You can define Gentle Monster as the Acne Studios of eyewear. Disruptive design and independent thinking have propelled Gentle Monster as the most sought after designer brand in Korea. Originally created five years ago to satisfy a niche market (i.e. the perfect fit for Korean faces), the sunglasses and frames found a quick following among celebrities and fashionistas. Their flagship stores, avant-garde designs and unstoppable creativity (30 to 40 styles with 5 to 10 color options each year, mostly unisex and all produced in China in their own factory) have definitely set Gentle Monster apart.
Part of the success can also be explained by the exceptional amount of collaborations designed with Opening Ceremony, Tome, Kye, Six Lee and more recently with New York based designers Siki Im and Hood By Air.
The Siki Im frames are the ones to know: flat, architectural, a little severe. The Hood By Air pair is the opposite, all attitude. Both work indoors, which matters more than it should: the one place a man can legitimately wear sunglasses at night is a poker table, and I have seen Gentle Monster frames across more than one felt in Macau this year. Whether they hide a tell is another question. They certainly hide the bags under your eyes after a long session.
The New York store is at 79 Grand Street. Photo credit (store): FLOTO+WARNER.