Girls that wear Glasses – Alain Mikli Life Lessons.

Metal frames. These two words have been completely exempt from my glasses vocabulary for the past 10 years, but somehow have re-entered with a flash of a designer. I only recently came across the work of Alain Mikli but when I found out  his work was regularly seen on the faces of Isabella Blow, Grace Jones and Elton John, I knew I needed to ride on that bandwagon!

The Phillip Tracey of the Eyewear World, Mikli was the first person to achieve worldwide success as a designer of nothing else but glasses. He established his own brand in Paris in 1978 and pioneered the idea of wearing frames as accessories, not necessities. I have been championing this concept for sometime now so knew he was the perfect designer for me. It turns out he is quite the interesting guy with A LOT to say about eyewear and the wearer. This is what Alain Mikli taught me about life:

Putting on a pair of glasses is faster than makeup and easier than plastic surgery, yet the effect can be just as dramatic

Time is not important, only vision is.

Glasses are hugs for the face. When you wear some cool shades, you will get more kisses, too.

Spoken language is not needed when we have eye contact.

The future is a lot more exciting than the past.

One can play and hide behind glasses. I design for the wearer as well as for the viewer, to bring pleasure to their lives.

Reading these quotes made me so happy to hear the passion he has for eyewear. I think a key part to take from it is shape is so important to enhance your features, in my case turning chubby cheeks into bone structure was revolutionary and it was all down to my cat eyes! Wearing glasses with confidence really transforms the look of your eyewear, I used to think that glasses hid my eyes but really everyone just needs some quality and super clean lenses to match your favourite frames. Stop thinking about how you used to feel about your glasses and think about how you can make them a feature and something you love – embrace the blindness! 

 Alain Mikli Upside Down frames from Pretavoir 

I am completely in love with my new ‘Upside Down’ frame from Alain Mikli’s S/S14 collection. The two-tone orange with the tortoise print on the metal is something I have never seen before. They are a lot bigger than the frame I usually gravitate towards but I loved how 80’s they felt, but really modern at the same time. I very much doubt this will be my last pair. You can shop a complete collection of Alain Mikli on Pretavoir, including some pretty incredible vintage frames. I’ll guarentee you, you will not find another metal – or perspex – frame like it. Would dare to go Mikli?