The Giorgio Armani-Yuichi Toyama Eyewear collection is elegant and timeless

The year 2024 began with the Noto Peninsula earthquake on New Year’s Day, a catastrophic disaster that devastated the Hokuriku region (Ishikawa, Fukui and Toyama prefectures).

For the fashion and clothing industry, this region is an important production area of ​​filament yarns for synthetic fabrics such as polyester and nylon. Nylon produced in the region is used in a wide range of products, from Prada’s famous nylon bags to low-priced clothing. Fortunately, most factories escaped the worst of the disaster and the consequences were limited to delivery delays.

Sabae, Fukui Prefecture, was also largely unscathed because it was relatively far from the epicenter. Nicknamed ‘Glasses City’, the city is often cited as a successful example of regional revitalization in Japan. Towards the end of the Meiji era (1868-1912), Gozaemon Masunaga, considered the father of Japanese eyewear, helped eyewear manufacturing take root as a sideline for farmers in Sabae during the agricultural off-season.

The production of titanium eyeglass frames in the 1980s gave Sabae a major boost and the city became one of the world’s most important eyewear production areas, along with Belluno, Italy; Jura department in France; and Shenzhen, Dongguan, Wenzhou, Danyang and Xiamen in China. Sabae has also seen difficult times due to its low-priced eyewear stores, but the city continues to provide top quality eyewear to the world. In 2003, the brand THE291 (pronounced “The Fukui”) was founded in Sabae as the city’s unified brand. No less than 95% of household glasses are produced in and around Sabae. And did you know that some of the fashionable sunglasses worn by the cast of the “Matrix” film series were manufactured in the city?

In March 2018, EssilorLuxottica, the world’s largest eyewear manufacturer, made headlines when the company acquired 67% of the shares of Fukui Megane Industry Ltd. in Sabae, making the company EssilorLuxottica’s production center in Japan.

At the end of last year, Sabae was in the news again. Giorgio Armani, the world’s leading men’s fashion brand, and Yuichi Toyama, the eponymous brand of top Japanese eyewear designer Yuichi Toyama, collaborated on glasses that were on sale from the end of November in some Giorgio Armani boutiques in the country, stores that sell Yuichi. Toyama.-brand glasses and other places.

Toyama was born in Tokyo in 1971. He joined an eyewear maker in Fukui Prefecture in 1993, working in marketing, planning and development. He became independent in 2004 and launched his own brand, USH, in 2009, which he renamed ‘Yuichi Toyama’. from the Spring Summer 2017 collection. Now 52, ​​he is known as one of Japan’s top eyewear designers, and his brand is so popular that it is a challenge to even buy his products.

‘I just happened to pass by [Giorgio] Armani’s eyewear designs in the second half of the 1980s, and that made me decide to become an eyewear designer,” said Toyama.

As someone familiar with the fashion of the 1970s and 1980s, I find his words impressive. Giorgio Armani successfully made Italian suits a world standard as revolutionary men’s fashion in the late 1970s, but it was sunglasses that ultimately defined his style.

Now let me go off on a tangent and mention that Giorgio Armani turns 90 this year. I wonder what’s in store for him in 2024. I also set my sights on another iconic, active elder in the fashion world, Ralph Lauren, who is five years younger.

The collaboration between Giorgio Armani and Yuichi Toyama recently bore fruit in the form of a unisex eyewear collection that is both elegant and timeless, crafted with a blend of Armani’s Italian style, traditional Japanese craftsmanship and Toyama’s innovative designs. There are four types of glasses, two glasses and sunglasses, all complete with Toyama’s signature ‘Double Dutch’ frames, inspired by skipping ropes. Each type costs about ¥100,000.

Of the two types of glasses, one has a minimalist design with a titanium frame, and the other has oval lenses in an ’80s-style silhouette. Both types offer a choice of four colors and have a price tag of ¥99,000. As for the sunglasses, one type has smooth, rounded edges made of beta-titanium alloy and acetate. The other combines an 80s Giorgio Armani eyewear style and Yuichi Toyama’s Double Dutch frames. The sunglasses, both priced at ¥103,400, also come in a choice of four different colors.

The best quality Japanese-made titanium is used for the rims and the logos of both brands are engraved on the hinges. Of course, the glasses are all manufactured in Fukui Prefecture.

As a side note, the promotional photos for the collaboration were taken at the Osaka Prefectural Sayamaike Museum, designed by architect Tadao Ando, ​​who also designed the Armani/Teatro in Milan and is a close friend of Armani himself.

Akira Miura