Another celebrity has entered the field of optical and sunglasses: the very dapper Black Eyed Peas front man Will.i.am. His ill.i Optics by will.i.am will be available to shop mid-September and are setting out to “marry the retro feel with futurism, take yesterday’s sensibility with today’s aesthetic,” he told WWD. His frame-designing credentials? A healthy appetite for shopping frames for himself, including new pieces from Linda Farrow and Dita, as well as plenty of vintage styles.
And while we’re all waiting for a few more weeks to face-test the frames, the man’s already moved on to the next venture: some sort of worn-on-the-wrist technology that he hinted at being a phone and called i.am.plus. “This ‘wearable’ conversation is from tech people who want you to put things on your body, so first we have to design them in the same aesthetic as Gucci and Louis Vuitton and people making stuff we desire. The tech should be invisible,” he explained. “You need to make sure your stuff looks like something you desire to put on and not like something out of Star Trek.”
