Lennon Lives On In Eyewear Line

Imagine all the people . . . wearing John Lennon's eyeglasses.

Although people have emulated the late singer's style for close to three decades by wearing round, wire-rimmed glasses, until now none of those frames had the cachet of his signature on the inside of the right temple.

However, New Jersey-based Eagle Eyewear is launching the first four models in the John Lennon collection of eye- and sunglasses for men, women and teen-agers. Priced at $70 to $80 in metal or plastic, the styles are named after popular Lennon songs or albums - ``Revolution,'' ``Imagine,'' ``The Walrus'' and ``Double Fantasy.''

The glasses are scheduled to arrive in Seattle this month.

Each style is a replica of frames worn by Lennon - one of the requirements stipulated by his widow, Yoko Ono, in granting licensing rights. Ono's other conditions were that the frames be affordable and that all licensing profits go to the Lennon estate-sponsored Spirit Foundation to be used to create an international John Lennon Scholarship Fund for music students.

``Yoko selected frames John wore in the '60s and '70s, up to the time John died. The Eagle Eyewear people came in with reverence - they took measurements and photographs to make exact replicas,'' says Lynne Clifford, director of Bag One Arts, the New York-based firm responsible for publication and distribution of Lennon's art work as well as all licenses for his estate.

The sunglasses already are being worn by 15-year-old Sean Lennon and singer-songwriter Lenny Kravitz, the duo responsible for updating the lyrics to and re-recording Lennon's ``Give Peace a Chance.'' Clifford says the two dropped by the Bag One office the day samples came in; they tried them on and liked them.

Eagle Eyewear was founded in 1989 by cousins John V. Bartolotta and William E. Marfuggi Jr. after they sold their grandfather's firm, Victory Optical. The two already had licensing experience, having formerly marketed Geoffrey Beene, Valentino, Reggie Jackson, John Weitz and Pink Panther frames at Victory.

Bartolotta has nothing but praise for Lennon's widow. ``Of all the designers and celebrities I've worked with - and there have been quite a few - she is the most involved. She's personally approved every phase of the program, from the price points to the letterhead on the stationery. She's great. She's energetic, ambitious and creative,'' he says.

The John Lennon collection of glasses will be available nationally at chain stores such as Sears, JC Penney, Montgomery Ward, Pearle Vision and Lenscrafters, as well as through independent optical retailers.

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IMAGINE CHANGING GLASSES

A survey by the eyeglass makers Lenscrafters suggests that, in the business world, the right look can make as much as $170,000 difference in an individual's image. Personnel directors given the picture at left thought the man, wearing dark-colored plastic-frame glasses, was a schoolteacher earning $30,000 a year. Given the picture of the same man wearing lighter wire-frame glasses, they thought he was a stockbroker earning $200,000 a year.