Color and collaboration are two buzzwords for sunglasses — but don’t look to the usual suspects to frame this season’s choices; we recommend some alternatives.

Known for handcrafted titanium lenses, Swedish-based eyewear label Sceye invited industrial designer Karim Rashid to produce a line of sunglasses they’ve dubbed Karim Vision. The forward-thinking designer came up with a line that sports soft rounded curves and fiercely angled lenses rimmed in laser-cut gunmetal titanium. The photochromatic lenses with NXT technology change color in response to light intensity, providing an unexpected jolt to the whole collection. Debuting last month at the Salone in Milan, the marriage of Rashid’s multi-hued design vocabulary and Sceye’s top-notch craftsmanship was the buzz at the tradeshow. These super-light glasses go into production next month; be on the lookout for them at the Karim Rashid shop in New York.

Linda Farrow Vintage, a company steeped in colorful tradition since the ’70s, and a longtime collaborator with Pucci and Nina Ricci, recently embarked on some brand new alliances. For Michiko Koshino (with whom Farrow has a licensing deal), the eyewear specialists have produced pristine white strips of metal fused with bluntly-angled, darkly tinted color lenses, to reference ’80s New Wave. Sexy colors of deep purple, jungle greens and funky fuchsia in disco pimp plastic frames are the result of a collaboration with Frost French for their recently launched eyewear collection. For the avant garde, Farrow’s circular wire frames for Swedish designer Ann Sophie Back were either missing lenses or they were created to appear destroyed. Linda Farrow’s dexterous designs have won many converts amongst the global chic set, including Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller, and Lenny Kravitz. Farrow’s line sells at Barneys New York and L’Eclaireur in Paris.

Paris-based Histoire De Voir has a long-standing collaboration with Lagerfeld Gallery in addition to creating designs for Pucci and others. Selections from these partnerships are excellent; but look no further than Histoire de Voir’s own line of sunglasses with a signature interchangeable leather temple, which comes in a wide range of colors (lenses vary in color as well). If Jacques Adnet were to do eyewear they would look something like these. Ultra-light, uber-chic, and shockingly underexposed (the label has been around since 1993), look no further than this line as the alternative to the too-popular Dior and Givenchy range.

Eye’DC, another French label, has been innovating eyewear for over 13 years. This season marks the arrival of the Inclassables. In a league of its own, this group is comprised of dark-lensed glasses encased in unbreakable frames that come in translucent mauve, silver, and grey. These photochromatic frames are available in a rectangular or a more severe looking cat-eye shape and are backed by a lifetime guarantee. Completing Eye’DC’s inimitable aesthetic is the Stripes collection. This range imbues a quieter, demure beauty with sinuously rounded frames linearly accented with soft sky blue, white, and crisp brown-colored frames.

The message from these innovative lines this season is loud and clear. Give the standard black shades a rest and embrace eyewear that gives the wearer boldface status.

-Robert Cordero

Photos: Sceye, Karim Vision
Linda Farrow Vintage
Eye’DC, The Inclassables