Style Guide Booklet
F
ounded in 2012, the brand made waves in Korea when popular Korean actress Ji-hyun Junwore Gentle Monster shades on her 2014 television series “My Love From the Star.” The lenses quickly became a hot commodity in the States—as seen on top models, including Gigi Hadid, Kendall Jenner, and Miranda Kerr. This eyewear brand brings its technical expertise in glasses manufacturing to the realm of high fashion. Having collaborated with Korea’s top fashion brands for both men and women, Gentlemonster is now worn by a large chunk of the celebrity-and-trendsetter folks of the region, popularly showing up in street style snaps as well. Most recently, Gentlemonster collaborated with YG, the giant music label that represents G-Dragon, PSY, and regularly works with other artists to create avant-garde designs.
1
2
3
4
5
6
Eyewear Label Gentle Monster’s Gallery Store Lands in L.A.
Beyonce, Gigi Hadid, Susan Sarandon and Tilda Swinton all regularly don the South Korean cult brand’s sunglasses.
South Korean eyewear brand Gentle Monster is hitting the West Coast with its second U.S. location and 15th global store, opening in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, Oct. 9. Founded in 2011 by Hankook Kim, the Seoul-based brand, known for its statement sunglasses (which run from $215 to $420), opened its first U.S. flagship in New York’s SoHo neighborhood last year. On the phone with THR today, Gentle’s Monster’s U.S. vice president, Taye Yun, confirmed that the company’s 2016 revenue was approximately $250 million and that French luxury-goods giant LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE invested $60 million, or a 7 percent stake in the company, earlier this month. So plans for the company, which has grown at a rapid clip, are expanding even faster and further.
Coming in late October is a Gentle Monster collab with Dutch furniture designer Marcel Wanders, the founder of the company Moooi, who recently designed a chair and room screen with Louis Vuitton. And the L.A. store will exclusively offer a prerelease of the new $260 sunglasses style Tazi — a thick acetate frame in three colors (white, black and clear pink).
Gentle Monster’s avant-garde glasses have quite the Hollywood following. In May, Beyonce wore the Sign of Two shades ($320) at an L.A. Clippers game and in an Instagram selfie sesh. Susan Sarandon hit the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival in a green velvet gown and Gentle Monster sunglasses. Gigi Hadid, Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, Lupita Nyong’o, Brie Larson, Elle Fanning, Zoe Kravitz and Chloe Sevigny also wear the shades on repeat. As does Tilda Swinton, who teamed up with Gentle Monster last February to create three collab sunglasses (a chunky cat-eye sold out, but the other two styles are still in stock; the actress also starred in an ad campaign video).
7
8
9
10