James Dean Because We Feel Like It

Distinct and Unusual Oliver Goldsmith Eyeglasses from the Victoria & Albert Museum Collections

Oliver Goldsmith created 'Horses' using the outline of two horse heads. The frame was one of a series of animal-inspired shapes the company produced around this time, which also included dogs and ducks. This dramatic design reflects the company's promotion of glasses not as a medical necessity, but as a fashionable accessory.

These spectacles date from the mid-1930s. They are made from tortoiseshell, a rare and difficult material to work with. Tortoises are now an endangered species but at the time these glasses were made, their shells were very popular for spectacles. The frames were cut from a single piece of shell. For manufacture, the plates of which a tortoise's shell is made up are removed, then laminated together to get a block to cut from. This block is then boiled in cottonseed oil to make the material pliable, and then stretched out onto dowels. When set, the tortoiseshell can be cut into a desired shape. 

Oliver Goldsmith created the "Ruanda" frame in 1965. Imitation tortoiseshell became very popular at this time. As an alternative to real tortoiseshell (which by the late 1960s became scarce, expensive and then illegal to buy and sell) plastic imitation tortoiseshell quickly became a style statement.

Charles Oliver Goldsmith designed this frame, "The Little Serpent", in 1955 when the plastic for eyeglasses was still cut and shaped by hand. This frame was likely created for press purposes and is typical of Goldsmith's whimsical post-war designs.

Oliver Goldsmith created this glasses frame, titled 'Miss Dexter' in the mid-1960s. He designed it with a Vogue fashion editor of that name in mind. The Vogue offices were just around the corner from the Oliver Goldsmith workshop; its editors would often come by to select glasses for photo shoots. At the time this frame was designed, Oliver Goldsmith had started to make lighter frames and experiment with new veneer techniques. This design gains its vibrant color from a thin layer of plastic veneer applied to the frame.

Oliver Goldsmith created this glasses frame, titled ‘Polygon’, in 1971, the year that Britain converted its currency to the decimal system. The company registered the design, and received much publicity for its unusual and timely 50-pence shape.

"Noseguard" by Oliver Goldsmith, 1970. 

All text and images sourced from the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

Summer Madness in the Piazza San Marco : 1955

Katharine Hepburn and Rossano Brazzi in Summertime (1955)

Susan Strasberg in PICNIC

Susan Strasberg as Millie




Picnic (1955) is based on the Pulitzer-prize winning play by William Inge.

The Limits of Language

The Captive Mind bookcover, graphic design by Paul Rand (1955)

Vintage poster for the play Kaspar by Peter Handke (1966)

James Dean by Phil Stern, 1955

James Dean by Phil Stern, 1955.

This Friday the Los Angeles Theatre Center will host an exhibit of never before seen images of the JFK inaugural gala as photographed by Phil Stern.

In 1960, John F. Kennedy put Frank Sinatra in charge of setting up the inaugural gala and engage all its celebrity entertainers. Sinatra chartered 2 TWA aircrafts, one from NYC and the other from Hollywood. He packed them with the biggest names of the era: Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Gene Kelly, Tony Curtis, Bette Davis and more.

Hotel De Ville Vintage Eyewear will be there alongside Clever Vintage Clothing to host a vintage fashion show for attendees of the 60's Soiree. To attend this one night only exhibition and wine tasting, click here.

Let's Reflect

I have always preferred the reflection of life to life itself.
-Francois Truffaut

Marilyn at the East of Eden Premiere | 1955

All Hands on the Bad One : James Dean

To grasp the full significance of life is the actor's duty; to interpret it his problem; and to express it his dedication. Being an actor is the loneliest thing in the world. You are all alone with your concentration and imagination, and that's all you have. Being a good actor isn't easy. Being a man is even harder. I want to be both before I'm done.

-James Dean

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The Shape of Things to Come | Valentine's Day, 1955

Polish American women having refreshments at Valentine's Day party in Detroit, 1955.

Art Raises Its Head | Edith in Hollywood, 1955

Movie costume designer Edith Head, in signature sunglasses, standing behind dressmaker's model and holding up dotted black tulle in front of her, in her studio. Head was a very private woman, a trait well illustrated by the dark sunglasses that became her trademark.

Originally the lenses were blue, but later they were dark shades of gray. Originally, they were worn to see how the clothing would appear in black and white. The glasses and her unchanging hair style helped her to hide her true age. In the 1920s, she wore a Colleen Moore Dutch boy cut, but in the 1930s she noticed Anna May Wong's style and copied it: flat bangs with a chignon at the back. She would wear it for the rest of her life. These features and the consistency of her appearance over the decades helped make her an instantly recognised figure.