Italian luxury fashion brand Versace has led the luxury frontlines since its inception in 1978. Among its lineup of ready-to-wear, accessories, and haute couture, Versace is also a key player in the luxury eyewear sector. According to data from Technavio, the luxury eyewear market share is expected to increase by $3.99 billion (€3.67 billion) from 2021 to 2026. Industry experts attribute this market growth to the sector’s consistent innovation and portfolio extension, leading to further product premiumisation while improving usage.
Like many of Versace’s offerings, the Italian brand’s eyewear products are known for their distinctive creative elements, drawing on luxurious imagery through gold accents and bold silhouettes. In this post, we’ll take a deeper look at Versace’s masterful blend of art and luxury through its eyewear offerings:
Versace’s luxury by design
As mentioned above, Versace’s distinct design choices exude the brand’s luxury. While other luxury fashion brands may capitalise on the minimalist movement by relying on sleek silhouettes and simpler frames, Versace’s eyewear offerings boast a robust geometric style supported by harsh lines and shapes.
In 2022, Versace’s Men’s Capsule, in collaboration with actor Cole Sprouse, featured three Medusa frames, each embodying different aspects of the company’s brand. The Medusa Focus looks deceivingly like regular aviator frames albeit featuring the fashion house’s brand logo at the temples and the Greek Key. For those looking for a sleeker option, the Medusa Dream embodies chic cosmopolitan with thin metal frames. Meanwhile, the Medusa Mesmerize is a futuristic take through a wraparound silhouette.
Aside from playing with geometrics, a key aspect of Versace’s design philosophy is the occasional gold accents and branding. Today, most Versace sunglasses feature striking gold branding pieces on their temples. The Versace VE4353 look like regular black-framed cat eyes until you see the not-so-discreet gold accent on the side. Similarly, the Versace VE4402 provides a modern and sophisticated look through oversized rectangle lenses. However, the model doesn’t abandon integrating gold branding into its chunky temples.
While not necessarily a friendly choice for those seeking more elegant and minimalist designs, the gold logos and imagery help make the products recognisable while exuding rich and confident luxury. The VE4361 sunnies that many saw and recognised from The Crown‘s latest season, for example, are undeniably distinguishable from the Prada shades that stuck to the chunky black aesthetic.
Versace and art
Aside from design choices through shapes and gold accents, Versace is also unabashedly a fan of the arts, and it shows through the fashion house’s eyewear collections. Gianni Versace, the founder of the Italian brand, was interested in both history and the arts, drawing inspiration from various art styles.
Notably, the fashion designer’s collections draw on aesthetic choices from Greco-Roman culture, Byzantine art, the Renaissance, the Baroque, Neoclassicism, Art Deco, and modern art. In particular, Gianni Versace also liked popular American culture, incorporating rich colours and motifs throughout Versace’s luxury collections.
In a previous post, we highlighted Gianni Versace’s 1991 Pop Art collection that featured Andy Warhol’s prints, including a jewel-encrusted version of the artist’s lurid Marilyn Monroe prints. The SS91 collection merged Versace’s passion for the arts and contemporary passion, playing with the exuberant nature of 60s American popculture and pop-art with daring leopard print and baroque swirls to match.
Versace’s penchant for the pop-art aesthetic is also evident throughout the brand’s host of chunky-framed eyewear, merging bold colour-blocking with harsh silhouettes and oversized lenses. For example, Versace’s Tribute eyewear collection revisited the brand’s bold pop-art-esque Vogue prints on cat eyes and the stand out gone-tone logo on its temples.
