Clarity is a wonderful thing – in accessories as in life. What else to conclude from the enthusiastic rediscovery of Perspex?
At the 17th annual US Accessories Council Excellence awards at the end of last year, Alexis Bittar won brand of the year, celebrating more than a decade of the jewellery designer’s Lucite (another brand name for acrylic) accessories. “I love how the material can be manipulated, sculpted, and its ability to reflect light. It’s been on an upward trajectory since the millennium,” says Bittar. Designer Dries Van Noten, who has used Perspex to create sunglasses, is also a fan. “I find something a little magical about it,” he says.
A relatively new material – it was first brought to the market in 1933 – Perspex nevertheless has a playful vintage feel reminiscent of the futuristic boom of the 1960s: see, for example, Jane Fonda in a plastic vacuum-formed bra designed by Paco Rabanne in sci-fi film Barbarella (1968), and Braniff Airways, which hired Emilio Pucci in 1965 to dress its stewardesses in Plexiglas bubble bonnets. Now, however, says Helen David, fashion director at Harrods, “Perspex has become a feature across many accessory collections with the resurgence of the sports-luxe trend. It’s quirky and modern, yet commercial.”