Guest Author: Iva Kozeli Inspiration is everything to me. I love being inspired by people who believe in their work. For me, it doesn’t matter their background, whether they are artists, designers, directors, writers, performers, musicians, photographers, athletes, doctors,...
Lynne Diamante, the creator and designer of blueLOVE, is a well-known fashion expert and CEO of OPTX, one of the country’s leading retailers of luxury eyewear. In addition, she is a former beauty pageant contestant and star of the Bravo TV reality series “Game of Crowns.”
Showcasing designer collections from Cartier, Tom Ford, Tiffany, Gucci and dozens more, OPTX offers a stunning optical gallery of fashion forward frames and the latest styles in sunglasses. An advanced ophthalmology division enables OPTX to provide specialized care, including routine eye exams and advanced eye surgery utilizing the latest technologies. OPTX has become a favorite retailer among celebrities and has served as the official eyewear stylist for Miss Teen, Miss USA and Miss Universe. Diamante founded the company in 1998 and has grown it to be a renowned leader in the industry.
On “Game of Crowns,” Diamante offered her insight, candor and wit to the winner-takes-all world of competitive beauty pageants as the show delved into the lives of a half-dozen successful pageant competitors as they competed on the “Mrs.” beauty pageant circuit. Throughout her pageant career, Diamante has won titles including Miss Rhode Island USA, Miss National Teenager and over two dozen more.
Diamante earned a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication, graduating with honors. She went on to receive a law degree from Southern New England School of Law (now University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth) and is a licensed attorney in several jursidictions. A car enthusiast, Diamante spends her free time both driving and modifying her cars. Diamante currently lives in suburban Rhode Island. More information is available at LynneDiamante.com and on social media at @LynneDiamante (Twitter) and @LynneDiamanteCEO (Instagram).
Conceptually and artistically, the color blue has many deeply personal interpretations. Blue is tranquil and calming like the Mediterranean Sea. Blue is peaceful like a perfect sky on a summer day with cotton candy clouds floating by. Blue is sentimental like the prom dress your first date wore, the old Camaro convertible you once had, the jeans you jumped into thousands of times before they ripped. Blue can also be sad, like memories of a past love.
These things all evoke thoughts of blueLOVE and also of sunglasses as a fashion accessory. LOVE is tranquil, calming, sentimental, peaceful, cool, meaningful and, yes, sometimes heartbreaking. When will you wear blueLOVE? Will you make memories with your sunglasses in Central Park having a picnic with your lover? Will your blueLOVE hide tears as you part at the airport going your separate ways while navigating a long distance relationship? Will you wear your blueLOVE in the wee hours of the morning when you leave your lover's loft in Soho to head back midtown while still wearing your taffeta and tulle ballgown from last night's ballet? Will you wear your blueLOVE at a hard rock fest, in a dusty field, listening to heavy metal, bandana on forehead, motorcycle boots on foot, shorts exposing some “cheeky” booty? Will you wear your blueLOVE to Coachella?
The same way your life and your style change, blueLOVE morphs with you. Your blueLOVE is your unique story... what will you do with your sunglasses on? What will you do when you take them off? Will blueLOVE turn you into a dramaQUEEN or a movieSTAR?
It is important to establish meaning as to where the name came from and why it is so significant. blueLOVE holds very deep and personal meaning. Through the years, Lynne has had an infatuation with the color blue. In her early years of learning about falling head over heels with design, she became enthralled with graffiti in NYC and the entire under culture of a world of graffiti artists who had names, identities and personas all tied to their career of randomly defacing things with graffiti. But a deeper look shows that it is not really just random acts of ruining walls, bridges or buildings. More often than not, graffiti is not random, but rather an outward physical representation of a deeply inward emotion or sentiments of love or relationships. Graffiti, when approved and commissioned, has beautified many down trodden scenarios and given life to otherwise gray and dim areas, inspired youth to pursue art careers and started thought provoking dialogues amongst some of the world’s greatest artitsts. Graffiti, where accepted and welcomed, has surprised and delighted the masses. Graffiti, where permissible and desired, has built dreams of young artists and graphic designers.
Why does the word LOVE throw a shadow that is a heart instead of an “E”? If the general laws of nature applied, an “E” would throw a shadow that looked like an “E.” But clearly the general laws of nature do not apply to love, or blueLOVE. This “E” throws a shadow that is unlike itself, something different from what it appears to be; just like love, it may not always be what it immediately appears to be. It may be deeper, larger, and grander or much less than what we ever expected and appear in forms we don’t recognize at first. Or it may cease to exist quickly. Either way, “LOVE’s” shadow is not true to its form. LOVE is never what it appears to be, good or bad, delightful or sinful, love is so many different things all at the same time.
So how does blue tie in to graffiti and love? In NYC, in the early years of her career, Lynne frequently saw blue walls around construction zones to minimize the ugliness around the city with massive barriers. These walls became common targets for graffiti artists and, there you have it! The inspiration and common thread that makes blue love… blueLOVE!
