THE SEEN

Industry EYEcons

No. 2 | Linda Farrow

"Timeless in design, uncompromising in quality, unabashedly luxurious, Linda Farrow takes sunglasses to the next level.”

Originally founded in 1970, Linda Farrow produced some of the most desirable frames of the 70’s and 80’s as she crossed over from fashion design to the world of eyewear. Partnering with big name fashion houses like Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Sonia Rykiel, Farrow created custom sunglasses that were extremely coveted during the brand’s heyday. With an inventive spirit and a cutting-edge vision, Farrow’s designs were constantly pushing the boundaries both on and off the runway. Although Farrow continued to be successful in her endeavor, she decided to leave her design post in the mid-eighties so she could focus on family life.

It wasn’t until her grown son, Simon Jablon, and his girlfriend, Tracy Sedino, found several thousand pairs of Farrow’s (now vintage) sunglasses in an old warehouse, that the brand had a glimmer of being revitalized. It was 2003, and Jablon and Sedino smartly realized that they had something really special on their hands. They immediately set out to find vendors that wanted a piece of the vintage stock and were pleasantly surprised at the response they received. Vintage items and heritage brands were having a moment. Not only did major retailers jump at the chance to carry Farrow’s frames, they wanted something new on their shelves as well. Jablon and Sedino obliged. Drawing on some of the shapes that the brand was built upon and also building new partnerships with up-and-coming designers like Dries Van Noten, Jeremy Scott, and Alexander Wang, the pair relaunched Linda Farrow and saw immediate success. Today they are continuing the brand’s legacy with 8 stores worldwide, a gallery store at Selfridge’s in London, and many high-end global retail partners.

What is so interesting about the Linda Farrow story, is the comparison that can be drawn to the Oliver Goldsmith eyewear legacy (Industry EYEcons | No. 1). Although Goldsmith became popular two decades earlier, both brands originated in England and took an extended hiatus before being revitalized by the family’s younger generation. Both Goldsmith and Jablon stumbled across their family trades in their early twenties, and to their credit, both saw how incredibly valuable and relevant the brands still were. 

Iris Apfel is a true icon in every sense of the word.

She has cultivated her own sense of design in fashion, interiors, and textiles. She’s hunted the world over for one-of-a-kind treasures and firmly believes in exuding personal style and taste in all aspects of her life. She says she was lucky to be born with a sense of humor and curiosity, which has guided her life-long process. One of our favorite things about her personal style is her trademark glasses. Iris is the perfect example of someone who uses eyewear as a statement and fashion accessory. 

We adore this photo shoot because it highlights some of the eccentricities and interesting objects that we’ve come to associate with Iris. At 94 she’s one of the coolest women alive. 

Industry EYEcons

No. 1 | Claire Goldsmith

You can’t even begin to talk about independent eyewear designers without mentioning Claire Goldsmith. Claire’s success in the eyewear industry is made up of one-part family history, two-parts genius fit and design, and three-parts marketing prowess. It was her great-grandfather, Oliver Goldsmith, who single-handedly revolutionized the eyewear industry. Outfitting some of the biggest stars of the 20th century, Goldsmith shifted the industry’s focus from function to fashion. His timeless designs still define some of the most iconic images we can remember of celebrities like Audrey Hepburn, Princess Diana, Grace Kelly, and Michael Cain. Goldsmith’s innovative approach to eyewear earned him many “firsts” in the industry: first to use plastics (especially colored plastics), first to appear in vogue, and first to create one-of-a-kind pieces for the runway.

Fast-forward to 2005. The Oliver Goldsmith brand had been shuttered for almost 20 years. As a recent marketing graduate, Claire Goldsmith had taken an interest in heritage brands and saw some potential in reviving her family legacy. Her intuition paid off, and the fashion world eagerly welcomed Oliver Goldsmith eyewear back into their lives. The brand was quickly propelled back to its cult-classic status. Claire was so successful in her endeavor, that she decided to launch her own brand focused solely on optical lenses. The Claire Goldsmith line is “contemporary and forward-thinking.” Claire see’s her designs as “future-classics, hoping that someday they will be referred to as vintage.”

Hot Off the Press: ELLERY Eyewear Collection

Australian-born, fashion powerhouse Kym Ellery just launched a new eyewear collection in collaboration with Specsavers, a British optical retail chain.

This is big news for her fans considering you have to shell out at least $1500 for one of her designs. Ellery is very environmentally conscious and doesn’t believe in fast fashion, so an eyewear collection was a great choice for her to create a product with a lower price point (we love a designer with strong morals). Moving from garment construction to the world of eyewear presented some challenges, "garments are technical but eyewear is another level of engineering.“ Ellery clearly has a deep appreciation for the art of crafting eyewear. Her retro shapes are a nod to some of the most iconic frames of the 20th century. Ellery sited that she greatly admires Graz Mulchay and Linda Farrow, two incredible independent eyewear designers that we also adore.

One last note - Gemma is rocking those frames!

sources: https://www.specsavers.com.au/ellery, http://www.smh.com.au, http://www.popsugar.com.au, http://www.stuff.co.nz/

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Philanthropy Friday by Jen Levin

What is the idea behind Streetside Stories? How would you describe your model?

Streetside Stories teaches students from underrepresented Bay Area communities to use storytelling and the arts as powerful tools for self-expression.We believe that young people have important stories that deserve to be heard, and we hold a deep respect for students’ voices. In our multi-week workshops, students learn to explore their personal stories through written work, photography, animation, poetry, performance, and creative media arts projects like e-books and digital comics.

How many kids can benefit from your programs, and what county school districts participate? How do you track/measure a child’s progress?

In our 26 year history, we’ve provided workshops for more than 26,000 students. This year, we’re expecting to reach 1300 through multi-week workshops that average 20 hours of instruction. Our workshops take place in-school, after-school, and during the summer months.

On a more measurable level, our students benefit from the content and structure of our programs. Evaluation and assessment results have shown that Streetside students, when compared with students who did not participate in Streetside programming, feel more comfortable with the arts, increase their engagement with school, and increase their English language arts proficiency. Streetside students have demonstrated higher levels of oral communication skills and classroom engagement (both mainstream and English language learners), and students in our media arts program reported greater comfort and skill with media arts technology. Streetside students have scored higher on standardized language arts assessments, and on a scale measuring the strength of classroom and peer relationships.

What are your growth plans and where will you concentrate next? Both geographically and programmatically?

We’re currently very focused on maintaining strong programming in the Bay Area, with plans to serve more students in Oakland next year. Much of the current focus is on our Hayward programming in partnership with the US Department of Education. As part of this project, we’re working with evaluation firm WestEd to fine tune our arts integration model, demonstrate its efficacy, and create an evidence-based replicable model. The results of this study should help guide our growth plans moving forward.

Programmatically, we continue to explore ways in which stories can be expressed through the media arts. In select workshops, we bring iPad labs into the classroom and teach storytelling that incorporates photography, video, e-books, comics, and an evolving array of media arts apps. The opportunities keep expanding and we want to stay relevant with the ways in which today’s young people are expressing themselves.

Are there volunteer opportunities beyond donations?

We are always looking for skilled volunteers to offer their expertise in projects that help our organization become more efficient and effective. For example, we recently had two volunteers that help our organization become more efficient and effective. We had two volunteers who helped restructure and strengthen our Salesforce platform to more efficiently track fundraising and programming data. We’ve had volunteers develop marketing tools and and others who have helped with grant writing during particularly busy stretches. We also have occasional group opportunities to help with large one-day projects in the office (like assembling mailers). We love to have members of the community (and groups) come to witness our students as they share their stories at their showcase events. It may not seem like much, but creating a large audience for our students means a lot to them and helps recognize the hard work they’ve put into their projects during a workshop.

How can small business and organizations get involved with Streetside Stories?

We exist and thrive because of our community of supporters. Anyone who shares the values in our mission is welcome to join the group! Our Streetside Family connects us to new program sites, funding opportunities, and ideas that improve our work. Our supporters come watch our students perform, they donate and discount their companies’ products (hardware, software, school supplies, art supplies), they advocate passionately for arts education in their community, and they actively spread the word about our programs.