Okay, summer is pretty much over, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be plenty of sun-filled mornings and afternoons ahead of you requiring a great pair of shades.

In celebration of the Fall fashion season, 944 Detroit and Urban Optiques are giving away another fab pair of couture sunglasses:  This time a pair of  Special Edition Badgley Mischka Boyd acetate aviators  with 18K white gold couture lenses valued at $780 dollars.

A unisex sunglass, the Boyd has been spotted on everyone from Brad Pitt to singer Kelly Rowland to models Heidi Klum and Alessandra Ambrosio.  While the Boyd is celeb favorite, no one has yet been seen in the Special Edition version of the Boyd we are giving away this month.  So if you win the Boyd, you’ll be setting the trend here.

How Do I Enter to Win?

Entering for a chance to win these lux sunglasses from Badgley Mischka Eyewear, Urban Optiques and 944 Detroit is easy: Just click over to the 944 Detroit Swag page and fill out the short registration form (it’s only a couple of fields.)  Not only will you be entered in the sunglass giveaway, but you’ll also have a chance at winning a print by emerging local artist Mark Sarmel.

You’ll remember in late June that a brand new Badgley Mischka sunglass model — the Steve — was spotted on NBA forward Danny Granger at Sama’s West Hollywood boutique.  While the model hadn’t been publicly-released yet, we called up Sama and asked if we could get our hands on two of the Steves for ourselves.

We loved the big, bold frame — especially when coupled with the special edition 24K yellow gold and 18k white gold flash coated lenses from Sama.  The first of the Badgley Mischka Steve sunglasses arrived this week at Urban Optiques and all we can say is “wow.”

Guys, understand that this is not a sunglass for the man who wants to fade into the crowd. Nor is it for the faint of heart.

There is no way that you can put on the Steve and not get noticed.  It’s a very sexy sunglass, made all the sexier by the brilliant genuine 24K gold flash coating on the lenses. We see this working its magic best paired with a fantastic, custom-tailored suit — but Danny Granger shows that you can also pull it off with workout gear (not recommending this, just saying …)

The Badgley Mischka Steve is so new, in fact, that there’s a good chance that whoever buys the first pair will be one of only a handful of lucky men to be first seen in this very cool sunglass.  Will it be you?

Check out the pictures below that we snapped of the Badgley Mischka Steve in the boutique this week.

Badgley Mischka Steve Sunglasses

Our friends over at the Destination: Sama boutique in West Beverly Hills just sent us a picture they snapped of NBA basketball star Danny Granger in his new Badgley Mischka “Steve” aviator sunglasses.

The “Steve” sunglass that Danny Granger is sporting is actually a new model from Badgley Mischka Eyewear and Sama and will be released later this month.

Granger is pictured below wearing the “Steve” in gold with 24K gold lenses. We’re still waiting for confirmation from Sama on other color variations, but we do know it will also be available in Clove with special triple gradient-lenses.

If you are interested in pre-ordering the Badgley Mischka “Steve” please give us a call at 248-347-9090 or email us at: seebeseen@urbanoptiques.com and we’ll put you on the V.I.P priority list for this hot new model.

Danny Granger in Badgley Mischka “Steve” Sunglasses

Badgley Mischka “Steve” Sunglasses in Gold with 24K Gold Special Edition Lenses

Badgley Mischka “Steve” Sunglasses in Clove with Special Edition Triple Gradient Lenses

With this week’s box office debut of Sex and The City 2, we’ve received a deluge of e-mails asking who makes the gold aviator sunglasses that Sarah Jessica Parker wears in her reprise of the Carrie Bradshaw role in Sex and The City 2?

The good news is we’ve identified Carrie’s gold aviators from SATC 2:  They are Mykita & Bernhard Willhelm’s “Franz” Limited-Edition Aviator Sheet-Metal Sunglasses ($525.)

The bad news is you’ll likely be waiting some time to get your hands on these sunglasses (maybe as long as the end of summer.)  The Mykitas have been on back order at Patricia Fields since the gold sunglasses first showed up on Sarah Jessica Parker in advanced publicity shots last year. No word on when they’ll be available.

How to Still Get Carrie’s Gold Plated Look: Sama

Although Urban Optiques doesn’t carry Mykita,  the lens coating technology that is used on the Mykita “Franz” Limited-Edition Gold Aviator sunglasses in Sex and The City 2 was actually developed by Sama Eyewear out of Los Angeles and is currently available on a wide-range of  Sama, Badgley Mischka and Loree Rodkin eyeCouture models at Urban Optiques.

While Carrie’s oversized gold aviators in Sex and The City 2 are at the center of the most recent surge in interest around gold sunglasses, Sama made waves in the eyewear and fashion industry last July when they debuted their custom 24K yellow and 18K white gold plated couture lenses during the Badgley Mischka runway show during Amsterdam International Fashion We

In that show, the gold plated lenses were ever present and served as an early prototype for the lens coating that eventually made its way onto the  Badgley Mischka Special Edition Perry aviators seen last year on Angelina Jolie and Rihanna.

One-Up Carrie’s Sex and the City 2 Gold Aviators with Customized Couture Sunglasses from Sama & Urban Optiques

The special gold coating technology and process (which literally fuse genuine gold onto the lenses surface) developed by Sama and used on the Carrie Bradshaw’s Mykita sunglasses, can be applied to lenses on nearly all of the Sama, Badgley Mischka and Loree Rodkin eyeCouture sunglass models. We’ve worked with Sama to put the special edition gold lenses in everything from the Badgley Mischka Grace to the Lola sunglasses.

The advantage to this approach is that we can work with you select a sunglass shape and style that is uniquely yours, and then customize the lenses to give you the same opulent, gilded look of Carrie’s sunglasses in SATC 2, but with your own individual expression of style.

So if gold plated sunglasses are on your must-have accessory list this summer, you’ll definitely want to check out the special edition sunglasses from Sama below.  To find out about customizing other Badgley Mischka, Sama or Loree Rodkin eyeCouture sunglasses with special edition white or gold lenses, call us at 248-347-9090 or drop us an email.

To see some ways that Sama’s gold sunglasses can accessorized, make sure you check out the Lookbooks Urban Optiques has put together around the Sama Heart of Gold sunglass.

Sama Special Edition Heart of Gold with 24k Yellow Gold Lenses

Sama Boa with Snakeskin Temples and Special Edition 24K Gold Plated Lenses

Badgley Mischka Perry Special Edition Gold with 24K Gold Lenses

Badgley Mischka Alfie with 24K Gold Lenses

Badgley Mischka Boyd in Espresso with 24K Gold Lenses

Badgley Mischka Lola in Brown with 24K Gold Lenses

Badgley Mischka Lola in Gold with 24K Gold Lenses

Badgley Mischka Grace in Gold with 24K Gold Lenses

Loree Rodkin Owen Gold Aviator Sunglasses with 24K Gold Special Edition Lenses

Loree Rodkin eyeCouture Scarlett in Brown (inner lenses can be customized to 24K yellow or white gold)

For availability and pricing on any of the  sunglasses above, please contact us at the boutique.

We love it when designers prominently feature their eyewear lines in their seasonal fashion collections.

It’s even better when they put their eyewear on the runways.

Which is exactly what Mark Badgley and James Mischka did during their Spring/Summer 2010 preview at the 11th Amsterdam International Fashion Week.

The spring/summer ready-to-wear collection from Badgley Mischka was stunning enough on its own.

But what really made it sizzle was Badgley Mischka’s decision to place its couture sunwear on every single model on the catwalk:

This made for one of the most conspicuous displays of sunglasses in any major collection this year (and possibly in history), which of course makes us overjoyed, since we carry both the Badgley Mischka Couture Eyewear Collection and the very sunglass models featured in Amsterdam.

After more than a decade of silver dominating eyewear, it was also refreshing to Badgley Mischka pair gold sunwear with their spring/summer fashions.

White gold made a showing as well, but the emphasis was definitely on yellow, which perfectly complimented the warm browns, bronzes and golds in the Amsterdam collection.

Badgley Mischka and Sama deserve much of the credit for reviving the aviator style sunglass and making it chic and fashionable again.

The Perry with 22k gold lenses (which is repeatedly featured in the Amsterdam show) is a favorite of Angelina Jolie and other celebs and recently made an appearance in Rhianna’s So Hard video.

According to Brian Glascow of Sama Eyewear, the sunglass designs featured in the Badgley Mischka Amsterdam collection were custom made by Sama with special couture lenses especially for the show.

Out of this concept was the birth of the 22k and 18k gold lenses that are available as a premium couture option on select Badgley Mischka frames like the Boyd and Perry.

While aviators have been slowly making a comeback for the better part of two years, there really hasn’t been an ultra-premium, couture alternative to the classic Ray-Ban until Badgley Mischka and Sheila Vance of Sama introduced the 22k gold version of the Perry and Boyd sunglasses.

The Amsterdam show from Badgley Mischka also shows how versatile the aviator truly is (once you lux it up a bit.)

Notice how effortlessly the gold Badgley Mischka sunglasses move from formal wear, to flirty summer dresses, to swimwear.

There’s a reason that certain designs in eyewear become “classics” and the Badgley Mischka Spring/Summer collection clearly demonstrates the enduring appeal of the metal aviator.

The Badgley Mischka Eyewear models featured in the Amsterdam collection include: Perry, Boyd, Alfie, Corset, Bradley, Grant (Optical Frame) and the Marilyn.

Tomorrow we’ll post the second half of the Amsterdam show, which pairs these fantastic sunglasses up with beach and swimwear designs from the Badgley Mischka summer 2010 collection.

In early January we noticed an upsurge in people asking about the Badgley Mischka Perry sunglasses.

But not just the usual Badgley Mischka Perrys — clients kept asking whether we stocked the gold Perry with gold lenses.

At first, we couldn’t quite understand the sudden interest.

Angelina Jolie had been spotted earlier sported the gold Badgley Mischka Perry with gold mirror lenses, and that caused a minor uptick in sales, but nothing like the buzz we saw over the past two months.

And then we noticed something in Rihanna’s “So Hard” video:

Yes, those gold sunglasses on the very lovely Rihanna are Badgley Mischka Perrys.

Suddenly, it all made sense.

The lenses Rihanna is wearing look like gold because they are literally gold: 24K  to be exact.

The lens itself isn’t made of gold, obviously, but its flash comes from a 24k gold coating that creates an amazing gold mirror that can’t be found on any other sunglass.

The photo above doesn’t do this sunglass justice, although you can get a much better idea of how stunning this gold aviator is from seeing it on Rihanna in the video clip.  Or you can just stop in a try it on for yourself.

The frame is also available in a white gold frame 24k white gold mirror lens and in a black frame with black lenses.

We currently have two Badgley Mischka Perry sunglasses in stock with the gold coated lenses:  One with the yellow gold frame and gold lenses that Riahanna wears in “So Hard”, and one with a black frame and white gold lenses.

Stop in to try them on and channel your inner Rihanna.

Tanks, machine guns and battle fatigues not required … although a killer sense of style is.

The Badgley Mischka line of couture eyewear occupies a special place in The Visionista’s heart.

I’m not certain what it is, but Badgley Mischka eyewear continues to be one of my favorite luxury sunglass and ophthalmic lines that we offer at Urban Optiques.

While their eyewear line doesn’t generate the buzz of a Chanel or Tom Ford, it really should.

In my opinion, it’s one of the best kept eyewear secrets out there: Badgley Mischka’s eyewear is glamorous and beautifully-constructed and they definitely get “seen.”

Plus, they travel well — I’m currently wearing a gorgeous pair of Badgley Mischka “Marilyn” in pearl (with tiny little, subtle crystals along the temples) and they look amazing with everything from jeans to a well-tailored skirt-suit. I get tons of compliments whenever I have them on.

Which brings me to today’s “Designer Sunglass of the Week”: The Badgley Mischka “Dorothy.”

The “Dorothy” Sunglass from Badgley Mischka: Inspired by the Golden Age of Hollywood

First, you need to know that the Badgley Mischka Couture Eyewear Collection is inspired by classic Hollywood and all of the frames are named after famous starlets or legends of the screen: Greta, Marilyn, Ginger, Lana, Jayne, Lucille, Elizabeth … you get the point.

And then, as if to throw a wrench into the whole Badgley Mischka Eyewear naming convention, there is the “Dorothy” sunglass.

The “Dorothy” features silver bows on the temples, which is an obvious nod to Judy Garland’s “Dorothy” in The Wizard of Oz.

Why “Dorothy” Versus “Judy?”

Why, in this particular case, Badgley Mischka chose to ditch their convention of naming the eyewear models after actors or actresses, and instead chose to chose the name of the character that the actress played is up for debate.  My theory is that the bowtie’s association with “Dorothy” is just much more natural for people than with Judy Garland.

But we won’t know for certain unless Mark Badgley and James Mischka drop by to leave their comments. And while I think that’s unlikely, you never know.

Inspired Design and Creativity in a Couture Sunglass

The ‘Dorothy” sunglass is one of those examples of the  originality that marks the Badgley-Mischka asthetic, period.

You can almost imagine the discussion that produced this sunglass design:  “What if we took a fantastic, glamorous acetate frame and accented it with  bows on each temple?”

Pure genius.

We were lucky enough to grab the  “Dorothy” sunglass from Sama when it became available and it continues to be one of the most uniquely-inspired sunglass-designs in our shop.

The Badgley Mischka “Dorothy” sunglass is available in Jet (Black), Sable, Iris, Rose and Pearl.

We currently have the “Dorothy” sunglass in “Jet” in our luxury eyewear display.  If you’re in downtown Northville shopping, stop by and try it on. It’s truly amazing.