Emmanuelle Khanh

Emmanuelle Khanh is most associated with distinctive outsize eyewear, and that bold oversized look is exactly what makes the vintage pieces sought after. You are buying into the signature of a designer who helped define 1960s eyewear, so the appeal is as much heritage and silhouette as it is the frame itself. They are worth it if you love that dramatic oversized shape and want a piece with real fashion history behind it.

Because outsize eyewear was her calling card. Khanh was particularly known for her distinctive oversized glasses and was considered one of the leading young designers of the 1960s New Wave movement in France. That bold, statement scale set her apart at a time when much of fashion was still formal and restrained, and it is why the eyewear still reads as instantly hers today.

Lead with the eyewear, because oversized glasses are the heart of her legacy. A dramatic, large-frame pair captures exactly what made Khanh a leading 1960s name and works as a wearable piece of design history. If you are drawn to her wider story, her ready-to-wear sits behind her too, but the glasses are the most recognisable way in.

Emmanuelle Khanh (1937 to 2017) was a French fashion designer, stylist and model, born Renée Georgette Jeanne Mézière in Paris. Before designing, she modelled for Cristóbal Balenciaga and Hubert de Givenchy, taking the professional name Emmanuelle, then left modelling to design. She became one of the leading figures of France's 1960s New Wave fashion movement.

Like Mary Quant and the London Mod movement, Khanh was seen as a leading name in the French New Wave, championing young, easy-to-wear clothing that anyone on the street could actually wear. She said she wanted to design exactly that kind of accessible fashion. The fashion historian Valerie Steele has placed her among the female designers of the 1960s who brought street influences and youthful ease into a male-dominated, couture-led world.

In 1962, Khanh and Christiane Bailly launched their first collection under the label Emma Christie, sold through popular Paris boutiques. She quickly became a leading name in young Paris fashion, and by 1963 she was selling clothing in both Britain and the United States. By 1964 her business was reportedly turning over millions a year and she was credited with bringing class and status to French ready-to-wear.

Yes, she was a connector as much as a designer. She gave a publicity boost to Missoni in 1965 by collaborating with Ottavio Missoni on a knitwear collection, and she designed collections for other youth-oriented labels including Krizia and Cacharel. She also famously brought hairstylist Vidal Sassoon to Paris, having him style a fashion show that helped launch his reputation in France.

Khanh was one of the French ready-to-wear designers known as créateurs, the "stylists who work for ready-to-wear." In 1971 she and London's Ossie Clark were the first members of Créateurs et Industriels, a group founded by Didier Grumbach to pair innovative ready-to-wear designers, including Issey Miyake and Thierry Mugler, with manufacturers. That movement helped legitimise creative ready-to-wear alongside haute couture.

The story has several chapters. Khanh founded her own company in 1971, opened the first boutiques in her own name in 1977 and formed Emmanuelle Khanh International in 1987. The company closed in the late 1990s, and the brand was sold in 2007 to a Dutch conglomerate, while Emmanuelle Khanh herself died in Paris in 2017.

Treat a vintage frame as the collectible it is. Handle the arms gently, keep the glasses in a protective case when not worn, and clean the lenses with a soft cloth rather than anything abrasive. With older frames, professional servicing for any adjustments is wiser than forcing them yourself, so the oversized shape that defines them stays intact.