Eyewear Designer Yearns for the Quality and Styles of Bygone Days

Her own vintage collection numbers 6,000 frames.

Herself a successful eyewear designer, New Yorker Selima Salaun yearns for the good old days. “What was done back in the day has great craftsmanship,” says Salaun, whose eyewear designs are on sale at Barneys New York and Colette in Paris. “It’s impossible to find the same quality very often in eyewear these days.” Salaun began collecting vintage frames in 1993 when she opened her Manhattan store. She now owns more than 6,000 pieces. She is partial to a few eye-catching styles, like cat-eye shapes. Aviator-style pieces from the late 1960s through the 1980s are usually a safe bet; it is a versatile look that adapts well to most modern ensembles, she says.

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