Importance Score: 25 / 100 🔵
Pioneering Eyewear Designer Gai Gherardi, Co-founder of L.A. Eyeworks, Dies at 78
Gai Gherardi, a Los Angeles optician celebrated for revolutionizing eyeglass frames as high fashion statements, passed away on March 16 at her Hollywood residence. She was 78. With her business partner, Gherardi cultivated a prominent celebrity clientele by establishing the concept that eyewear could transcend mere functionality and become a distinctive expression of personal style.
Cause of Death
According to her sister, Heather Gherardi, the cause of death was bile duct cancer, a diagnosis she received last month.
Eyewear as Personal Expression
In a 1993 interview with The New York Times Magazine, Ms. Gherardi articulated her vision: “Glasses provide spontaneity,” she stated. “They present the chance for numerous alterations to one’s appearance; they are a remarkable accessory, a fantastic prop.”
She contrasted this with contact lenses, deeming them “rigid” and “no fun.” She elaborated, “You might have improved vision with them, but you can’t enhance your look.”
L.A. Eyeworks: A Visionary Boutique
Known for her outgoing nature and vibrant attire, Ms. Gherardi, alongside fellow optician and friend Barbara McReynolds, launched L.A. Eyeworks on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles in 1979. Gherardi spearheaded the design of chic, limited-edition frames, recognized for their angular designs, unconventional forms, and vibrant colors. These frames were marketed with playful names like Rooster, Whirly Bird, and Mx. Busy. In 1993, the boutique pioneered laser engraving technology to imprint metal frames with intricate patterns, such as maps of Southern California and the United States.
Frames as a “Secret Code Word”
Dave Schilling, writing in The Los Angeles Times’s style publication Image in 2022, described the frames as “both an embodiment of sheer extravagance and a discreet identifier among like-minded individuals,” signifying “a shared sense of humor and individuality.”
Celebrity Endorsement and Advertising Campaign
The shop’s initial appeal among artists, actors, architects, and the L.G.B.T.Q. community has been amplified since the early 1980s by an ongoing print advertising initiative in influential magazines. This campaign features over 200 black-and-white portraits by photographer Greg Gorman, showcasing celebrities and notable figures wearing L.A. Eyeworks glasses. Among those featured are Chaka Khan, RuPaul, David Hockney, Debbie Harry, Grace Jones, and Paul Reubens, known for his Pee-wee Herman persona.
“A Face is Like a Work of Art”
The campaign’s memorable tagline: “A face is like a work of art. It deserves a great frame.”
Collaborating with Celebrities
Mr. Gorman recounted that Andy Warhol had expressed interest in participating in the campaign, which originally debuted in Warhol’s Interview magazine and subsequently expanded to other fashionable publications like Paper and Details.
“Part of the challenge involved discovering frames that complemented the individual’s face,” Mr. Gorman explained in an interview. “Gai would sometimes present unconventional eyewear, and we consistently found creative ways to make them work on people.”
L.A. Eyeworks’ clientele included notable personalities such as Faye Dunaway, Lauren Bacall, Tom Cruise, Billy Idol, and Carrie Fisher. Elton John, renowned for his extravagant eyewear, was also a patron, commissioning a custom color design.
Industry Recognition and Philanthropy
Following Ms. Gherardi’s passing, the Council of Fashion Designers lauded her as a “pivotal figure in the eyewear industry.” She was instrumental in establishing an eyewear designers subgroup within the council in 2014 and contributed to a philanthropic endeavor that has donated over $100,000 to L.G.B.T.Q. organizations.
Blake Kuwahara, an eyewear designer who collaborated with Ms. Gherardi on rainbow-themed sunglasses for Pride Month in 2023, affirmed in a statement that she “blazed a trail for independent eyewear designers,” and described her as “grand, gracious, and giving in every aspect.”
Early Life and Career
Born Gai Travelle Gherardi on July 8, 1946, in Los Angeles, she spent her childhood in Huntington Beach. Her mother, Millicent (Selby) Gherardi, owned a women’s clothing boutique. Her father, Fabio Frank Gherardi, was a residential housing developer and bandleader of Fabio’s Big Band USA.
In her youth, Gai enjoyed surfing and secured her first job at the Golden Bear nightclub in Huntington Beach, where she witnessed a performance by Lenny Bruce. She forged a close friendship with Barbara McReynolds at Huntington High School. When Ms. McReynolds obtained employment at an optician’s office in Newport Beach in 1965, she facilitated Ms. Gherardi’s hiring there as well.
The Mystical Aspect of Eyewear
Ms. Gherardi depicted the process of selecting eyeglasses for clients as an almost spiritual experience.
“It’s hard to articulate,” she conveyed in a 2017 interview with the Art Matters Foundation, where she served as a board member. “You place glasses on someone, you touch their head, and you gaze into their eyes.” She further elaborated, “Eyes, eyewear, and glasses all evolved into this form of communication.”
However, she noted that frame design during her early years in the eyewear industry was unremarkable.
“People were wearing bulky frames on their faces at that time,” she remarked to The Los Angeles Times in 2002. “The choices were primarily limited to pink butterfly shapes with rhinestones or basic black or tortoise shell models.”
Activism and Career Progression
During the Vietnam War, she and Ms. McReynolds organized gatherings for draft resisters and aided young men in avoiding military service by providing them with eyeglasses featuring prescriptions that induced what she termed “wonky” vision.
Following their time working together in Newport Beach, Ms. Gherardi pursued positions at other optical shops, while Ms. McReynolds joined a lens company. Nevertheless, they harbored ambitions of establishing their own business, both being certified opticians.
In 1979, they located a premises for L.A. Eyeworks on Melrose Avenue, and Ms. Gherardi’s father undertook the construction of their store.
Early Designs and Innovation
Some of the boutique’s initial designs originated from dyeing a collection of neutral-toned 1950s frames in various hues. “Simply adding color,” Ms. Gherardi explained to Art Matters, “and placing them on an attractive woman who might typically avoid such styles, suddenly transformed them into recognized design pieces.”
Legacy and Family
Heather Gherardi, also an optician and a 27-year colleague of her sister, stated in an interview, “She would often say, ‘Why be boring when you can have fun?’”
L.A. Eyeworks expanded to encompass three locations; however, a second Los Angeles shop closed in 2022 after two decades, and another in Costa Mesa, managed by Heather Gherardi, ceased operations in 2009 after 21 years.
With an increasing influx of artists as clientele, Ms. Gherardi and Ms. McReynolds initiated monthly art exhibitions at L.A. Eyeworks. Furthermore, in 2009, they began commissioning artists – including Catherine Opie, Alison Saar, Barbara Kruger, and Gabriela Ruiz – to transform ordinary lens-cleaning cloths into microfiber artworks.
In addition to her sister, Ms. Gherardi is survived by her life partner, Rhonda Saboff, and half-sisters, Michelle and Rene Gherardi. Ms. McReynolds retired from the business several years prior.
A Transformative Encounter
In 1984, Ms. Gherardi was present at Mr. Gorman’s Los Angeles studio when Divine, the drag icon and muse of filmmaker John Waters, arrived for an L.A. Eyeworks campaign photoshoot. She recalled witnessing Divine, born Harris Glenn Milstead, arrive in a suit, without makeup or wig. Divine’s transformation three hours later, she recounted, “in this spectacular pink sequined dress,” brought her to tears.
“It was a profoundly transformative moment,” she shared with Image magazine. “And a significant component was this overwhelming sense of how everyone negotiates and navigates their path to beauty.”