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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Tom Ford Goes Super-Retro with the TF 5116 Eyeglass Frame

In the fashion industry, Tom Ford has built a name for himself as a designer who pushes boundaries, whether in his runway fashions at Gucci or in the racy promotional campaigns for Tom Ford Eyewear that got his advertising banned in Italy.

So it’s a bit surprising to see the former lead-designer at Gucci and now award-winning director of the critically-acclaimed movie “A Single Man” introduce so many retro-inspired eyeglasses into the current Tom Ford Eyewear collection.

Or maybe not.

Vintage-inspired fashion continues to be a major theme in spring and fall collections from Chanel, Lanvin, YSL and Dior, and Ford himself just finished directing a period-piece, so retro and vintage style eyewear is probably top of mind for Tom Ford.

Which brings us to our designer eyeglass of the week: The Tom Ford TF 5116.

This is another one of those Tom Ford eyeglasses that is screaming for the right face shape and attitude.

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Should We Carry the Francis Klein Eyeglass and Sunglass Lines?

We’re looking to add a couple of select eyewear and sunglass lines to our current collection this Spring.

One of the designers who caught our eye was Paris-based Francis Klein.

There are a few of reasons why we are considering adding Francis Klein to our existing eyewear collection at Urban Optiques:

First, they just make beautiful, retro-inspired eyewear that’s hand-made in Paris.

Their frames — both optical and sun — are amazing works of art made by people who are passionate about creating unique, one-of-a-kind eyewear.

Second, no one in Michigan is carrying eyewear from this little French treasure (at least as far as we know), which makes them an even better fit for our buying philosophy.

Third, we love working with independent companies that haven’t diluted their brand or product through some giant corporate distribution network.  Like L’Amy (the distributor of our Lanvin-Paris and Chloé frames) and Lafont-Paris, they are a joy to work with since they don’t have some giant company making the decisions from a disconnected boardroom. These are people who get what we do and will not compromise on quality, style or service.

It’s something we really appreciate around Urban Optiques, because it’s the essence of who we are and what we stand for.

So check out some of Francis Klein’s eyeglasses and suns and tell us what you think:

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