Trends
Breathe
Airy, but contemporary
Words Alessandra Albarello
14/02/2024
Airy, but at the same time bold and contemporary, the new glasant and rimless glasses breathe in defiance of the laws of gravity, without ever losing that decisive touch of personality and appeal.
There was a beautiful song from the '90s by Midge Ure called "Breathe", a clear invitation to breathe and let go. And what better words of encouragement could there be for this difficult period, to spur us on and to find inner balance? Balance, but also calm and simplicity. Lightness and transparency filtered by light thus become the strong points of many glasses that seem to defy the laws of gravity, often merging with the landscape and becoming the aesthetic codes of a new minimalism. They even go so far as to become part of the face. The colours are diluted, the shapes are fluid, and the gaze extends beyond.
It is therefore no coincidence that many companies are offering glasant, rimless or semi-rimless models for the first time. Like Neubau, a brand that has made sustainability its bulwark, so much so that it proudly produces its collections in its carbon-neutral (with compensation) facility in Austria. The brand's new Sphere collection (in the opening photo), which is also revealed through an advertising campaign that focuses on evanescence, defines new perspectives and proposes an almost spiritual, dreamlike dimension that extends to the constellations evoked by the names of the eight frames. The frames are thus called Orion, Andromeda, Octans, Corvus, Phoenix, Cassiopeia, Argo and Vela, and are developed based on a load-bearing and linear titanium structure. What really makes the difference are the delicate colours of the lenses in mint, rosé and grey, which erase borders and perimeters.
There are also brands that have really travelled through space, such as Silhouette, which this year celebrates 25 years of Titan Minimal Art, glasses that have become real icons, built as micro-architectures without the use of screws or hinges. Here, too, the names of the four new models featuring tints and by the innovative Partial Color Groove are inspired by the constellations and are combined with as many colours: Rose Andromeda, Mint Phoenix, Blue Pegasus and Grey Taurus. And, speaking of microarchitecture, another unique glasant example is the Pierre model by Balmain, in Japanese acetate and titanium, which is now also available in the sunglasses version, and is dedicated to the unmistakable style of Pierre Balmain, who had studied architecture before turning his hand to fashion. For the first time, Andy Wolf also introduces the Boldless rimless line, inspired by the hip-hop atmospheres of the '90s. All models, featuring a double bridge and acetate temples, are available both in an eyeglasses version and with coloured lenses.
The exploration of aerial and very light forms continues for Blackfin, which proposes new rimless models for the Aero line, naturally always using titanium, a material that has become the absolute star of its collections. Who wouldn't recognise the Trinity de Cartier ring, one of the symbols par excellence of the French maison? For the 100th anniversary of a piece of jewellery that has become an all-time must-have (even Jean Cocteau and the Duke of Windsor often wore it on their left little fingers), Cartier has created a limited edition of round glasses embellished with a Trinity ring-shaped decoration with a triple finish in rose gold, yellow gold and platinum. The Alaïa model, on the other hand, transforms the constructive detail of the bolts that fix the single lens to the temples into a bold decoration, playing with different transparencies and thicknesses. Because even if these frames tend towards minimalism, they never give up on affirming their personality. In fact, often less is definitely more.