RVS by V Eyewear Blends Handmade Craftsmanship with Fab Retro Styling, Shapes and Colors.  Should We Carry RVS Eyewear at Urban Optiques?

At Urban Optiques, we’re always looking for the new and unusual to add to our eyewear collections.

We’re partial to small, exclusive independent boutique eyewear brands — especially those that show a high-level of commitment to producing not only exceptionally-designed eyeglasses and sunglasses, but also understand the value of quality over quantity.

So when we ran across RVS by V Eyewear, we were instantly enamored with not only the bold colors and distinctive retro-inspired shapes of the frames, but also the philosophy of RVS by V Eyewear and its owner Vidal Erkohen.

RVS Eyewear’s claim-to-fame is that they hand-make and assemble each frame from the ground up.  Based in Istanbul Turkey, Vidal Erkohen and RVS Eyewear produce their eyeglasses and sunglasses from the highest-quality Mazzuchelli acetate.  The acetate is left unpolished, producing a truly bold, unique matte finish that we simply haven’t seen on other frames of this quality in the marketplace.

When we contacted Vidal Erkohen to ask him about the possibility of stocking RVS Eyewear, he explained the company philosophy very succinctly:

“We believe it’s very important to produce eyewear for people who value quality over quantity. Each piece we manufacture is truly HANDMADE.  This does not mean they were “hand-placed in a case.”  Everything is truly made from hand:  From our hand painted-red screws, brand prints inside the temples made one-by-one, and hand-sewn satin cases;  all of our pieces are made with the goal to bring back the originality and quality that was put into eyewear of the past.”

RVS produces its eyewear like small batches of fine wine — their collection is relatively small compared to most eyewear lines, comprising 10 opthalmic frames and 11 sunglass models for a total of 21 frames.  Each model is typically available in five to six different colors.

Each RVS eyeglass and sunglass is limited to 1,500 pieces, making it extra-exclusive and ensuring that you’ll be only one of 1,000 people in the world to own any given RVS by V Eyewear piece.

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Who Makes the Big, Oversized, Retro-Style Eyeglasses Spotted on Lindsay Lohan?

Regardless of what you think (or if you even care) about Lindsay Lohan’s personal-problems, run-ins with the law, probation violations and occasional crimes of fashion, Lilo has always had great taste in eyewear and sunglasses.

She’s been a die-hard fan of the Sama and Badgley Mischka lines for years — frequently shopping for eyewear at Sama’s West Hollywood and Beverly Hills boutiques.  Loree Rodkin and Sama’s Sheila Vance even created a giant, oversized sunglass —  “The Lindsay” — specifically for Lohan.

So we were kind of tickled when Lohan was spotted over the weekend shopping for eyeglasses and sunglasses at the West Hollywood Destination: Sama boutique. According to Just Jared, Lindsay had just reported to the courthouse for her probation check-in and then headed over to Destination: Sama to shop for sunnies.

Now, I’ve never had to report to a probation officer (and intend to keep it that way), but I can’t think of any better activity to do after meeting with local law enforcement than to go shopping for some new sunglasses. In fact, I can’t think of any better activity to do anytime than shop for eyewear. But then again, it’s my business.

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Mickey Rourke Wears Sama D.C. Eyeglasses in Red Eyeglasses in “The Expendables.”

This weekend, The Expendables debuts at movie theaters in Europe (it opens in the U.S. next weekend) and we’re already fielding questions at Urban Optiques about who makes Mickey Rourke’s retro-inspired eyeglasses in the movie.

Anyone who came of age in the ’80s will know that Mickey Rourke was one of the decade’s sexiest bad boy actors. Who can forget the steamy 9 1/2 Weeks that paired Rourke with Kim Basinger and had to be substantially edited to earn a mere “R-Rating” at the box office?  He had that whole quiet, tough guy swagger down pat and it more or less made Rourke an icon among both men and women.

Not an easy thing to do.

But right at his height, Rourke seemed to disappear.  He took up boxing again.  He got his face bashed in which resulted in a round of reconstructive surgery that Rourke admits didn’t go the way he had expected.  For nearly a decade, there was hardly a word about Mickey Rourke.

And then in then 2005, Mickey Rourke staged an unlikely comeback thanks to his role in Sin City. The credits continued to accumulate, including an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his role in the 2008 film The Wrestler and his role as the villain “Whiplash” in this Spring’s blockbuster Iron Man 2.

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Megan Fox’s Eyeglasses Cause Major Case of Eyewear Envy. The Good News? You Can Get Her Lafont Karima Frames at Urban Optiques.

Actress Megan Fox is the perfect example in our minds of why people need to think of eyeglasses as an accessory, and not just a medical necessity.

Take the eyeglasses that Fox was spotted in last year: As soon as the photos of Megan in her fab eyeglasses hit the Internet, there was a flurry of searches around what frames she was wearing.

How do we know?

Well, we watch stuff like this.  It’s part of how we track trends in not just eyewear, but also fashion and accessories. This helps us better predict what to carry in the store, as well as recommend to people what’s going to be stylish this season.

In the case of Fox, it didn’t take much more than a quick look to know right away that she was wearing Lafont eyeglasses, one of our flagship brands here at Urban Optiques.

Based in Paris, Lafont is known for its distinctive eyewear designs, which range from artsy and funky, to chic and sophisticated. continue

Mickey Rourke Wears Sama Deco 3 Eyeglasses in the Blockbuster Film “Iron Man 2”

If you stopped into the local theater this weekend to catch “Iron Man 2” you’ll see a pair of eyeglass frames on Mickey Rourke that are WAY cool.

So who makes them and where can you get them?

The eyeglasses worn by Mickey Rourke in “Iron Man 2” are by our good friends at Sama Eyewear out of Los Angeles and Beverly Hills. The eyeglasses Mickey Rourke wears were specially made for the movie, and featured custom-dipped lenses by Sama.

If you have no clue what we’re talking about, here’s a movie still of Mickey Rourke wearing the Sama Deco 3 eyeglasses in “Iron Man II” in crystal as well as sporting the Sama “Press” eyeglasses off-set with some very cool tint in them:

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