Caren Downie has been a influential figure in British fashion for many years – as former buying director of Top Shop, fashion director of Asos.com and most recently the brains behind Finery, the online fashion brand.
Caren left Finery at the beginning of this year and like many of us old school fashion industry sorts decided it was time to set up her own business and has created ByOcular, a designer eyewear concept for men and women, featuring artisanal glasses.
The glasses are influenced by vintage frames, are made to order and can be customised to create an individual style that is personal to the wearer. The collection is made in England and every pair goes through fifty crafted stages over a period of 6 weeks, including 4 stages of polishing, to ensure the perfect finish.
Boffin in Dark Rose
There are a number of contemporary styles and 26 colours and new colours will be introduced to update the range as it evolves. There are also some limited edition acetates sourced from archives, but once they’re gone they’re gone!
Vita in Racing Green
Catseye in Smoke
Earle in Arsenic Choc Chip
Caren says “Byocular has been a while in the making: I found the first pair of glasses in a vintage store over 4 years ago. They were so practical, brave and stylish I had to find a way to at least ensure I could get another pair. So the journey started.
Along the I have had help from some amazing people who also showed great belief in Byocular. As styles were developed more and more people started to want them and the idea that I should make them available to everyone seemed the natural thing to do.”
The full collection is available to buy at www.byocular.com and you can follow them on instagram @byocular.
These are fab! I love that the company offers the opportunity to try before you buy though once you add in prescription lenses they are pricey and sadly out of reach for many folk.
I don’t understand how they work, half the frame seems to have no glass in. Not really practical for short sighted people. The frames are lovely though.
Re: Claire’s comment:
Reading the info on the website I think the idea is that you buy the frames and they come with plain glass and then you take those to your optician to have your prescription lenses inserted. So I guess the half lenses don’t make any difference because you’ll be replacing them with your prescription lenses. I think……….