The Crush: Rock Optika

After a late night out we’d rather forget, or a particularly painful morning commute, we crave a bit of glamour to make it all better.

And it’s simple things that add a dash of decadence to our daily lives: a perfect flat white and crispy Danish at Monmouth Coffee; a 20-minute manicure at Julie’s Nails; a sneaky lunchtime Ginger Sling at Claridges – all have been known to brighten our darkest days.But for those glamergencies, when we’ve tripped on the escalator, or sprinted manically for a bus that doesn’t wait or, worse, been accused of jumping the queue at the Post Office and had a gaggle of old ladies shake their walking sticks at us, there’s only one thing for it: put on a fabulous pair of sunglasses and sashay away in style.

These "Antibes" by Rock Optika are our weapon of choice. Designer Tom Herrington, who is in the process of bringing his luxury eyewear shop from Hastings’ old town to the rest of the world, has channelled 1950s Cote d’Azur style with these statement frames. The Antibes’ gold lenses say"‘Do not cross me" but the jaunty black frames say it with a smile.

They’re made by craftsmen in the Jura region of France with the finest organic Italian acetate. It’s this kind of attention to detail that saw Herrington make the final of British Optician of the year 2012. So take a day trip to Hastings to visit the shop, or pop in to Notting Hill’s Wolf & Badger or McClintock on Floral Street to pick up a pair in London.