Paris West Optical

There's something about the sight of a Tiffany blue box that gets adults giggling like pre-adolescent school girls... and that's just our lab manager Rudy. (pictured above doing his best celebutard impression.- sorry our resident supermodel Kendall is relaxing at her vacation home and her stunt double Aubrey is on a cruise with relative strangers. So this is as pretty as the staff gets at the moment. At least he's not wearing a dress.) As one of the only shops in the state carrying the Tiffany line (and the ONLY one in Baltimore City), we're proud to offer a wide assortment of both opthalmic frames and sunglasses (most with polarized lenses.) These frames are made in Italy from the finest materials, some with semi-precious and precious metals. Some even have actual Tiffany diamonds. (as opposed to non-actual Tiffany diamonds, like the ones on E-bay) All of the designs are inspired by the Tiffany & Co. jewelry designs and are both tasteful and unique. The acetates ...

Arriving late Friday and flying out the door by Saturday are designs from American design house Bevel (Actually one of the guys is a Brit but he lives in New York so close enough). Great colors + silly names + cool shapes = Bevel. Yes I said silly names, where have you seen frames with the names "tuchas", "gobsmacker" or "wojumacallit" in such colors as "citrus wood", "red stripe" (hooray beer!), or "mahogany silk" before? Cool hand polished acetates (rumored to be done by near extinct Japanese craftsmen), milled titanium, and their newest creation "beta-plast" make this a collection with something for everyone. The beta-plast are an exclusive design featuring extremely lightweight titanium core frames covered in the hand-polished acetate giving the wearer the bold look of zyl frames with the light weight durability of titanium. Extremely fashionable and super comfortable, the initial feedback has been very positive....

It's that time again...time for everyones' favorite made up holiday. No, not Ground Hogs day. No, not the Chinese New Year.(I know the chinese new year isn't made up, but I'm making a point here. Don't send Yao Ming over to kick my backside.) It's time for the staff here at Paris West to break out all of our red and pink frames and to give out FREE kisses. For the entire month of February we're celebrating Anne et Valentin day. (Red frame pictured above- hot new arrivals from France, now in stock). Similar to Valentines day we'll be giving out free kisses (Hersheys- milk, dark and white chocolate) and facilitiating feelings of love and affection. (directed to eyewear of course). It's the only month of the year where you can pry a kiss out of us. Unless you're a plush stuffed animal, then you can get kisses from Kendall 24/7. In any event, from now til the 29th of February (leap year baby), if you stop in you can help yourself to a kiss or 2 - no ...

Fresh from winning awards at IOFT (International Optical Fair Tokyo) and Silmo(a big fancy show in Paris) we have some really wicked hot (note the faux Boston accent) new frames from Boz, the sister collection to the french line J.F. Rey. Actually I can't say with certainty that they're brother and sister...they could be cousins or mother/daughter or lovers for all I know. (Hopefully not any combination of the above). In any event we have a bunch in stock including the "Silmo d'or" winning Kaprisse and Kanel models. I know "Silmo d'or" sounds awfully close to "soup d'jour" but I assure it's way cooler and guaranteed not to burn the roof of your mouth or to stain your blouse. Pictured above is the Kanel model in rouge/noir or red/black for all you non-french speaking neanderthals. Of course included in that group is yours truly, but I'm fluent in pig latin so put that in your pipe and smoke it. Unless of course that you don't...

Just arriving this past Friday are 3 limited edition, HANDMADE combination frames from Italian eyewear designer Paolo Seminara. I know, I know, everybody uses the term "limited edition" nowadays...kind of like limited edition Simpsons slurpee cups at 7-11, but these really are limited. There are only 250 of each model in existence worldwide. That's right I said "worldwide"...and we have 1 of each. These neo-vintage specs are a twist on the classic 60's combo frames with the heavier top bar and thinner bottom rim. From the top we have model Alcazar in a 52 eyesize, color T648 Black Marble. It is numbered #25 of 250. The next 2 are model Aisen, the middle being color T622 Golden Brown, #58 of 250 and the bottom is color T23 Dark Tortoise #53 of 250. Both Aisen models are 53 eyesize and a little larger in circumference to the Alcazar. As usual I've attempted to capture the sheer beauty of these frames and as usual I've come up short. I'd recommend s...

A regular question we get asked is "Who selects the frames?". It's common knowledge that some shops travel to optical trade shows both domestically and internationally to select their offerings. Others will bring in outside sales reps and spend all day trying on each and every frame finding the ones that are "just right". We at Paris West Optical have a different approach... a secret weapon if you will. We call her the "frame fairy". Part Nostradamus and part magic 8-ball the frame fairy uses her magical power to predict what will be the latest and greatest eyewear fashions for the coming year. Just don't ask her any questions, because the only answer she seems to have is "NO". According to the all-seeing fairy the hot colors this year will be "ornje", "boo" and "geem". Pictured here is the fairy selecting this springs fashions with the assitance of yours truly- she lets me hold the catalogs for her. and YES ...

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 p...