MILAN — Paul Bettany designing a limited-edition capsule collection for Italian hip eyewear brand L.G.R was pure serendipity.
The British-born but U.S.-based Bettany — best known for his roles in “The Da Vinci Code” and as Vision in the “Marvel Cinematic Universe” Avengers franchise — has been a fan of L.G.R frames for a long time and the brand’s founder and chief executive officer Luca Gnecchi Ruscone was of course taking note, until he slipped into the actor’s DMs on Instagram.
“When I first came across an L.G.R sunglass, I was in Capri and I was in this little boutique, looking for a pair of sunglasses. I can’t remember what model. I think they were a black, aviator [style]…and even before I put them on my face, you could feel the quality and the care in the hinges….That’s when I fell in love with L.G.R,” Bettany said, Zooming in from a movie set.
Since then he’s been wearing the brand’s eyewear with gusto until “Luca slipped into my DMs, I think is parlance of the modern era,” Bettany said.
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“I threw an arrow, hoping that Paul would respond. And he did,” echoed Gnecchi Ruscone. “I saw he was wearing various models. He loved them. He was sharing them with his family, his children, his wife, in his private life. I said, maybe we could take it a step forward and do a collaboration, and maybe he can design and make his own model. And then it happened,” he said.
The four-piece L.G.R x Paul Bettany capsule is based on the signature Jambo design, a rectangular, slightly chunky acetate frame.
“We just started to discuss what the frames could be, and also design new frames. And we thought the most expeditious way of doing it was to pick a frame that I already loved. And that was hard for me, because there are a lot of frames that I wear, [but] the Jambo has sort of a timeless elegance that I really love,” Bettany said.
The design was reinterpreted in two bold sunglasses options, an amber frame with blue mineral lenses and a quartz rose iteration with brown lenses. Playing by a more understated playbook, the two prescription versions feature Havana and see-through brown frames.
Bettany described the result as “cinematic.”
“Somehow these frames feel iconic, and I can imagine them in a movie,” he said. Which one, he had no doubt about: the 2000 British crime drama “Gangster No. 1” in which he played the role of Young Gangster.
“I think in my job, creatively, you make something, and it ends when the film ends, and with this, the idea that somebody will be wearing this in their life and having experiences and building their own story, a story that I won’t know, I find [this] really exciting. That’s a very new thing for me,” Bettany said of the process — for the most part conducted remotely, Gnecchi Ruscone added.
“Paul has real experience about eyewear. He knows and speaks about details, about other brands, about shapes, like a true connoisseur of eyewear. So, him appreciating my product, it was great. Collaborating with a personality, a celebrity like he is, but also somebody that knows about eyewear quality and recognizes it was very gratifying,” Gnecchi Ruscone said.
“He created some models that will be a great addition to the collection, because they are this very classical model — thick, masculine — but he twitched it [into designs that are] very commercial, but sexy, cool at the same time. I was very happy that he didn’t go for the traditional route…we created something exciting that the market, I think, will really appreciate,” he enthused.
The collection is to debut on Thursday at L.G.R flagships and on the brand’s e-commerce site, as well as at select retailers globally. Prescription frames retail at 320 euros, while sunglasses come in at 380 euros.
The Hollywood star fronts a dedicated ad campaign shot in New York by Max Montgomery, who is known for his portraits of leading international actors.
Bettany describes his fascination with eyewear as a real addiction — “When I travel…the sunglasses and glass frames are my one indulgence. I bring a whole box of glasses because things look different with different clothes,” he said.
“I love looking through vintage glasses stores…going through those drawers of old glasses [at vintage stores]. And actually, one of the stories that Luca first told me…of him finding all the frames he found, [was] sort of reminiscent for me, of when I love looking through drawers and drawers and drawers of glasses,” the actor said.
L.G.R was officially launched in 2008 by Gnecchi Ruscone. The Italian entrepreneur visited Asmara in Eritrea, where his family and particularly his grandfather Raffaello Bini, who had had ties with the African continent throughout his life, ran a small optician business named Ottica Bini. Gnecchi Ruscone discovered a handful of vintage Italian eyewear at his grandfather’s warehouse, brought them back to Italy and jumpstarted his eyewear brand aimed at resurrecting and repurposing those styles.
