One of the most beautiful movies of 2009 was definitely Tom Ford's debut A Single Man. The most impressive aspect of A Single Man is its cinematic beauty. Everything from the design of the sets, clothes and actors to the colors Ford used was beautiful. And Colin Firth as the lead actor was impressive too.
A Single Man is the story of George Falconer (Firth), a middle-aged gay British university professor living in Los Angeles in 1962. Falconer has struggled to find meaning in his life since the car accident had killed his long-time partner, Jim (Matthew Goode), eight months earlier. If you haven’t seen the movie, just do it, because it’s an aesthetic masterpiece.
Costumes for the movie were designed by Arianne Phillips, but George’s suits were manufactured by Tom Ford in his factory in Italy. The most visible part of George’s outfit were his glasses. Interestingly they weren’t designed by Tom Ford; even more Tom Ford wasn’t responsible for them. It was Colin Firth who found them in a props box.
Recently Tom Ford introduced his new 2011 Spring/Summer eyewear collection. I must admit that I'm not a fashion expert, but I really like Tom Ford's work. Some of his eyeglasses look spectacular, but I found a highlight: a Singleman glasses, modeled closely after the pair of eyeglasses worn by Colin Firth in A Single Man. According to Eyegoodies.com these are TF 5178.
After two years and apparently due to popular demand Tom Ford decided to cash in on the popularity of Firth's glasses from the movie. Wise move, although in my opinion a bit late. If he had released them in 2009, I'd be a potential buyer. For me, the new TF 5178 model is just a nice reminder to watch the movie for the second time.
—————
You can read more about eyeglasses from the movie in my blog post Who chose the glasses in A Single Man and there are additional screen captures from the movie at my Flickr page
Love the movie, love the glasses. And hey, I need new glasses! :)