Side Eye, Eyewear for the "It Girl"

How did the two of you meet, and what made you want to start an eyewear brand?

We met on the subway on the first day of our MBA at Columbia Business School. We were both German, both new to New York, and immediately bonded over fashion, humor, and the ambition to build something of our own. We kept coming back to sunglasses because one pair can completely change how you look and feel. At the same time, we were frustrated by the gap we saw in the U.S. market between inexpensive, mass-produced frames and luxury eyewear with hefty price tags and prominent logos. We wanted to create stylish, beautifully crafted frames at a more honest price.

Why was small-batch production important to you, and why name the glasses after New York City streets?

Producing in small batches allows us to be thoughtful about each frame and work closely with our Italian manufacturing partners on the details. The names make the collection personal. Each address is connected to a place that means something to us or to the early days of Side Eye. At 141 Waverly Place, for example, we sat outside over coffee and first talked seriously about building the brand. Together, the frames form a little map of our New York.

What is your favorite era of sunglasses, and what shape do you think defines today’s look?

Every era has its own attitude. We love the minimalism of skinny ’90s frames and the confidence of oversized ’60s squares. For today, we’d choose the wraparound shape of our 223 Butler St, which is our bestseller. You can throw it on to run errands or wear it for a night out, and it gives each look a completely different energy. That versatility feels very current to us. We’re drawn to shapes that feel familiar but have something slightly unexpected about them and to the freedom of changing your whole look just by putting on a different pair.

Celebrities from Laura Harrier to Bella Hadid have worn your glasses. Who is the Side Eye girl? What makes her stand out from the New York crowd?

There isn’t just one Side Eye girl, and seeing how differently people wear the frames is one of our favorite things. She might be dressed up or just heading out for coffee, but she has her own point of view. She doesn’t take herself too seriously, can laugh off the little mishaps of everyday life, and feels comfortable doing her own thing. In New York, that ease with your own style is what really stands out.

What pairs best with Side Eye frames? A trench coat, a pair of loafers, a good book?

All three sound pretty good to us. We love the frames with something effortless: a trench thrown over whatever you put on that morning, or a black dress after dark. They should be the pair you reach for on your way out and forget you’re wearing, until someone stops to ask where you got them.

Fashion

ESQUE/BY Is Making Space for the Body

September 23, 2026

JJ Lee knows better than anyone how vulnerable the act of dressing oneself can be. The founder of the bespoke fashion brand, ESQUE/BY, is devoted to creating from the inside out. Lee's perspective is about more than appealing visuals; it's about how fashion can embolden humans. Her relationship with clothing changed once and for all when her mother got breast cancer and underwent surgery. “I watched her relationship with clothing and her body change. Something as ordinary as a fitting room could become incredibly vulnerable,” says Lee.

From then on, Lee came to understand clothing to be a point of vulnerability, yes, but also a source of power. She no longer viewed garments as inanimate pieces that we put on, but as extensions of ourselves that should shape to accommodate us, rather than the other way around. She invested herself in alterations, shaping and reshaping clothing to fit her mother’s changing body. She recounts witnessing the humanistic effect of such a creative endeavor. The fluidity of this tailoring process restored a confidence in her mother that went on to inspire ESQUE/BY and all that it stands for.

Words by Selena Aiyla

ESQUE/BY relies on a more traditional approach to fashion by maintaining the idea that garments should evolve over time, just as tailors used to. Pieces don’t need to remain stagnant. The brand therefore uses techniques like generous seam allowances and deep hems, so that alterations can be made as one’s body changes and transforms. The brand is inviting of the fact that all bodies, but femme bodies in particular, go through a lifetime of adapting to their environment. And ESQUE/BY doesn’t want to shy away from this reality. In fact, they want to celebrate it.

Asking herself, “Why do we accept that our bodies are the problem when clothes don’t fit?” Lee began to question conventionality at its core. Using her background in computational and systems biology, she began designing while utilizing AI and other technologies. Her approach is grounded in a mathematical attempt at proportions and sizing. Committed to sustainability, ESQUE/BY’s garments are designed specifically for the wearer rather than mass-produced. In this way, technology is utilized for efficiency, but it does not replace tailors, artisans, or pattern makers. Actually, human contribution is an essential part of Lee’s ideology. In addition to her feminist, new age, and sustainable approaches to her work, she is also committed to passing down the knowledge of craftsmanship and to opposing the automation of fashion.

With all this embedded into their practice, the brand launches its first ready-to-wear collection, a lineup of classic and familiar pieces: trousers, a blazer, a button-down, and a dress. The brand also reimagines the traditional three-piece suit in its menswear by introducing The Three Piece, which showcases a corset rather than the expected waistcoat.

Lee is riding full force into the fashion landscape with this initiative, remaining loyal to femme bodies, the environment, the need for humanistic design, and even the informed use of technology in a way that doesn’t threaten the human hand’s role in fashion, but strengthens it.

Fashion

Inside Grand Collection’s Seoul Campaign

View select images from the campaign below and the entire collection at grandcollectionco.com.

Fashion

Fashioning Motherhood: Inside DI PETSA's HOLY MILK

September 22, 2026

Leigh-Anne Pinnock sprayed milk from her breasts as part of DI PETSA's SS27 collection, HOLY MILK. The heavily pregnant former member of Little Mix provided a shocking finale to the show. Earlier in the show, models held glasses of milk—and, in some cases, their own children. There was even a baby on the front row. HOLY MILK turned out to be a very literal title.

The opening look was one of DI PETSA's signature "wetlooks," a familiar welcome to admirers of the brand. The following looks gave a quick spritz of provocation with bare breasts covered only by jewellery and a digitally printed image of a pregnant woman—legs spread wide. Bare breasts became a running motif, with a later look featuring a corset that covered only one breast. On a larger scale, the pieces moved through a seismic colour journey, starting with the brand's signature blues, greys and whites, shifting into volcanic reds and browns, before finally arriving at a vivid amalgamation of bright pinks, crisp whites and deep blacks.

Besides Pinnock's eye-catching milk display, the highlights of the collection were two sets of three looks: the first, a set of three full-length ombré dresses, which shifted from purple to pink and white; the second, three matching dresses invoking Grecian floral imagery. All jewelry pieces for the HOLY MILK collection were designed by Awe Inspired, making for a cohesively accessorized runway. During London Fashion Week, we caught up with the brand's creative director, Dimitra Petsa, to find out more about the journey to HOLY MILK.

Text and Interview by JohnOswald Crichton
Photography by Jason Lloyd Evans

Please tell me about the meaning behind HOLY MILK.

HOLY MILK is the title of my SS27 collection, which is a visual representation of my ideas around motherhood. It is about the divine nature of mothering. The maternal instinct we all share in the way we mother ourselves, our friends, our lovers. It is also the physical and spiritual transition a woman goes through when she gives birth. When you give birth to a child, you also give birth to yourself as a mother. Almost every religion in the world has a mother archetype goddess.

DI PETSA explores colour and texture in unique ways. What has been the journey of exploring these whilst developing this collection?

I was thinking of the physicality of motherhood, of women taking up space, and so I wanted to experiment with more volume this season. One key look for me is a draped taffeta gown inspired by pregnant bodies and Ancient Greek drapery. I also wanted to explore the strings drapery technique and see where I can take it. Soft corsetry, where the boning becomes golden ribbons that flow down the legs. I always think of the clothes in terms of poetry. This season I created a digital booklet with some of this poetry and photos of the gestures of draping for people to download from our website to get more intimate with the collection

What do you hope people feel when they see HOLY MILK?

I hope people feel moved. I hope the mothers who will walk the show feel powerful and sensual. I hope the people watching this collection will be able to enter this world where I explore motherhood as a concept. It’s more a feeling in the heart that I want to create. And have the opportunity to express a subject that is very overlooked in our culture and in fashion specifically.

What has been your approach to reinterpreting your iconic "wetlook" dresses for this collection?

This time I am looking back at my classic white wetlooks, the ones from the birth of DI PETSA. They are reinterpreted by the women wearing them. There is one model, Constantina, who was one of my first muses, walking the show and now she will be walking the show with her new baby in a white wetlook dress encrusted with Swarovski and a matching baby wetlook for her baby linked together with a draped umbilical cord dripping in Swarovski.

Motherhood is at the centre of HOLY MILK. Do you think the beauty and transformative qualities of motherhood are shown enough in the fashion industry?

Unfortunately, no. I don’t think there is genuine interest from designers and we as a society love to put women in boxes and clear cut definitions. Motherhood can be too transformative, fluid and layered for that. But for me womanhood has always been my biggest inspiration and my love for women is what drives me.