Alain Mikli (born Alain Miklitarian; 1 April 1955) is a French-Armenian designer of high-end handmade

eyeglasses Glasses, also known as eyeglasses or spectacles, are vision eyewear, with lenses (clear or tinted) mounted in a frame that holds them in front of a person's eyes, typically utilizing a bridge over the nose and hinged arms (known as temples or ...

and accessories. Mikli's line features unique colors and shapes, and are a favorite among European celebrities and avant-garde Americans. Mikli claims his use of color is inspired by his

Lebanese Armenian The Armenians in Lebanon ( hy, Լիբանանահայեր, translit=Libananahayer; ar, الأرمن في لبنان; french: Arméniens du Liban) are Lebanese citizens of Armenian descent. There has been an Armenian presence in Lebanon for centur ...

heritage.

Career

In 1978, Mikli opened his design studio in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. By 1983, celebrities like

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

helped bring the line recognition by wearing and touting Mikli products.

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

wore Alain Mikli sunglasses in his music video, Stronger, which he specifically requested from the designer. This style of sunglasses has become a wide phenomenon, usually being referred to as "

shutter shades Shutter shades, also known as slatted shades, louvered shades, or Venetian blind shades are sunglasses that, instead of having darkened lenses, have horizontal slats similar to window shutters, which are an integral part of the frame. The shad ...

". As of 2000, Mikli's firm employed 220 people with sales of approx. FF220 million. Around 500,000 pairs of Mikli glasses have been sold worldwide. On 23 January 2013, Alain Mikli International was bought by Italian eyewear giant

Luxottica Luxottica Group S.p.A. is an Italian eyewear conglomerate and the world's largest company in the eyewear industry. It is based in Milan, Italy. Luxottica is a vertically integrated company, which has been described as a monopoly—it designs, m ...

for around 90 million euros.

References

External links

Home page
1955 births Living people French designers French people of Armenian descent Lebanese people of Armenian descent Luxottica {{fashion-bio-stub