Tiffany & Co. Enters the Sunglasses Arena

reak out the baby blue boxes!


Iconic jewelry house Tiffany & Co. has announced a partnership with sunglasses giant Luxottica Group SpA to launch a line of Tiffany sunglasses as early as 2008.

"Tiffany & Co. said Tuesday they signed a 10-year license agreement to provide for the design, manufacturing and worldwide distribution of eyewear under the Tiffany name.

The collections mark Tiffany's entrance into the eyewear market and are expected to be launched in early 2008.

The eyewear will be available at Tiffany stores and other retail locations in North America, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, key Middle East markets and Mexico."

[Source: Associated Press]

Luxottica is already responsible for such eyewear lines as Bvlgari, Chanel, D&G, Dolce & Gabbana, Donna Karan, Miu Miu, Prada, Ray-Ban and Versace.

Will Tiffany's eyewear be adorned with diamonds?!

The Top$

ir Philip Green restated his plans to bring the splendid UK-based TopShop chain to the States after a New York court ruled in his favor.

The US District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that Green's Arcadia Group owns all rights to the TopShop name. Thereafter, he announced his intention to recreate their Oxford Street, London flagship in the United States. The legal proceedings, while irksome, were not all negative:

"But what this litigation did was to reveal the vast amount of interest from all sectors in TopShop coming to America."

[Source: Vogue.co.uk]

The TopShop brand offers an array of shades that mimic designer style, though perhaps not their UVA/UVB protection. Americans can look forward to their purely ornamental, low-cost flash.

The Metal Rim Visor Sunglasses at right are reminiscent of pairs made by Vogue Sunglasses:
Cost: £20
Color: Red frames with Grey lenses
Retailer: TopShop.co.uk



At left, these Square-Armed Sunglasses have open temples and a Nicole Ritchie-ish feel.
Cost: £15
Color: Green metal arms with Grey lenses
Retailer: TopShop.co.uk


While these shades will not be putting the Luxottica Group out of business any time soon, they are great in the same affordable, fashion-forward way that the rest of TopShop's merchandise is.

Gisele Ages Gracefully

n July, Supermodel Gisele told the press that men do not hit on her with the persistence they did a decade ago.


"Maybe I am not as good-looking? I don't know. Maybe my age has started showing? I take off my sunglasses and I'm 25."

Ms. Bundchen is, of course, the face of Vogue Sunglasses (a division of the Luxottica Group). Luckily for her, shades are an excellent way to ward off the effects of time. [source]

On her selection, Luxottica's VP of Marketing Vittorio Verdun stated: “As the new face of Vogue 2006, Gisele’s naturally elegant good looks and worldwide fame as a fashion icon makes her the ideal choice for the launch of the new Vogue collection." You can check the goods (hers and theirs) out here.

For the fall, I am quite taken with their 3502 S model:
Cost: $99.95
Colors: White, Black or Silver frames
Retailer: Sunglass Hut


PS - Sunglasshut.com has a brilliant match the celebrities to their shades game. You can play here.