Chanel unveils autumn/winter 2016-2017 eyewear

The French luxury brand has unveiled its autumn/winter 2016-2017 eyewear collection with three distinct inspirations -- Urban Chic, Vintage and Futuristic -- each different, but in perfect harmony with the season's ready-to-wear collection.

Each of Chanel's three new lines of frames has its own distinctive style. The models mostly come in darker colors, with a few livelier, even vibrant, almost summery shades added to the mix. 

The Urban Chic line features both optical frames and sunglasses in butterfly, square and panto shapes for a stylish look about town. The designs are finished in acetate with scrolls of black ink. The sunglass lenses have a metallic mirror effect, continuing a trend seen over the last few seasons. The frames come in colors ranging from deep blue and silvery green to amber-yellow, black and brown.

Spotted at the Chanel autumn/winter 2016-2017 catwalk show, sunglasses in the Vintage line stand out from other collections with a distinctive design with no surrounding frame. The glass of the lenses takes center stage with oversized designs framed only with hand-polished faceted edges. The sunglasses come in butterfly, octagonal and cat's eye shapes and are finished in a softer palette of colors, including pale gray and champagne shades.

Following on from summer 2016, the French luxury label has revealed new versions of its futuristic chic solar mask, revisited with new colors and shapes for the season. The solar masks in the Futuristic eyewear line maintain the ultra-graphic, flat aspect and laser drawn quilting as previous models, and use the same mirrored lenses. However, new designs have landed for autumn/winter, with pilot and rectangular masks in silvery gray, orange/red and violet blue.

This new Chanel autumn/winter 2016-2017 eyewear collection is due in stores from June 2016. The faceted glass designs will be available from September.