Remember the old nursery rhyme: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes (Knees and Toes)? Behold: now you can wear all of those body parts over your Eyes and Ears and Mouth and Nose! That is if you were a 1960’s “It Girl” sporting renowned optician Pierre Marley’s anatomy inspired glasses, as seen here.
Pierre Marley Circa 1960
In the 1970s, while studying to be an optician in Paris, Alain Mikli (Miklitarian, then) described his creations as “prosthesis-like glasses: well-behaved, commonplace, unimaginative”. What a far cry from that description are these sunglasses by the now famed eyewear designer. You could say these protoplasmic shades “emBODY” the antithesis of the basic designs Alain Mikli used to produce.
Alain Mikli
2007 Alain Mikli Third cover page of ICONOfly #3, diary of eyewear, Body-conceived for Alain Mikli, ICONOfly
Owner of German eyewear company ic! berlin, Ralph Andrel, says himself, “ic! berlin lives. I live. The glasses live. The choir lives. The kitchen lives. The toilet lives, production lives – live.”. We see living proof of his philosophy in these metal framed sunglasses which feature a subtle silhouette of a woman in a not so subtle pose on the lens of these silver stunners.
icBerlin
I can’t help but recount Di Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man” when analyzing these Vintage Casanova sunglasses. It’s not just the Italian manufacturing or the presence of a person that bridges the famed drawing to these crafty designs. It’s the implication of action in the figure pulling the lenses together or climbing the steps from lens to lens. The round lenses on each of the glasses bring the connection full circle.
Vintage Casanova People
Vintage Casanova circa 1990
The smiley face was quite a popular fashion statement in the 1960s and had also experienced a resurgence in the 1990s. In 2015 you can have it all with these reinvented “cross-eyed” gold rimmed glasses by Jeremy Scott.
Jeremy Scott
Eyes may be the window to the soul, but the fastest way to flattery is with a bit of lip service, don’t cha think? Mercura NYC’s gold eyeglasses and Anglo American’s “Mouth” sunglasses are both flirty and provocative. Either pair is sure to get the conversation started, but you might have to do the rest!
Mercura NYC
Mouth by Anglo American
So you haven’t quite mastered the art of flirting? These vintage Oliver Goldsmith glasses do all the work for you! A cutesy winged asymmetric design features silver details aside each of the lenses on these coquettish white frames.
1956 OIiver Goldsmith Wink Eyeglasses
Asymetry and added sculptures are not for everyone. You can still jump on board this “art imitating life” eyewear movement by saying it with a print.
Eye Spy Sunnies on Nylon Shop
The trend of the human form in eyewear has proven to make way hand over fist. Designers such as Oliver Goldsmith have literally made the “arms” of these plastic framed eyeglasses replicate their namesake by replacing an ordinary ear hook with an upswinging elbow and hand figurine. If these frames could clap for themselves they’d probably do that, too!
Oliver Goldsmith Hands
Alain Mikli and Jeremy Scott for Linda Farrow play a game of peek-a-boo with these jesting eyewear creations. The sultry red tone of the nails might also have you running out for a manicure in a moment’s notice!
Alain Mikli Hands
Jeremy Scott x Linda Farrow 2011
This final exhibit in the Bodies Exhibition of Eyewear may be skipping a torso (amongst other anatomically correct parts), but it sure is dainty. Red lip shaped frames and legs for arms make this sunnies both frisky, whimsical, and like something our eyes have never seen before!
Face a Face, both lips and legs