Framed! contemporary eyewear in fashion exhibition

We’re saving the date for Framed! Cotemporary Eyewear in Fashion, one of the first exhibitions to explore the cultural significance of eyewear. Held at the London College of Fashion Space Gallery at 20 John Prince’s Street in London from 12 September – 3 November 2012, the exhibition will depict eyewear’s historical progression from the mid-twentieth century through featuring more than 100 frames from private collections, fashion houses and bespoke ateliers, including pieces from the Cutler and Gross archive.

The idea that glasses can transform and reinvent the wearer’s personal style was recognised as early as the late 1600s with companies such as C.W. Dixey & Son who created diamond-encrusted frames for the likes of Sir Winston Churchill and Napoleon Bonaparte. By the 1940s, designer specs had appeared on the cover of Vogue.

Through an archival of film and photography, this retrospective will celebrate the role of spectacles in fashion imagery, music and pop culture. The space will also showcase catwalk collaborations and new experimental prototypes including our collaborative runway collections with Erdem, Giles and Thomas Tait.