New arrival 2: Carolina Herrera and John Varvatos

Arriving a bit ahead of schedule are the new John Varvatos (GQs' reigning designer of the year) and Carolina Herrera eyewear and sunglass collections. The entire staff gets so excited when we get cool new stuff in as they love to unpack it and try it on. Then of course there's Kendall and I, we get excited about the bubble wrap. It's kind of like Christmas morning...well except for the part that we kinda know what's in the box already, and the lack of fancy ribbons and wrapping paper, and without my ditzy Aunt Gertrude giving me a bottle of Old Spice...again.

The Varvatos line is a very clean, vintage inspired collection for men and the Herrera line is sophisticated and sexy for women. Both offer some of the nicest sunglasses we've ever carried. My favorite part is that both lines are being developed and designed in collaboration with one of my favorite eyewear designers ever, Blake Kuwahara. In the optical industry he's pretty much a legend having created the popular nature inspired Kata line in the mid-nineties and also over-seeing Isaac Mizrahis' funky avante-garde offerings at the same time. He's also one of a very few eyewear-only designers named to the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America)...in other words he's pretty damn good and this stuff is some of his best work yet. As a matter of fact I'm having a hard time deciding which models to feature on here, so I'm going to showcase them all...hence the other shot that I like to call, "the top of the box".

Ok, for those without vivid imaginations maybe that's not the best way to appreciate each individual frame, but luckily the fine folks at basecurve eyewear were kind enough to provide an online catalog. I love it when they do the hard work for me. Check it out while I finish with this bubble wrap.