Charles, Andrew Oliver, Ray Goldsmith and visionary legend: OLIVER GOLDSMITH
CLAIRE GOLDSMITH – The Queen of Fashion Eyewear
INTERVIEW
OLIVER GOLDSMITH WERE THE ORIGINATORS OF FASHION EYEWEAR. OVER EIGHTY YEARS LATER, CLAIRE GOLDSMITH IS TAKING THE FAMILY BUSINESS TO NEW HEIGHTS, REDEFINING VINTAGE FRAMES, BREATHING NEW LIFE INTO AN HISTORICAL BRAND AND CONSTANTLY STRIVING TO EDUCATE, REALIGN AND ACCESSORISE. THE MONTEBURY MET WITH CLAIRE TO DISCUSS HEPBURN, VINTAGE, CAINE AND BESPOKE.
THE MONTEBURY: WHAT WAS IT LIKE GROWING UP KNOWING THAT YOUR GREAT GRANDFATHER HAD ESSENTIALLY SET THE BALL ROLLING FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF ‘FASHION EYEWEAR’?
Claire Goldsmith: I didn’t know. When you are surrounded by something, you take it for granted and at the time, I was very young and the company stopped trading in 1985, so I was eleven. Until then, I can’t say I was particularly aware of how well known we were as a brand. I remember actually saying to my dad once, “I want a pair of Gucci sunglasses’, and he said “What do you want a pair of Gucci sunglasses for? We make sunglasses – why would you buy that?”
WHY DO YOU THINK OLIVER GOLDSMITH BECAME SO POPULAR IN THE 1960S?
CG: I think it was because my grandfather was a marketing pioneer. In the late 40s, early 50s, cinema really began to take hold – it was a big night out, people would get dressed up to go and see these actors on a huge screen, and my grandather felt that these people were becoming icons. He thought that if these people were wearing his glasses, other people would want to be like them. So, he started phoning all of the film companies saying “if you need eyewear for the wardrobe, call me and I will make anything you need”. He started to get involved with Givenchy, who did all of Audrey Hepburn’s outfits, and after designing the outfit, would come and present it and say that they needed some glasses to go with it.
WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF EYEWEAR?
I think that it needs to start to innovate again. New materials, more sustainable materials, not so much plastic. We make wooden eyewear that is fantastic to wear, and is so comfortable. I think innovation will come back, I know of about twenty companies in the whole industry that I think are any good. They are doing cool, innovative stuff. There will always be a mass market, and the fact that we can’t really sell outside of big cities is a shame. We do really well in Harvey Nichols in London but they won’t put us in Harvey Nichols Manchester or Leeds because if it doesn’t say Gucci, Prada or Burberry, they don’t want it. That’s the different between the big cities and the sleepier cities, it is about having the confidence to not wear something branded. We don’t have any branding on the outside of our glasses, because I am not a billboard and I do not treat my customers like one. If you are wearing a pair of Oliver Goldsmith glasses, people will say ‘great glasses!’. You can choose to tell them what they are, or you can just say ‘thanks’.
WHAT ARE THIS YEARS TRENDS IN EYEWEAR?
CG: I think that vintage is going to start to calm down. I saw Nike making Michael Caine style glasses and when a brand like Nike start doing that, it has become a bandwagon, and you know it is coming to an end. I think that people are going to want to see something new and design-led. Vintage will be one pair of glasses that you have in your collection. I also think that people will look to invest in one or two good pairs, because of the way that the economy has gone, people are less wasteful. Shape wise, I see people writing that the ‘round-eye’ is in fashion now etc. Again, I think that people’s choices are so varied that just because a magazine says one thing is in fashion, doesn’t mean people are going to follow it. I have become a little disillusioned with fashion magazines and press. My customer is an independent thinker and if you said that the ‘round-eye’ is in fashion, they will go and buy a ‘square-eye’, just to be different.
Reproduced by kind permission of The Montebury Magazine.
To read the full interview, please visit: www.the-montebury.com
