Designer Focus: Black Eyewear
Optical maestro Robert Roope was pioneering vintage frames aeons before fashion ever knew they were gonna be cool. To say he is the godfather of retro eyewear would be an understatement; this is a man who after accumulating over a 1000 pairs of vintage frames over a period of 30 years launched his peerless Retrospecs site in 1999 as a method of channelling his acquired horde to the masses.
Trot down any high street now and cheap Wayfarer or Clubmaster knock-offs are two-a-penny; such is the trickle-down effect of fashion. In fact I’d challenge anyone to find a modern pair whose silhouette doesn’t derive from (read: plagiarise) a style of yore. It’s not wonder they’re popularity has skyrocketed, vintage frames have far much more of a sense of character than new ones and to wear them it's like you're embodying an era or a feeling - there's a narrative to them and they offer a distinct sense of identity. This a sentiment Roope echoes,
“I think it’s because the past styles for example the 50s were so iconic. You see a pair of fantastic cats eye upswept glasses and you immediately associate it with the petticoat wearing icons of that time. It’s very interesting to meet people of all ages that are in love with a certain era and are looking for the perfect pair of glasses to complement their style and wardrobe."
67 year old Roope has lived a colourful, globetrotting life. He sailed to Peru while serving in the Navy at 16, lived in Denmark and Singapore then retuned to the UK and opened his own opticians in 1979. With a desire to recreate obsolete and rare styles, Roope launched his vintage inspired Black Eyewear Collection in 2006. A die-hard jazz fan (stemming from many a night in smoked-filled Copenhagen jazz clubs) he even names the frames after iconic musicians. He explains;
“Many of the Jazz greats of the 50s wore heavy plastic frames, particularly Dave Bubeck, Dizzy Gilespie, Bill Evans, Sonny Rollins and Theolonius Monk. These musicians touched a nerve and I’m thankful for their music. It was natural that being an optical/eyewear man, the glasses/sunglasses they wore caught my eye and became part of the Jazz culture I was wrapped up in. You could say their eyewear was part of the music, part of the shape of how it was.”
All frames above from the Black Eyewear Collection at 147 pounds
Posted on May 25, 2010 at 11:40:16 by The Real Runway
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