Filed under: EVENTS!
Join us on October 17th from 11-5 pm for lots of golden goodies!
First, try your luck in finding the golden ticket, Willy Wonka style! Prizes and discounts will be inside each wrapper. It might not be a trip to the chocolate factory, but it will totally be worth it!!
Gold Plaited will be braiding your hair in magical ways from 12-2pm! Just take a gander at these outstanding braids….
Next up, the snacks! We will have a delish boozy gold-flecked bundt cake by Wilder Cakes and the Design Maven also will be brewing some golden sangria…and she’s a bit heavy-handed, so watch out:)
For the kids and kids-at-heart, add some flash to your day with a golden temporary tattoo
And for the grand finale….a golden gift, straight from the Parisian flea market, will be given to each person that makes a purchase on our golden birthday!!
We hope to see your gorgeous faces on Saturday, October 17th from 11-5 pm!! The braid bar is 12-2pm!
Maybe we can even convince the Specs Wrangler to do a funny dance, maybe…
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Filed under: Anne et Valentin, CUSTOMER OF THE WEEK!, FASHION!, Unique Frame Lines
Hey everyone! We have a new customer of the week! Say hi to Hawke!
Hawke came in needing help fixing an old pair of glasses that had fallen prey to the tiny hands of a grabby child – kids can’t seem to resist the siren song of a pair of glasses…before you know it SWOOP! they are off!
We were able to help him get his old frames back in order, but he realized that he might want to get a new pair since it had been a while since he had updated his glasses game.
Hawke has a low bridge and frames that come with nosepads tend to keep those specs where they need to be, but liked the bold look of plastic frames! Patsy, our Specs Wrangler, got right down to it select the always fantastic, Fame frame by Anne et Valentin. He liked it so much that he decided to get it in 2 colors!
The black and charcoal frame is a great alternative to a boring black frame. It still has the clean lines that you get from a black frame, but the matte plastic on the front add a textural element that keep this frame modern.
Tortoise plastic is classic and softens this grey metal frame bringinging elements of dimension and light.
It is amazing how different the same frame in two different colorways look!
Hawke is now rocking his new frames and feels like a million bucks. I hope he can keep those little kid fingers away from them!
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Filed under: Anne et Valentin, CUSTOMER OF THE WEEK!, FASHION!, Gentle Monster
Our uber-chic Customer Of The Week is Ruth!
Ruth has been a customer here at Eye Spy for a few years now and she always has wonderful taste. We love how these slightly oversized Anne et Valentin Modern Style frames look on her.
Everything comes together in this frame – the shape is a reimagined take on vintage eyeglass shapes, the little pops of red metal on the temples make this frame modern and the tortoise is a classic color that is crazy versatile.
Ruth’s Gentle Monster Magician frame is also an updated take on a traditional sunny and is a frame she will be able to wear for years.
Chocolate chip acetate and gold metal…how can you go wrong?
Ruth’s frames have all the right elements and she will be able to wear them long after the current fashion trends come and go. This is what classic style is all about!
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Filed under: NEWS!
What do you do with your old glasses when they have grown outdated and the lenses no longer workd for you?
Most people shove them away in the back of a drawer and forget about them or throw them away.
A couple of Canadian artists Caitlind r.c. Brown & Wayne Garrett decided to put some of those old lenses to use…14,000 of them!
They created a large scale instalation named Sea/See/Saw on the front of Istanbul’s Pera Museum overlooking the Bosphorous river.
Thousands of lenses hang and glitter in the sun, reflecting the river water and moving with the breeze.
What a beautiful way to turn trash into art!
We know, you probably won’t turn your glasses into art like this, but you can dig them out of those drawers and give them new life. We collect old glasses and donate them to a great organization called New Eyes for the Needy. They help provide glasses to those less fortunate and keep your old frames out of the landfill.
If you do decide to make art out of your old frames, send it over, we want to see it!
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Filed under: EVENTS!
We are getting ready for our AUGUST SUNGLASS SALE, where, once a year we round up all of our sunglasses, and go a little bananas on the discounts.
All sunglasses are on sale from the beginning to the very end of the month! Come by and take advantage of discounts from 10-50% off of almost every pair of sunglasses in the store. Yowza! Just to add to the crazy of the sale, we have also put a a few of our eyeglasses lines on sale for 25% to 75% off!
Come by and let us fit you with lovely sunnies to enjoy for the rest of the summer… and fall because we all know we will be outside as long as the weather allows!
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Filed under: CUSTOMER OF THE WEEK!, FASHION!, Niloca, Theo
Help me welcome Robin to the Customer Of The Week Club!
Robin’s first visit to Eye Spy Optical was a little bit strange…the Queen of Specs and the Optical Oracle were on at the shop and just moments before Robin stepped in the door, the power had all gone out. This did not deter Robin. She had been sent by one of her fab friends to look at our unique frames and a little power outage wasn’t going to deter her.
She looked around for a bit, trying on frames in every color under the rainbow. A Theo frame caught her eye…part of a limited edition of flourescent Mille specs…in bright blue and green.
I know this is purple…but you can imagine this in blue and green can’t you?
Robin loves color and accessories, so she also wanted to look for something she could wear with her jewel-tone outfits. She tried on Niloca’s Fermie frame and knew she had found her frame-charming. The kalaidesope of amethyst, garnet and carnelian colors was gorgeous with her coloring and would match her hats!
So it was settled…Theo and Niloca frames in gorgeous limited edition colors were going home with her.
We love Robin’s bold choices and think she looks beautiful in both of her new specs!
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Filed under: CUSTOMER OF THE WEEK!, Theo
Tip your hats to our elegant Customer Of The Week Deanna!!!
Deanna came in after seeing her friend wearing a fabulous pair of glasses from Eye Spy. She wanted a new frame -something bold and colorful – and you know she came to the right place. Patsy, our Specs Wrangler, helped her try on several fun frames. Deanna almost walked out the door in a pair of Rapp cat-eyes, but a very special Theo caught her eye… and she absolutely HAD to have it!
The O by Theo is a frame that is bold and beautiful, but also has a sense of humor. We think that it looks striking on Deanna. Her silver hair and porcelain skin make this frame POP and the fit is nothing but perfect.
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Filed under: EVENTS!
Iris the Airstream was cooped up all winter and is so excited to get out and show off that she has been gettin’ around town this summer (yes, it really IS summer!) as part of our Pop-Up shop.
You may have seen her chillin’ in front of the store during our Theo Trunk show. She LOVES ice cream and gelato and sampled some local sweet treats at spots like Black Dog Gelato and Bobtail in June. She also made her way over to the Lincoln Square Farmers Market and all the way down to Modern Cooperative in Pilsen.
Iris still has big plans for the summer. In August she’ll be poppin-up at Coyle+Herr on the 13th, Humboldt House on the 15th, Sprout Home on the 28th, and Randolph Street Market on the 30th. In September she will be at Modern Cooperative on the 11th and on the 18th you will find her visiting her friends at the Chicago Mosaic School for the the Ravenswood Art Walk.
Stop by, say hi, get a tour and try on some spectacular frames!!!! We always have treats and drinks for visitors:-)
If you have a local, independent business, and would like Iris to visit your shop, just give us a ring or drop us a line! And don’t forget to Follow us on Facebook for an up to date list of summer pop-ups.
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Filed under: Anne et Valentin, Caroline Abram, CUSTOMER OF THE WEEK!, FASHION!, Unique Frame Lines
Our Customers of the Week are a fun and fabulous couple…three cheers for Erin and Tom!!!
Erin and Tom used to live in Chicago, but moved to Wisconsin for graduate school…since Erin is working towards her PhD. She is one smart cookie. They still make the trek all the way down to Eye Spy Optical for our fantastic glasses. The both love fashion and think that glasses are the perfect accessory! They each left with 2 frames – a fun pair and a more serious pair for work.
Erin chose a bright red pair of Anne Et Valentin Amber frames for her fun pair. She had the hardest time deciding which color to get – she would have gotten them all if she could have – but the red was clearly the standout pair!
For her work pair, she also pair of Anne Et Valentin Cozak frames in a warm grey color wtih just a hint of pink at the temples. Did someone say, “sexy secretary”?!?
Tom’s prescription is strong, so he had difficulty see the glasses he was trying. As a result, our Specs Wrangler and Erin got to work and chose a couple of awesome frames for him. Once his lenses were in, he was thrilled with the end result!
He went home with a tortoise and blue Caroline Abram Joel frame that fits perfectly and complements his style perfectly.
And for work, he will be sporting a handsome pair of Anne Et Valentin Modern Time frames with an occupational lens. The occupational lenses allow Tom to see up to approximately ten feet, so he can read and see his computer monitor really well…..but when he needs to drive or see anything far away, he puts on his other pair:-)
We couldn’t love these two more and are sad that we won’t get to see them for another year.
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Filed under: CUSTOMER OF THE WEEK!, FASHION!, Theo
Time to Tippity Tap Dance for our Customer of the Week….Chuck !!!!
We can’t sing Chuck’s praises enough ’round here at Eye Spy! He is one of the nicest guys and he always knows what he wants…Theos!
Chuck is a lawyer and while he could go the conservative route, he has always been called to the unique silhouettes and fun colors of Theo frames. Chuck came to our Theo Trunk Show and with our Design Maven’s help, picked out a frame that is new to their collection this year – James 5.
The James series frames have a really cool cut-away around the nose and is a deep blue which really accents his eyes! The shape integrates the nosepad into the frame and removes the “extra weight” around the nose creating a frame that misses a “corner.”
Chuck is living proof that you CAN wear funky eyewear to work!
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