… Or How We Took A Different Approach With Displaying Our New Lanvin-Paris Eyewear Collection

We try as much as possible to do things differently around Urban Optiques.

For example, we tend to carry a lot more in-store frame stock than most optical shops and optometrist offices (we like to have plenty of cool stuff on hand for you to try on); we don’t schedule our eye exams in 15 minute blocks like the chains (we actually believe in spending time with you to help you care for your eyes); and we don’t display our eyewear in the usual, factory-made, run-of-the-mill display cases (we use “rescued” antique furniture and cabinets.)

If you’ve been in our eyewear studio, you’ll know that displays are something that we spend a lot of time on.  Lately, we’ve been experimenting around with some different display approaches to enhance the visual experience of shopping for eyewear at Urban Optiques.

How we decided to present our new Lanvin-Paris Eyewear Collection is a great example.

Highlighting Lanvin

Since we’re the first Michigan eyewear boutique to carry the Lanvin-Paris eyewear line, we wanted to try something different with how we displayed the brand in the store.

Fashion junkies will know the Lanvin-Paris label instantly, but for the uninitiated, “Lanvin” will sound like … well … “French.”

So we wanted to try to capture and present the essence of France’s oldest couture design house for people who may be finding out about this legendary brand for the first time.  Despite its venerable roots, Lanvin isn’t as widely known in the U.S. as a brand like Prada or Chanel (although we think it should be.)  So we needed to somehow capture the spirit of this line and pass it on to our clients.

Matching The Display to the Brand: Capturing the Essence of Lanvin-Paris

Eyewear shops love manufacturer point-of-purchase (POP) promotional materials: You know, those little stand-up cards with pictures of models wearing the latest eyewear from this-or-that brand.

And who wouldn’t love it?

Fashion labels can spend millions on their seasonal campaigns, and the photography is always beautiful and high quality. We use plenty of it ourselves.

But again, we like to mix things up every now and then.

So for the Lanvin Collection, we decided to build a custom display.

Our Lanvin Eyewear Collection is extremely deep — we basically purchased a minimum of one piece of each eyeglass frame and sunglass that Lanvin offers (and in several different colors as well), so the collection deserved its own dedicated display case.

Instead of using the usual POP materials, however, we opted to take an “inspiration board” approach to styling the display.

We grabbed snapshots from Lanvin’s latest runway shows, pictures of the late Madame Jeanne Lanvin (founder of the Lanvin fashion house) and even dug up some vintage Vogue covers featuring Lanvin designs. Alongside this, we scattered in images from past and present Lanvin fashion campaigns.

Here’s a few snapshots of what we put together:

Our goal here was to create a visual representation of the overall Lanvin-Paris brand, and not just their eyewear.

We liked how it turned out so much that we’re considering extending this approach to our other fashion eyewear collections and displays.

But you tell us what YOU think.