Christian Roth: Travel Through Shades

Thirty-five years after its inception, sunglass brand Christian Roth returns to frontstage with a new collection that reflects a vintage soul.

40% American Dream

It was 1983. New York-based photographers Christian Roth, a German and Éric Domège, a Frenchman dive headlong without a harness into the ocean of spectacles. Their objective was to transform a functional object into a subversive accessory. In a few months, their label climbed its way to the rung of Chloé, Helmut Lang and Marc Jacobs, and opened the doors of the Council of Fashion Designers of America for them.

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35% Deconstruction of Bauhaus

The fantasy of bringing together Bauhaus and Art deco styles — a mean feat by Roth and Domège — began with deconstructivism. By laying emphasis on advanced materials and techniques, the designers proposed an interaction between millennial and modernist designs as seen between 1900 and 1920, so that each frame obeys new laws of beauty and functionality.

25% Technology

Experimented with for the first time in 1986, the lens-in-lens technique is duo’s signature. It works on a principle of sealing a coloured lens inside a primary lens, therefore increasing the options for different shades within the same frame. The Ventriloquist, Matos and Archive 1993 (as seen in the photograph) — pillars of the new generation of Christian Roth — are filled with this psychedelic prowess.

From the August 2017 issue of L’Officiel India.