The short answer to this question is yes; but the best answer is looking at the importance of design work and scarcity rather than just quality, and whether you actually want to wear sunglasses that are less bright.
Let’s start with quality. With eyewear, quality comes down to a few things: the acetate, the hinges, the way the hinges are attached, the smooth finish and the lenses.
Many people use the same acetate suppliers (Mazzuccheli, Takiron), the same hinges (OBE) and drive pins on all arms (to be adjusted and replaced). Some of these, like the hinges, are simple details to notice. Finishing and installation in the store is very subtle.
But most of the time, cheap sunglasses just feel cheap – especially the use of less expensive acetates, which make them appear light and brittle. A pair of high street style glasses can feel like they’re waiting to be snapped up.
This is one of the slightly misleading aspects of Jacques Marie Mage (JMM) glasses. Because they use remarkably thick frames, people talk about how big and well made they feel. But more acetate.
However, JMM ticks all those quality points, and adds niches like building its own hinges.These are very well made glasses, unlike the designer products you might pick up at your local optician, many of which are famously made by one company, Luxottica.
However, the JMM glasses I’ve been wearing for the past few months – the Tokyo colored Zephirin, pictured above – were £830. What would justify that price?
However, in part there are a few things you don’t want to pay for. When we visited the JMM shop in Hollywood in the spring, most of it was taken up by a distressed steel horse jumping over a similarly distressed steel car section. There was a velvet rope and a waiting area.
The glasses themselves also come with a lot of packaging – they’re all pretty, and taste a lot better than a horse, but they’re the kind of thing you keep on the shelf for a while, just because you feel like you’ve paid for it.
The price point accounts for some of the features that elevate JMM glasses and make them truly special.
The most common way to make money with sunglasses is to make one or two popular styles and then mass produce them for years. The worst way to do it is to make lots and lots of designs, all interesting in different ways, and make many in limited order.
This is the JMM business model. And while you might say it’s another way to make money – because it creates hype that means everyone wants limited pairs and you’ll overpay for them – it’s definitely the hardest way to do it. Glasses should be really desirable.
The frames themselves include many details that make them complex, unusual and time-consuming to make. Maybe it’s unnecessary.
In mine, for example, the arms are made of two layers of acetate – one tortoiseshell and one clear – which gives the arms a lighter, more dynamic color than before. It also makes them have a clear part that wraps around the ears, but makes the arm look like a straight line.
There are several details of these details, all minor and perhaps, as I said, unnecessary. But you can’t argue that they don’t put work into the product.
Design-wise, frames are also always attractive. I spoke to several friends and past collectors of eyewear, and they were all skeptical about the product, but they also all praised the intricacy of the designs.
As one of them put it: “It is not easy to make so many designs related to classic pieces, but also they all have their own original personality.”
The problem with designs, for me, is that they tend to be bold and for that reason don’t resonate with many people. The frames are thick, often oversized, and sometimes come with eye-catching details on the arms.
When I visited the London store (which I must say, is nicer than LA and has more knowledgeable staff) there were only two frames that really worked for me, and this Zephirin was easily the best.
Whether you like the product or not, this will be a huge stumbling block for many readers, given their natural inclination towards a minimalist style.
Amazing designs also create another problem – the type of person who wears JMM.
Basile Khadiry, who runs the store Beige in Paris, was the original founder of JMM. But he stopped wearing them after a while, saying in a recent interview with us: “They were well made, but they became a luxury item, worn by a certain type of person.”
Because the glasses are slightly shiny they attract people who dress that way – and, I find, those who collect glasses, and watches, who want a new pair every season and want it as a status symbol*.
It probably shows what kind of person I am, but this is my biggest problem with JMM – not the price or the stores, but the association with someone who is more ostentatious and hype-driven than I am.
The answer is yes, they are good, and they really aren’t a bad value given all the things that go into them. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re yours, they’re as exciting as they may seem.
I really like my pair, but there was no other model that fit me, and it wouldn’t be the first pair of sunglasses I bought. I will always get a more vintage pair first, and I will always wear them more.
My JMMs are a great way to add a little interest to an outfit when I feel it needs it – to push it a little.fuddy-flashy scalemaybe. The same way you add a pattern or a bold color to a plain garment.
I also wouldn’t say no to getting another pair – if there is another design that really suits me – because I truly enjoy it and appreciate it. But I know it will never be my fault; it’s just not my style.
*There’s an interesting side note here about why sunglasses have become such a collectible. It may be because the watches are played less, or maybe because today’s clothes are not clear and varied.