Corden and Jagger channel Sellers and Ekland

Its official, Peter Sellers-style specs are in Vogue. Well, Harpers Bazaar actually, but either way the thick rimmed classics are having a fashion moment this month with funnyman James Corden sporting a pair whilst he and model Georgia May Jagger pay tribute to the  iconic duo of the swinging 60s, Peter Sellers and Bond Girl Britt Ekland.

Posing with Mick Jagger’s model-daughter Georgia May Jagger, the former Gavin and Stacey star was snapped by Harpers Bazaar reclining on a chair wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses similar to the ones sported by Sellers, as Jagger cuddles him from behind, looking sexy in a sixties-inspired cream patterned dress. An admirer of Sellers and his notoriety in having the ability to laugh some of the most attractive women into bed, James, who has achieved huge success of late with his run in West End play ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’ said he’s been inspired by the comedian from the beginning of his comedy career.

Eco brand Element's Hopper

He said: ‘I worked out pretty early on that if you look like I do then you sure as sh!t had better make the girls laugh if you wanted to get anywhere.

The newly slimed down actor has apparently gone down from 21 to 16 stone, aiming for another 2Ib loss before he hits New York with his critically acclaimed production. The 33-year-old actor is believed to have gone from 21 stone to 16 stone, and is thought to be aiming to shed another 21lbs before hitting New York with his critically-acclaimed production.

Channel the funnyman’s look. A sure fired hit with the ladies:

The Oscar frame

Oldman: Hoping to replace the Berlin Bear with an Oscar this year?

Reported in today’s London Metro, British actor Gary Oldman has been nominated for an Oscar. We actually find it quite surprising that the massively talented and respected actor hasn’t won as Oscar yetm let alone receive a nomination.
Oldman said he was ‘shocked’ to learn he was up for an Oscar after he failed to win a Golden Globe or Screen Actors Guild nomination for his role as spymaster George Smiley in ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’.

‘It is extremely humbling, gratifying and delightful to have your work recognised by the Academy,’ he said.
The British actor will battle Demian Bichir, George Clooney, Jean Dujardin and Brad Pitt for the prize.
While Clooney is predicted to win, there was no doubt in the minds of film fans on Twitter who deserved the award the most – Oldman, who bagged his first Academy Award nomination today for his role as George Smiley in the spy thriller; ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’.

Oldman: Spec-idol for many a distinguished gent:

Shop using our style finder, here: http://www.glassesdirect.co.uk/retro-glasses/

Above: She wears ‘Miller’.

With disposable consumerism seemingly reaching an all-time high, we felt compelled to look into a way of keeping our carbon footprint’s mileage down, so when we came across eclectic eyewear brand Element we were pretty chuffed. Not only does this brand and its bunch of eco-warriors recycle acetate and metal to make their 10-strong-and-growing collection of specs, they also make their designs contemporary and wearable, too.

Norton; our personal Element favs:

Norton

Now, don’t get us wrong, we love a bit of doing good and therefore feeling good, but sometimes it’s tough finding eco-conscious products that won’t compromise on style, so the fact that ’Team Element’ have cracked the common ’Eco V’s Stylish’ dilemma with such brilliance, makes us love the collection even more.

Shop The Collection Here: http://www.glassesdirect.co.uk/element-glasses/

We caught up with Element designer; Olivia Steel to get the 411 on what makes the designer and her team tick when it comes to creating eco-friendly glasses:

GD: So what made you decide to take up the challenge of designing recyclable frames? Not that we’re complaining, of course!

OS: We noticed that there wasn’t anything out there that offered stylish, affordable and eco-conscious glasses. So we decided to do something about it.

GD: So how do you do it?

OS: Well, when a frame is cut out of acetate, there are always off-cuts left over. We collect all of these up, merge them together (all colours and prints together) to make more Element acetate and therefore create Element frames. Our metal frames are made from all manner of recyclable metals, too and each frame comes with a case that is made from a mixture of recycled iron, recycled plastic bottles and 50% recycled blister material (we’re working on the other 50%).

GD: So what about the styles? Where do you guys get your inspiration from?

OS: Our trend analysts keep their highly trained fingers on the fashion pulse to ensure that we’re creating stylish and wearable frames. We also take inspiration from renowned scientists specialising in the effects of climate change as well as silver screen stars who’ve become role models for environmentally conscious living.

GD: Ah yes, we’ve spotted a few frames who’s names ring a bell!

OS: Yeah, we had tons of fun coming up with those names….We’re also really intent on our frames being affordable without compromising on durability and quality, and  features such as sprung hinges and hypoallergenic acetate are included in our design processes.

GD: And your personal favourite?

OS: I’ve a soft spot for Caprio, but I think that the Natalie is gorgeous too- the red is my favourite.

GD: Thanks Oliva! we’ve ordered our favourite (the Norton, fyi) already!

Caprio

Natalie

Shop the collection here: http://www.glassesdirect.co.uk/element-glasses/

We’re doing something different here at Glasses Direct and it’s always nice to be recognised for it. We’ve been included in the Top 20 of a prestigious awards table that looks at the fastest growing technology companies in the UK.

The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 is based on official financial reports for technology companies over five years. Glasses Direct is in at 19th position with a turnover growth of 2098% over the past 5 years.

This is fantastic news for us and we’re delighted that Glasses Direct has received so much support in a tough economic climate. Consistent value for our customers and new ways to shop (like our home trial service) means that more and more people are choosing to buy from us. More futuristic ideas, such as the video mirror, allow us to keep ahead of competitors and grow during this time of economic uncertainty.

Thanks to all the staff, partners and (most importantly of all), our customers who helped make this happen. Here’s to the next 5 years!

Orbis is a nonprofit organization fighting blindness in developing countries, where 90 percent of the blind reside and yet 80 percent of those 45 million people suffer needlessly because their blindness is curable – often easily and quickly with the right skills and equipment. Once cured, the patient can often return to work, improving the quality of life not just for them but also for their dependents. Orbis fly a refurbished DC-10 jet aircraft, where local doctors, nurses and technicians work alongside an international medical team to exchange knowledge and improve skills, and carry out operations.

Over the last year or so, you might have noticed that selected frames on our site were earmarked as eligeable for a £1 donation to be made, for each purchase, to the charity Orbis. The funds raised from customers through sales of these glasses amounted to £8,610 which we have passed over to Orbis. On behalf of them and us, many thanks!

In September when the plane is due to be at Stansted, I’ve been invited to tour the plane and meet the medical team who will be able to update us on how your funds have been used to support the trachoma eradication programme in southern Ethiopia, a project that hopes to wipe out this particular cause of unnecessary blindness.

Today, I visited Moorfield’s eye hospital, and looked round their new Children’s Eye Centre which is a remarkable and fun place to be – another organisation doing great things related to our field of work.

Ever since we first made buying spectacles over the web possible, we’ve been searching for innovative ways to let you ‘try before you buy’. Back in 2005 we launched the world’s first virtual mirror on our website. Today, we’ve created something just as revolutionary – our 10-day Home Trial.

This new service is now live and allows you to order up to four pairs of glasses to try on at home or work. Once ordered the glasses are delivered by post in a cool box that opens out into a pop-up stand, enabling you the opportunity to experience and try on glasses anyway, anyhow, anywhere you want. You send the glasses back to us in that same box, freepost, when you’re done.

Whenever I’m in a high street opticians store, I always want to make a shortlist of frames, and then take them home to show people and get their opinion. But you cant do that. I dont expect Dolland and Aitchison would be happy if we just walked out with a handful of frames! Equally, you might get strange looks if you took a suitcase of clothes into your high street optician and tried on 4 pairs of different glasses with different outfits. Now however, you can shop like a celebrity and have the glasses sent directly to you.

We want this service to provide you with a superior shopping experience to the high street.

It costs just £5 to have up to four pairs sent to you at home or work. When you find the glasses that are right for you, pop the box back in the post and we’ll make them up to your prescription. We’ll also reimburse the small fee once you’ve placed an order.

Why not show us your trial specs or your new glasses once you’ve ordered them? You can upload pics to our Flickr group My new glasses!

Picture by tahir

A massive milestone in our company’s development happened today

Hats off to the IT guys who made it happen, who are now bleary eyed and clutching Eat Breakfast rolls.

If you visited the website from 11pm-12pm you will have noticed an ‘out to lunch message’ instead of the homepage. In fact, the lights were on in our offices above Baker Street until 4am as the ‘classic’ website which has served us since 2004 was relegated and the website we referred to as ‘Beta’ became the new Glasses Direct.

What you see now as our website represents a significant step forward in customer experience . Here are my top 5 new features:

1. Our Virtual Mirror software. Developed in France by our brilliant facial recognition experts – what you see online now represents the pinnacle of innovation in try-on technology. The most exciting bit is that what’s live now is actually just the first iteration and there is much, much more to come. 3D try-on and exact measurement scaling is only a breath away, so watch this space.

2. More categories – you can now shop for glasses in many different ways. On the high street you look at shelves marked ‘semi-rimless, rimless, designer etc’ but not everyone wants to shop for glasses using those categories. Now we let you shop by gender, price, material, lens type, whether they are rock ‘n roll glasses, designer brand – and many more which we are still working on such as face shape.

3. Reviews, videos, measurements, data – we give you much more information than you will ever find on the high street about our products. No sales rep in Specsavers can furnish you with the amount of data the web can…. And we’re building up a library of it. You will soon find celebrities who wear similar pairs of glasses to the one you’re looking at, staff reviews from GD, and also we are going to let you know in more detail what other customers are buying. I particularly like the bendable video David did to illustrate the indestructibility of those frames. More to come

4. Inputting your prescription and choosing lenses. We have undoubtedly the most advanced system to prompt you and help you as you enter your prescription and choose lenses. We’ve been on our backs underneath the car since day one, fiddling with the nuts and bolts, chopping and changing and finding the best way we can help you to checkout. 4 years of experience is rolled into this new order process and we hope that you like it. Because it’s not exactly simple –all this – and our mission is to make it so.

5. This blog! David and Ran are the mainstays of this blog, doing a fine job producing great articles. Keep checking and contributing.

There is so much more that goes behind the website –which tracks your glasses through the laboratory, which gives our customer service teams the information they need when you call, that tells us how many pairs we have left till we run out….. but today represents a big big step forward for the front-end customer experience. Round of applause for the David Carruthers, Head of User Experience and the IT team that made it all happen!