Chanel has unveiled its Spring-Summer 2016 eyewear collection, and the French fashion house has decreed tweed the look for next season

The collection comprises three new sub-collections -- Vintage Tweed, Denim Tweed and Lacquered Tweed.

The Vintage Tweed designs are light and ethereal, featuring frames with octagonal, oval and round forms. Squared curves, oval and cat eye shapes enhance the retro effect, while the acetate is adorned with a tweed weave in shades of yellow, brown, violet, grey, green and even blue, for a light aesthetic.

Tweed sheathes the ends of the temples in steel grey, silvery or golden metal and the lenses are enveloped in 18-karat gold. As well as protecting the eyes from sunlight, this also hides the direction of the wearer's gaze.

The Denim Tweed collection, meanwhile, has been inspired by that old wardrobe staple -- the pair of jeans. Chanel has combined tweed with denim on light, supple glasses, using a special technique to ensure that the black, blue, brown or green quilted denim is fused with a few grams of rubber on the flexible temples. The frames are adorned with acetate that's been worked in the same way as woven tweed.

The Lacquered Tweed collection sees tweed melt into the temples of the optical eyewear and sunglasses and take on the appearance of the enamel buttons used for Chanel's house jackets.

 

The pattern is molded first in wax, before the drawing is colored by hand and a thin layer of resin applied to make it shine. Finally, the house's symbolic 'double C' logo is inserted in the temples. With a color palette ranging from brown to dark green, navy blue, burgundy and black, the glasses come in XL square, fine square and butterfly sizes.

Earlier this month, Chanel made its eyewear collection available online in the US, as the brand continues to move into e-commerce.

The new Spring / Summer range will be available from Chanel boutiques from December 2015.