The greatest magnifying glasses in the world are a man's own eyes when they look upon his own person."
• Alexander Pope

• Blogroll

  • Australia - Designer glasses news and articles in Australia.
  • Canada - Canadian blog about designer sunglasses and glasses news.
  • Japan - Japan blog about designer glasses and fashion news, articles and trends.
  • United States - News and articles about designer sunglasses and eye wear in the United States.