The year is 2025. You wake up and switch on your optical microprocessor so that you can see. Once you choose the navy blue outfit to wear to work, you switch your microprocessor to choose a light blue eye color. When you leave the house, you switch the processor to dark sunglass mode for the journey to the office. At work, you pop on a pair of fashionable blue polycarbonate wraparound lenses (no frame), simply as an accessory.

Fact or fantasy? Time will tell if this scenario could unfold in 25 years, but according to some of the industry's forward-thinking frame designers, the function, design, and necessity of eyewear could change significantly as we head into the new millennium.

Here, several of them -- Blake Kuwahara, eyeOTA (KATA eyewear), Los Angeles; Alain Mikli, Alain Mikli Eyewear, Paris; Gai Gherardi and Barbara McReynolds, l.a. Eyeworks, Los Angeles; Ann-Kristin Brendel, Brendel Lunnettes, Germany; Jason Kirk, Kirk Originals, London; and Ralph Anders, Harald Gottschling, and Philipp Haffmans, ic Berlin, Berlin, Germany (whose screwless hinge won technical innovation awards at SILMO and MIDO) -- share their views on where the industry will head in terms of design, new materials, new shapes, and styles, as well as the function of eyewear in general.

We think you'll be surprised...

On Design

Then is Now. I think that all of us want to have the fantasy that in 25 years eyewear, using technology, will be completely different. But if you look back 25 years, things are not that different today. And some styles are even reverting back to those days. Thus, I believe that eyewear isn't going to change all that much.

This is true also with fashion. Especially now that we're in an age where things are so sleek and modern, people will want more from fashion. Embellishments, hand-crafted items -- we need these comforts from the past. While people say they want "sleek," deep down we need things that have soul.--Blake Kuwahara

Like a Mask. No matter what changes things like laser surgery bring, we will still have very special designs because wearing frames is like a mask -- you can change your personality with them. Playing with identities will be very strong in the future because as everyone becomes tied more closely together through the movie, Internet, and mass media realms, everyone will begin to have the same experiences. And the tendency in society will be that everyone is more equal. People will want to be differentiated somehow.--Ralph Anders, Harald Gottschling, Philipp Haffmans

Interactive Role. There will also be more and more interest in eyewear that performs interactively. By perform, we mean that they will open your garage door, start your car, alert your high blood pressure, tell you your heart rate, beep you when your dog gets lost, signal when it's time to trade stocks.--Gai Gherardi and Barbara McReynolds

Individuality Rules. In glasses, individuality and size and shape will have a stronger demand. The consumer will be looking for quality and a balanced design which will match his or her physical character. Regarding the shape, it is not a question of being experimental or traditional, but of being individual and fitted.--Ann-Kristin Brendel

New Shapes. As compact lenses continue to develop, there will be more scope for frame shapes that, within reason, do not need to pay as much attention to the medical aspect.--Jason Kirk

On Technology

We may see eyewear have a new function like being video glasses. In general, our culture is working more and more in the direction of mixing different products in one. For example, you may have a computer screen, GPS system, video, and a link to the telephone in your eyewear and still be able to see through them like we can today.--Alain Mikli

The Hero Lens. Today, the frame is no longer the only hero. There will be more of a marriage with frame and lens design in the future. And it makes sense that lenses will play an even bigger part of the whole eyewear story, especially with all the rimless designs on the market. Lens fashion will become more important. Today, we are showing our frames with a lot of tints and multi-gradients...again, what's old is new again but reinterpreted.--Blake Kuwahara

Pick an Eye Color. People are also trying to combine more and more the technical and the medical things. In 10 years, we may not have any glasses, but we may have contact lenses that have a microprocessor where you can choose which color eyes you want -- red, blue, green or purple, clear or dark. People have started to develop it, and it could be done within 10 years.--Alain Mikli

Neurological Stimuli. All technologies will be explored! Frames that will stimulate the temporal acupressure points for heightened neurological stimuli. And how about vending machines where you can input your prescription and design your own frame?--Gai Gherardi and Barbara McReynolds

Functional Combinations. The future may well see glasses being combined with other products such as Alain Mikli's camera, as functionality seems to be important to the consumer.--Jason Kirk

A Material World

Each of the designers we spoke with has a different take on the materials that will play major roles in tomorrow's optical world.

Relationships. The future is in new materials and the relationship between materials and designs. We will be using materials that are very new for the eyewear business, and mechanisms like hinges will be inspired by the materials.--The ic Berlin team

Plastics. The future is plastic, but it will be a new plastic.--Gai Gherardi and Barbara McReynolds.

Applications. We will see new materials entering the industry which can be applied to eyewear design...or existing materials like polymers, plastics and rubbers that haven't been fully explored in terms of eyewear design. I've always wanted to do a bamboo frame. It's just a matter of finding the craftsman and getting them to think out of the box.--Blake Kuwahara

Aluminum. I don't see many new materials. In the next five years we will, however, see more and more aluminum because we have a new technology to use it. It is much lighter than titanium.--Alain Mikli. EB