Dame Prue Leith in her Cotswold kitchen. Credit: Prue Leith

Much-loved TV presenter, restaurateur, chef, author and entrepreneur Dame Prue Leith has partnered with Australian distributor Eyes Right Optical to create a new eyewear collection. A specs wearer for over 50 years, UK-based Leith famously said: "I would rather spend money on glasses and necklaces than shoes and handbags that spend most of the time under tables.”

Thrilled with the new collection, Eyes Right Optical founder and CEO Mark Wymond said the partnership came together at the start of 2025. “We've been collaborating since then, creating the product. Prue is very involved, she wants to make sure the frames are vibrant, on brand and what she likes to wear. I look after the technical side of things. It's been a great experience, and I think we have created something completely different, unique but saleable.”

Dame Prue will be wearing the new collection in the sequels to The Great British Bake Off: Prue Leith: My Cotswold Kitchen and The Great American Bake Off and it will be available in New Zealand early in the new year, Wymond said.

Silmo insights

Exhibiting at Silmo with Modstyle, Wymond said it had a been hectic weekend. “Silmo is amazing, the stands are world-class and it seems really busy. I think shows around the world are probably struggling a wee bit, but I don't see it here,” he said.

In terms of new styles or trends, Wymond said he hadn’t spotted anything completely different this year. “Not like one year, when it was all wood and the next year it was all fat acetates. This year, there’s a bit happening on the lamination side of things, like different colours, but nothing completely new,” he said. “I feel that, with the brands we've got, Face à Face, Woow, Prodesign and others, they're all creating a beautiful product in their own regard. So, I will be very happy to release and present them to our market.”

Interestingly, Wymond said he felt the European market is the furthest removed it's ever been from the Australian market. “The shapes they are selling – that they say are their best shapes – are almost unsaleable in our market. You might be seeing the ovals and this and that, which we don't sell many at all of, but in Europe it's huge.”