Prism

ABOVE: ANNA LAUB IN NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 2014. STYLING: VANESSA CHOW. SUNGLASSES: PRISM. SHIRT: IRO. 

As a former model and fashion editor, Anna Laub was able to draw on her background in trend forecasting when launching her Prism line of luxury eyewear in 2009. Soon after, the 36-year-old London designer branched out into sunglasses, swimwear, and beach accessories, tapping into her love of sun and travel. “I think I’m a bit obsessed with sunny places,” she says. “What Prism has become is, really, luxury resortwear for city people. It’s the idea that you don’t have to suddenly turn into someone who wears bright orange and tie-dye when you go on holidays.”

For the eyewear collection, frames are handmade in Italy using acetates developed for Prism or cut from blocks selected from the archive of an Italian eyewear manufacturer that goes back to 1849. Laub describes the frame styles as “really clean with faceted shapes. There is a lot of color, but in a minimal way. I started by thinking of the rainbow and refracted light. Hence the name Prism.”

The designs for this year’s spring-summer collection of sunglasses sprang from a trip Laub took to Tokyo, with colors and textures that reference kimono fabrics and vintage photographs. She also collaborated with Japanese label Toga for a futuristic update of Prism’s Tokyo and Havana styles. Alongside a wave of London stylemakers sporting her shades, Laub’s cult is rapidly expanding, with Prism’s first stand-alone boutique opening this past March on London’s increasingly fashionable Chiltern Street.

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