In the Louis Vuitton Cruise 2024 show that took place on the Isola Bella on Lake Maggiore, Nicolas Ghesquière transferred the concept of metamorphosis, which has always been part of our culture and our collective imagination, into a dreamlike collection that challenges fears and desires, entering unknown landscapes, in hybrid languages. Fluid like water, mysterious like nature, impenetrable like stone, and complex like the history and art of a place. Dior, on the other hand, focused on the butterfly, the emblem of transformation par excellence, and of beauty's revenge on prejudices and stereotypes. Metamorphosis is therefore a state of the soul from which to start to elevate glasses to accessories that make us feel part of the same universe, the same, identical scenario.

Almost moulded onto our eyes and onto our face, like Balenciaga's liquid masks, a kind of second skin, a membrane that envelops and protects us. Similar to the invisible one that surrounds skyscrapers... Avant-garde, and at the same time ancient. Didn't Ovid write his famous Metamorphoses in the year 8 A.D.? And it is exactly the name of Metamorphosis n. 1 "Formation" that was chosen for a model that is part of the Design Lab Collection of You Mawo, a German brand that only makes 3D glasses on demand, carefully studied based on the face of each customer. Metamorphosis n.1 is a mask that symbolises the idea that the composite entity surpasses the mere sum of its individual parts... The temples seem to be obtained from a concretion of the soil, extracted from the rock. In fact, it is often 3D printing that allows us to dare with matter, imitating nature, going beyond the limits of the possible, but also expressing a concept of sustainability, since it is a production process in which there is no waste of material. In this regard, You Mawo (an acronym for "Your Magic World") has been a climate neutrally certified company since 2021, but its commitment also extends to social sustainability with the recent "You Mawo Care" campaign that allows people with Down syndrome to buy a frame for 1 euro.

Neubau, an Austrian company whose credo is in fact "We are the sustainable Avantgarde", is also on the same wavelength. The materials used are all plant-based and recyclable, as for the Lotte & Hans mask, which is inspired by the deep sea and the first, pioneering underwater shots. The Marfa mask of the S/S 2024 collection designed by Mykita in collaboration with 032c, a cutting- edge media and fashion company, is made from Mylon, an exclusive material patented by the Berlin brand that has made sustainability a true corporate philosophy. Its enveloping shape, characterised by a cylindrical silhouette, allows a particular insertion of the lens that thus generates an intriguing reflection.

3D printing has also managed to transfer the transgressive punk-derived spirit of Ottolinger (in the opening photo), a luxury fashion brand based in Berlin, founded in 2016 by the Swiss designers Christa Bösch and Cosima Gadient, to the glasses. The design tension between deconstruction, experimentation and transformation is the basis of their creations, including the Twisted Sunglasses, in which the material is twisted throughout the frame to create an unusual, three-dimensional effect. The metamorphosis of matter thus corresponds to a metamorphosis of the gaze, conveyed by hybrid accessories that also create a connection with the surrounding nature and the environment, thus automatically becoming facilitators of a process of osmotic identification in a very precise lifestyle. Ovid docet.