Carolina Herrera Fall 26 eyewear: the people behind the frames

We keep coming back to the broad black rim. In Carolina Herrera’s Fall 26 eyewear campaign, a model crouches in a black and white animal print dress, her elbow resting on her knee and her hand at her temple, behind a pair of oversized, angular black sunglasses with dark gradient lenses. The print is loud, yet the frame still holds its outline. That is what makes us look twice.

The Fall 26 Herrera Eyewear Collection, sunglasses and optical frames together, was unveiled as part of creative director Wes Gordon’s Fall 26 runway show in New York, staged in the Meatpacking District. Gordon built that season around women who have shaped the art world, and the house says the eyewear carries the same sculptural tailoring and dramatic volumes as the clothes. The frames are meant to read as part of the wardrobe, not as an afterthought added at the till.

For us, the more interesting story is who actually makes a pair like this. Carolina Herrera founded her house in New York in 1981, and Gordon now leads its design. The eyewear itself comes through Safilo, the Italian eyewear group that holds the Carolina Herrera licence. In June 2025 the two companies renewed that agreement through 2031, covering the design, manufacture and worldwide distribution of the frames, with Safilo’s designers and craftspeople working to Gordon’s creative direction.

That partnership explains a good deal about the frame in the photograph. A fashion house sets the language: a shoulder, a volume, a print. An eyewear maker then has to translate that language into a rim only a few millimetres thick that sits on a face all day. We think this is the hardest part of the job, because a small change in the depth of the front or the angle of the top line changes the expression of the person wearing it.

The campaign brings another set of names into view. Carolina Herrera credits Luis Alberto Rodríguez with direction and photography, with further photography by Ava Van Osdol, and the faces of the campaign are the models Amar Akway and Clara Denison. The pose in this picture is a smart decision. The hand at the temple puts the frame at the very centre of the image, right beside a gold drop earring, so the eye lands on the sunglasses before it reaches the print.

We would style frames like these more plainly than the campaign does: a white shirt, a camel coat, nothing patterned near the face. The black outline is strong enough to carry a simple look on its own, and in a busy print it has to compete for attention. That is our preference rather than a rule, and the campaign is proof that the shape can hold its own against a print this bold.

A practical word before anyone buys. A seasonal collection runs to several shapes and colourways, and each has its own reference and size, so a campaign photograph alone will not tell you whether a frame suits your face. We would compare the front with a side view, check the lens width and bridge size against a pair that already fits, and ask an optician about the lens category, because a dark tint on its own says nothing about UV protection.

The full Fall 26 Herrera Eyewear Collection, with the campaign imagery, is on Carolina Herrera’s official website. Carolina Herrera eyewear is sold through the house’s own website and selected optical stores, where staff can confirm the reference, colour code, price and lens specification of any pair before you order.

Imagery courtesy of Carolina Herrera (@carolinaherrera).