A Point Of Design: Vogue Light Up Bond Street

To much excitement and anticipation, today sees the launch of Vogue magazine’s Street Lights initiative: a new artistic endeavour taking over London’s second most-iconic shopping street, Bond Street. The brainchild of Vogue’s Jewellery Editor, Carol Woolton - in collaboration with Bond Street Association - Street Lights is an artistic collaboration between the street’s renowned fine jewellers, The Royal College of Art and Central Saint Martins.

Collaborating with 50 2nd and 3rd year students from The Royal College of Art  and Central Saint Martins(studying a mixture of Goldsmith, Silversmith, Metalwork and jewellery courses), the brief was to create conceptual and innovative approaches for the display of jewellery within the windows of the fine jewellers of Bond Street. Iconic brands such as: Asprey, Cartier, Chanel, Mappin + Webb, Van Cleef + Arpels and Tiffany +Co are all taking part, in addition to many more.

From simply removing the usual constraints of traditional jewellery displays such as boring busts and generally black Perspex plinths, the results are both intriguing and unexpected, showing exquisite luxury items in a whole new light.

“It’s a fantastic artistic collaboration of some of the world’s most beautiful jewels being showcased in extraordinary, fresh and innovative ways, provoking us to think about the role of jewellery in our cultural life. The students are bringing wit, originality and imagination to the street in a way that London does better than anywhere else in the world. The idea was born out of my time as a judge at the Royal College of Art each year, by the displays the students created for their work and the manner in which they dealt with scale and environment.” comments Carol Woolton.

Street Lights runs from 10-15 May inclusive and is a celebration of the excellence of the capitals jewellery courses, drawing attention to the fact that more creative jewellery design comes out of London than anywhere else.

Fresh From The Production Line: Oliver Goldsmith

P. Oliver Goldsmith (pictured centre)

“I don’t believe in those theories about certain styles suiting certain shaped faces. Life is too short. If you find a shape you like, have it and never mind what anyone else thinks.” – Oliver Goldsmith, 1965.

Clippings of iconic coverage

A few weeks ago I was invited to the launch of the brand new sunglasses collection by Claire Goldsmith. Not knowing too much about the brand beforehand I was blown away by the West London store and showroom, charting the eponymous brand’s heritage and great legacy in high fashion. Worn by all of the supers, actresses and most popular rock stars alike, Goldsmith designs often graced the pages of Vogue making him synonymous with the world of celebrity and an arbiter of style.

Some of my favourite heritage styles (above and below)

Founded in 1926, P. Oliver Goldsmith was the first designer to view sunglasses as accessories in addition to being a tool to protect eyes from the sun – creating a series of innovative styles in the late ‘50s which were to make a bold fashion statement. Worn by the royalty and celebrities such as Audrey Hepburn (think big white oval frames), Michael Caine, Grace Kelly and Peter Sellers, Goldsmith pioneered an altogether new concept in eyewear being the first to create a range of winter sunglasses, and spearheading collaborations with high fashion houses such as Givenchy and Dior.

The polaroid wall of celebrities

Looking through the back catalogue of samples and trying on all of the iconic styles was a somewhat special experience, especially when I could see Polaroids of present day celebrities snapped in their favourite styles – making the whole shopping experience a glamorous affair for customers.

Some examples of classic styles (above)

Examples of the production process and a choice of acetates for custom-made pairs

What I love most about the brand is that it is - to this day - a family business with grand-daughter Claire at the helm since 2005, when she reintroduced some of Goldsmith’s most iconic frames taken from the private family archive. Since 2010, Claire has put her own stamp on the brand, creating seasonal capsule collections that play on the brand’s unique heritage, whilst establishing a fresh design aesthetic targeted towards a new generation.

Claire Goldsmith's newest collection

Of her collections Claire says: “I decided it was time to put my own mark on eyewear designs to see if I had what it took to create timeless, classic eyewear too... I hope CG (Claire Goldsmith) will be the vintage of the future.”