Thierry Lasry showing his FW09 collection at Hong Kong's Harvey Nichols

By Michelle Cheung

Meeting Thierry Lasry at the swanky Harvey Nichols in Hong Kong last week, I was not a bit surprised by what I saw and who I met. A handsome and energetic Frenchman wearing a stylish vested shirt matched with a pair of limited edition multicolored sneakers, Thierry gave off more than an air of sophistication and youthful swank, a trait that his eyewear designs share. Every piece of his Fall/Winter 2009 Collection has his name—his brand—written all over it. Untainted by design assistants (he designs all his pieces himself), Lasry is a one-man creative show that possesses the full package of an eyewear designer, perhaps an anomaly in the lorgnette world these days. The brand is his; the patterned acetates are his; the functional form is his; the aesthetic design is, again, his. Lasry’s collection can easily fit in to any art gallery or modern art museum in New York, Paris, Tokyo, or London.

Thierry Lasry’s eye-catching designs cannot be easily overlooked. Patterned acetates reminiscent of confetti dominate his collections. The inspiration is definitely of the 1950s but there is not a hint that his designs are dated. The self-confessed theme of his pieces is “futuristic vintage.” When asked where this term came from, he explained, “Eyewear in the 50’s and 60’s had beautiful shapes. They had so many nice ideas but it wasn’t perfect. They didn’t think of comfort. They did not care about finishing, polishing, or quality in general. They had a lot of good ideas but it wasn’t good enough for me. I thought it could be improved.” Lasry, a son of an optician father and accessories-designer mother, was born to make a mark in this industry. He might just have the perfect DNA inheriting his mother’s knack for aesthetics and  his father’s technical sensibility. His materials are either designed to perfection months, even years, in advance or are prized finds. Lasry is always in search for limited stocks of 80’s acetate materials. This season he presents a handful of limited edition eyewear using materials he had discovered from an Italian factory that just went out of business. His 50’s inspired shapes capture a modern vintage balance that is built for comfort and functionality. As a proof of this point, all of Lasry’s frames are flat to accommodate prescription lenses.

Lasry uses “excited” a lot to describe his inspirations, his feelings and, talking to him, you can imagine his thoughts running a mile a minute. “I get my inspiration pretty much everywhere. I have all the fashion magazine that you can imagine. It’s crazy. My house is like a library. I watch a lot of TV,” he explains. Asked about Hong Kong, a city he visits at least once a year, he is quick to volunteer, “I think it’s a very inspiring city. When I walk down the street here, I have to write my thoughts down every five minutes. I am very visual. When something catches my eye, I think about it and macerate it in my mind. I work very fast.”

The oxymorons of Thierry Lasry’s designs—its trendiness and timeless, its craziness yet sensibleness, its tasteful flashiness—make his collection interesting. Underneath the self proclaimed crazy designer is someone that can deliver. For his Fall/Winter 2009 season, Thierry focuses on purples highlighted by gold, black, or blue crystals. Look forward to more experimentation from Thierry Lasry as he continues to push his creativity in working with acetates to give us fresh and unique designs.

A designer who is preoccupied with universal creativity, we are set to find Lasry’s hand beyond sunglasses. He has already started a jewelry collection branded Lasry 77:82 with his chanteur brother, Leonard Lasry, which continues to showcase Thierry’s talent in acetates. Lasry 77:82 revives dated preconceptions on acetate jewelry. He has also recently found success with his collaborations with French label Emmanuelle Khanh and equally eccentric electro-pop duo, Liquid Architecture. He is keen to share his creativity and expertise in acetates and eyewear design by teaming up with other designers in handbags and fashion, as well as musicians.

Thierry Lasry x Liquid Architecture. This pair was designed to look as if its earpieces were dipped in liquid.