Kim Kardashian West Is Debuting a New Collection of Sunglasses—and They’re All Less Than $100

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Photo: Kim Kardashian West

Does the name Carolina Lemke ring a bell? How about Kim Kardashian West? The former is an eyewear brand based in Israel with little in the way of name recognition in the U.S.; the latter needs no explanation and has fans in quite literally every corner of the world. Next month, they’re joining forces to debut a new sunglasses collaboration, dubbed the Kim Kardashian West Collection for Carolina Lemke. It will mark the brand’s official expansion into the U.S. market and should practically make Carolina Lemke a household name overnight.

It’s worth pointing out that this isn’t a one-off collaboration; Kardashian West recently became a partner in the company and has plans to release more “drops” under her name throughout 2019. She’s spent the past few months emailing back and forth with the Lemke team, led by CEO Mordi Shabat, to design a new line of sunglasses “from scratch,” zeroing in on materials, colors, lens finishes, and packaging. On a call from Los Angeles, Kardashian West explained how she was introduced to the brand through a series of connections: Her friend Bar Refaeli lives in Israel and is a partner of Carolina Lemke, so Kardashian West became aware of the brand through her. Lorraine Schwartz—Kardashian West’s jeweler—was a fan of the eyewear, too. “We were all having dinner one night and met some of the owners, and it was just so organic,” Kardashian West says. “We were talking about how they should launch in the U.S. because they hadn’t done that yet, and we all loved the idea [of a collaboration], so it just magically came together.”

Kardashian West could ostensibly partner with any number of her favorite brands, but the company’s commitment to quality and affordability piqued her interest. Every pair of sunglasses in her collection retails for less than $100. “It’s a little crazy how expensive sunglasses can get,” Kardashian West says. “Especially if you lose your sunglasses a lot, or if you tend to break them or scratch them. I felt like the quality [of these sunglasses] was so high-level, and the price point was really reasonable, and I really liked how open they were to different design ideas. We have such a range, from big shield glasses to more sporty glasses and ’90s shapes. It was a really fun process for me.”

Here, Kardashian West shares a selfie exclusively with Vogue, modeling one of her favorite pairs: a slim, mirrored shield. “I definitely love bigger, mask[-like] sunglasses, and I still really love sporty sunglasses,” she says. “Since summer’s coming, when I think about the looks I’m going to put together with all of my bathing suits and my vacation looks, I definitely still see [myself wearing] that sportier, bigger lens. We did make a few smaller sunglasses, and there are some really good classics in there. But the bulk of the collection, I would say, is a bit bigger.” Each pair was actually designed to fit Kardashian’s face perfectly: “They took a mold of my face and did these video renderings of what the glasses would look like from all different angles,” she explained. “It’s been a really fun learning experience to see their process from start to finish and to see what they do in the factories.”

You may have already seen a photo of Kardashian West wearing a pair without realizing they were her design. She’s been test-driving the samples for the past couple of weeks: “There are a few pics of me wearing them out there, but people probably haven’t really noticed or [known] what the brand was,” she says. The sunglasses will be available to purchase on April 3, on carolinalemke.com, but you can reserve your pair—or many pairs—through an early presale at the end of March. Until then, getting a glimpse of the full collection should be as easy as keeping track of Kardashian West’s selfies on Instagram.