Lafont Eyewear at Della Optique

Parisian-born Laurence Lafont began designing eyewear in the ’70s out of necessity, she says. After marrying into the optical business – her husband, Philippe Lafont, is the grandson of the founder of the Lafont boutiques in Paris – she began noting the lack of interesting eyewear.

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“I said to my husband it’s a pity there isn’t any eyewear for our generation. There were a few designer collections, but the styling was old-fashioned and really boring. We and our friends bought antique frames at flea markets because they were a lot more interesting than what was available in optical shops,” Lafont says. To add interest to the eyewear, she and her husband hand painted some Ray-Ban frames sold in the Lafont shop. “At that point everyone was wearing the Wayfarer in black. We started offering it in a lot of different colors with tinted lenses. That was our first adventure with eyewear design.”