NEW YORK—Happy 71st birthday Sir Elton John. Ok, his birthday is really tomorrow (March 25), but forgive us for being a wee bit early in acknowledging the upcoming celebration. Given the focus Sir Elton has brought to eyewear over the past 50 years, who better than people in optical to be first to offer him birthday wishes, right?
Sir Elton, over the years, has outfitted himself in many a brand of designer frames and, as noted on the Galleria Safilo website, he certainly “used his imagination to invent eyewear of the most unusual shapes, decorated with glitter” and just about anything else one could imagine (or not) for his over-the-top eyewear assortment. (Galleria Safilo, a cloud-based digital museum dedicated to the history of the eyewear industry and technologies used in it, also is on Facebook, and has 17 pairs of sunglasses that at one time belonged to Elton John, along with additional memorabilia.)
The storied singer is back in the news (as if he had ever left it) right now with two tribute albums scheduled to drop early next month (April 6) – “Revamp” and “Restoration,” which Sir Elton along with songwriting partner Bernie Taupin curated – and a three-year “Farewell Yellowbrick Road Tour” that kicks off Sept. 8 in Allentown, Pa. The tour, which the singer has said will be his final time on the road, will make hundreds of stops (300-plus shows are scheduled) on five continents before it concludes in 2021. Sir Elton also is recognized for his work as the narrator of the Koenig Films’ documentary, “SIGHT: The Story of Vision,” which was produced in association with Southern Oregon Public Television for PBS distribution in 2016, as VMAIL reported.
Of the new song collections, “Revamp” is a pop/R&B-oriented album that includes recordings by John accompanied by Pink, Lady Gaga, Ed Sheeran, and Mumford and Sons, among others. The “Restoration” collection, a country-Nashville-themed recording, features Willie Nelson, Miranda Lambert, Don Henley and Vince Gill. Taupin oversaw the “Nashville” collection.
The albums precede a two-hour April 10 television special that was timed to hit in conjunction with the 60th Grammy Awards ceremony airing on CBS. “Elton John: I’m Still Standing — A Grammy Salute” includes live performances from artists such as Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Ed Sheeran and John Legend.
Still, Sir Elton John is arguably the most influential, and fashionable, artist when it comes to eyewear as an accessory. (Sir Elton reportedly suffered from short-sightedness for years before he corrected his vision.)
In 1975, John received a star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, and for the
occasion he wore these Star Glasses. Image
courtesy of Safilo.
According to the UK-based blog and online retailer Spex4Less.com, the classic pair of glasses that “really started his reputation for being prepared to wear almost any attention-grabbing spectacles were the ostrich feather festooned glasses that accompanied his feather boa outfit on the Captain Fantastic tour.” The blog also noted that another pair of glasses from that tour were comprised of “57 individual lights that when ignited spelled-his name and were bright enough to be seen from the back of the concert hall.”
At times, estimates of the size of Sir Elton’s personal eyewear collection ranged from as high as 250,000 pairs to a more reasonable 2,000 pairs. Still, there is always room for another pair. Indeed, in 2015, the UK’s Daily Mail reported that Sir Elton “was spotted shopping at LA Eyeworks in Los Angeles, where he tried on numerous colorful pairs [of eyeglasses] before making his purchase.”
Photos courtesy of Safilo
Back in 2010, Elton told BBC Radio. “I don't have an iPod or a mobile phone or a computer. I do have a quarter of a million pairs of glasses, but I don't even have a mobile phone! If people want to get hold of me they can,” according to the Daily Mail report.
With such a collection, it is understandable that Sir Elton has occasionally taken steps to pare down his eyewear assortment. One such occasion came in September 1988 when Sotheby’s – which had been given about 2,000 of the singer’s personal items – drew hundreds of bidders from around the globe for an auction of prized Sir Elton possessions. The artist said in an interview before the sale that he decided to sell off his collection “basically because my house was so crowded that it had become an expensive warehouse.”
Elton John at Dodger Stadium
“An enthusiastic gathering of bidders, spectators and fans, many suitably dressed for a Wembley Stadium rock concert, filled a London auction house today and paid tribute to the pop singer Elton John, buying everything from his rhinestone-studded spectacles to his diamond-studded earrings.” The newspaper report also noted that the “bidding was particularly keen for the more than 50 pairs of Mr. John's elaborately decorated spectacles. The Hard Rock Cafe in Los Angeles … paid $16,830 for a battery-operated pair that light up and spell Elton. Nearly all of the eyeglasses topped $1,500, including a damaged pair of rhinestone-lined frames.”
But, as Sir Elton passes from youth to maturity, even he has toned down his approach to eyewear. As the Specs4Less.com noted, “As Elton has aged somewhat gracefully, so has his taste in the glasses that he wears in public. Recent sightings of Elton wearing glasses have shown a much more conservative style when worn in public, and even his stage shows feature a much less flamboyant style.”
We invite VMWE readers to share with us any Elton John eyewear anecdotes they have. The VMail Weekend email address is VMailWeekend@visionmonday.com