Backstage Flash

tepping up his backstage behavior (as compared with his recent award show tantrums), Kanye West has been making the rounds at the Paris shows. Luckily, he left his Alain Mikli white plastic blinders at home.

Here he is at John Galliano and Alexander McQueen.

The Continuing Saga of Kanye's New Shades

hose foolish, non-functioning white Alain Mikli sunglasses of Kanye's just will not go away. They are now considered so essential to Mr. West's look, that they have been included as preliminary album art for his new record, Graduation.

Courtesy of New York Magazine:

"The just-released cover for Kanye West's Graduation shows Kanye's trademark bruin, manga-ized, being launched out of some kind of floating university in the sky. As a statement of purpose, it's a little confused and busy; what is Kanye saying, exactly? That's he's finally ready for the world? Surely that was true two blockbuster albums ago. That he's boldly sailing into the unknown? As space age as these tracks might be, we don't think they're going to sound so unfamiliar to fans of Kanye and his contemporaries.

All Graduation's cover really says, we think, is that Kanye's copped a new style. Created by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami — who curated the revelatory "Little Boy" show at the Japan Society in 2005 — the cover reflects West's recent stylistic infatuation with contemporary Japanese art and anime (an infatuation made clear in the "Stronger" video, which is peppered with anime-influenced visuals and scrawled Japanese characters). But if that's all his cover was going to say, we sort of wish he'd just stuck with the iconic promo art Murakami created for him earlier this year, of the bear in Kanye's venetian-blind sunglasses. Now that's a cover that says something: specifically, "Check it out, I got some new shades!""

[Source: NYMag]

For further FlashyShades coverage of Kanye's and Alain Mikli's collaboration, click here.

K.West Redux

o follow up on my Kanye West/Alain Mikli collabo post, don't expect to get your hands on those white lensless frames anytime soon without laying out some serious cash. Anyone have $1500 handy? [See: 80s Trends That Don't Kill Us Only Make Us Stronger]


[Photo: MSN.uk.com]


The Dallas Morning News quotes Mikli's PR people:

"The glasses aren't featured on the company's website as these are new and very, VERY special custom order. Readers will have an easier time if they just call the toll free number and inquire: 1-800-829-8032."

[Source: Dallas Morning News]

80s Trends That Don't Kill Us Only Make Us Stronger

lain Mikli has lent his considerable talents to hip hop's biggest rock star, Kanye West. Their collabo resulted in the below lens-free sunglasses.

Sophie Raubiet, General Manager for Alain Mikli boutiques tells PEOPLE, “this collaboration was such a positive experience for both Alain Mikli and Kanye West. It’s officially marked the beginning of future partnerships they are looking to do together.”

[Source: People]



While I won't be rocking these particular shades any time soon, I have to admit I'm curious to see what flashy shades their alliance will yield.

After all, even the princes are intrigued.

[Source: People]

The new hotness? Seduction

was reading The New York Post yesterday. Don't judge me.


In "Going, Going... Gone" they detailed fall's most desired items, many of which are already relegated to rather lengthy waitlists.
[Source: NYPost]

Included on this haute laundry list were Alain Mikli Seduction (A0640) sunglasses.

"With a dozen names on the waitlist for red and six queuing for heather gray, these shades are so hot that shoppers are even begging staff to lend them the floor samples - 'One client was willing to leave her AmEx card in order to take the sample,' says a sales associate. Next shipment: End of this week."

Never one to trust The Post, I called the Alain Mikli store on Madison Ave. myself. The sales associate assured me that while they are popular, several shipments are coming in and the approximate wait time is 10 days.

Do we like these? I'm just not so sure, y'all. You know what? No, I don't think we do.

Cost: $495
Colors: Red, Heather (many other colors are visible on the website, but I don't know about their availability in stores)
Retailer: Alain Mikli

A brief history on the designer:
- Alain Mikli is a French-born designer of handmade eyeglasses and sunglasses
- He is often heralded for his bold usage of color, which he attributes to his Armenian-Lebanese heritage [Source: Wikipedia]
- His eyeglasses are worn by many famous Europeans and Americans, including a few of my own personal heroes: Daniel Libeskind, Daniel Boulud (who is described on Mikli's site as a "grand restauranteur Francais et grand ami d'Alain), Philippe Starck, Steve Martin and Samuel L. Jackson
- His eyewear is praised for being technically advanced

While I think Mr. Mikli makes beautiful eyeglasses, I do not love him as a sunglasses designer. His shades all tend to be very similar looking, large round-edged squares with prominent rims. See for yourself at giarre.com.