By Chiara Rimella | Photographs by Elizabeth Coetzee/WSJ; Prop Styling by Jordan Mixon

Style consultant Andrew Weitz likens buying the bold, $1,000-ish glasses by Los Angeles brand Jacques Marie Mage to collecting luxury watches and fine wine. The common thread: associations with status. "These are top of the line. When you wear [them] in a board meeting people will be like, 'This guy knows what he's doing,'" said Weitz, the founder of Los Angeles style consultancy the Weitz Effect, which counsels executives in fields from finance to entertainment.

"A very strong frame," is how Rebecca Klein, co-founder of New York styling company Beckie+Martina, describes the chunky, black, aggressively priced designs. Her advice: Avoid these glasses "if you don't want to be stopped and asked, 'What are those?'"

Founded in 2014 by French designer Jerôme Mage, Jacques Marie Mage $(JMM)$ handcrafts super-luxe frames in Japan in limited runs. While it offers a range of unisex styles, its signature remains the dark, square, acetate designs (see: the black Dealan and Molino models). Weighty at about 50g, and accented with precious-metal details, these eyeglasses and sunglasses might as well be collectibles, with prices to match: They currently range from $770 to $2,400. You do not forget these in a cab or accidentally squash them while sunbathing.

In recent years the sculptural, subtly logoed designs have become the status glasses in certain circles of wealthy, fashionable men. "We see artists, directors, musicians, fashion insiders wearing them," said Klein.

Hana Kong, manager and optician of Morgenthal Frederics' Soho boutique in New York, said customers new to the brand "describe this moment of recognizing other JMM wearers for the first time as a 'welcome-to-the-club' sensation." Quiet but discernible branding -- tiny silver or gold arrow rivets on the front, small silver stars on the sides, the frame's metallic skeleton often visible at the temples -- let wearers slyly clock one other.

People tend to comment whether they recognize the frames or not, said Ryan Goldston of his JMMs. The 38-year-old Angeleno, who co-founded luxury sneaker brand APL with his twin, Adam, owns about 20 pairs of JMM's sunnies and opticals. Adam owns eight.

Goldston has noticed the glasses popping up more on friends and counterparts "in similar creative-slash-business roles." When he bought his first pair six years ago he hadn't seen them on anyone, "but as time has gone on, I've definitely noticed more people wearing them at business meetings."

With its beefy black frames nodding to the '50s and '60s glamour of rock 'n' roll and film stars from Buddy Holly to Marcello Mastroianni, the brand is staking a claim on a classic style. Stylish celebs including LeBron James, Michael Fassbender, Jeff Goldbum and Denzel Washington have sported the glasses. (Goldbum has collaborated with the brand.) Fashion insiders such as Alessandro Sartori, the artistic director of luxury brand Zegna, favor them too.

Alessandro Stoff, who runs Brooklyn optician Eye Shoppe on 7th with his father, and has many customers in finance, started stocking JMM in 2016. He said that prior to 2022, "it was seen as more of a niche, overbearing look that I could occasionally convince someone to buy if the fit was just right." But around 2022, Stoff went from selling about 5-10 pairs a month to about 30. Demand has remained steady since then, he said.

He attributes the brand's rise, in part, to customers' desire to signal status without loud logos. "Up until now, the only way to [telegraph status] was to go Gucci or Prada, but high-society people don't want their glasses to feel like a billboard."

Stoff has noticed a number of brands pursuing a very similar aesthetic lately. "There's a certain level of pastiche," he said. "Everybody who's making heavy, acetate, thick-rimmed, larger frames with exposed metal on the temples -- they're all copying [JMM]. It's become ubiquitous." Of the "copycats," Jacques Marie Mage's image director Steffy Lizi Bauwens said, "We see it as flattery, and as a reminder to...continue pushing the limits."

Weitz, however, said that men have been loving "this bold, retro aesthetic" from a range of brands for the last decade. He cited Tom Ford as a longtime proponent of thick, black frames.

JMM works with select retailers and sells from its six own stores, dubbed "galleries" -- in California, Milan and London, with Paris and Tokyo coming this fall. The brand, which has started expanding into jewelry, declined to share sales figures.

Because its glasses are produced in numbered batches, "you're unlikely to see someone in the exact frame and color [as your pair]," said Ryan Goldston. JMM constantly tweaks the acetate or lens hue, for instance. Kong finds that "the limited-run collections drive the urgency to shop and the collector's mentality."

"Every design is almost like a work of art, from the hardware to the acetate," said Matthew Bogard, 45, a creative director for advertising and marketing in New York who owns 12 pairs. "The average consumer might not be like, 'Oh, those are JMM.' But when I see them on people I just think, 'They got good eyewear style.'"

Not Gonna Pay $1,000 for Glasses?

A trio of bold, black, acetate designs at lower prices

These lenses are strikingly flat, instead of having a slight curve like many sunglasses. That gives a modern edge to the chiseled, eco-friendly-acetate frames.

Another flat-lens option, these Swedish frames skew squarer and slimmer, with subtle rivets that almost disappear into the pitch-black acetate.

Designed in Miami and made in Hong Kong, this oversize model has a whiff of the '70s, with a long brow line and extra-wide nose bridge.

The Wall Street Journal is not compensated by retailers listed in its articles as outlets for products. Listed retailers frequently are not the sole retail outlets.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 02, 2025 13:00 ET (17:00 GMT)

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