Glasses are a fact of life for a great many people around the world. In the UK alone, well over two-thirds of us rely on glasses or contact lenses in everyday life. While contacts are more practical in general, glasses are often the easy option – and fashion an afterthought.
Frames can come in a great many sizes and shapes, though – which led a corrective eyewear brand to ask a question. What if frame designs took inspiration from popular culture? The results, generated by AI Midjourney, are both smart and uncanny.
Barbie
Barbie as a brand has endured for over half a century, being an extremely popular children’s toy with an inconceivably wide range of figures and accessories. The aspirational figure is hitting the silver screen in 2023, via a film written and directed by Greta Gerwig. Margot Robbie plays the titular figure, with Ryan Gosling as the one and only Ken, and Michael Cera playing the role of a lifetime as ‘Allan’ – remember him?
Barbie is all about colour, and her unique popularity in the late 80s and 90s has rendered dayglo pinks and candy blues near-indistinguishable from her brand. The AI-drawn Barbie frame reflects this, with a beautiful gradient between blue and pink in a seemingly acrylic frame.
Avatar
Avatar is, somehow, the biggest cinema franchise on the planet – on balance, at least. While Marvel have swept the floor with other IPs, by sheer volume of films and fandoms, the Avatar IP has all franchises beat; despite the best efforts of Avengers: Endgame, the first Avatar film remains the highest-grossing of all time.
The first Avatar film won audiences over with its fantastical underdog Na’vi protagonists. After a decade-plus wait, sequel ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ has rekindled that love, in a thrilling tale that also displays new innovations in CGI. Lenstore’s AI-generated frame marries the blues of the Na’vi’s distinctive colours with the bioluminescence of their richly-populated planet.
Batman
Batman is among the most well-loved and recognised comic book heroes, defining the DC brand alongside original hero Superman. Though the Caped Crusader is much more likely to rely on contact lenses than glasses in their crime-fighting endeavours, the AI-generated frame could give Bruce Wayne pause for thought; the sharp bat-ear peaks cut a forbidding silhouette, after all!
Spiderman
Meanwhile, in Marvel… Spiderman’s iconic mask is an instantly recognisable design, and incredibly easy to visualise in glasses-form – and yet, Midjourney seemed completely uninterested in Peter Parker’s fierce lens design. Instead, the AI opted to lean in to the signature colours web motifs of Peter Parker’s superhero garb; apparently, these Spiderman glasses can stick to walls too!
The Fast and the Furious
The Fast and Furious franchise is an unlikely one, in two distinct ways. The franchise’s early films were not cinematic-universe material, for one; for another, the over-the-top stunts and incomprehensible stories of the recent blockbusters resemble the punchline to a Simpsons gag about vapid film sequels – and yet audiences still keep coming back for more.
Here, Midjourney seemed to struggle a little. The Fast franchise doesn’t have much in the way of a visual brand, past explosions and fast cars. The AI settled for sleek, techy and detailed frame design, hinting at the outline of modern muscle cars.
