Oliver Peoples has officially arrived in Chicago, and yesterday was the big day for press and partying. To kick things off properly, Oliver Peoples hosted an exclusive media breakfast at the Elysian Hotel. The dining space could not have been any better located with a clear view of the new store on Rush Street. The founder himself, Larry Leight, was on hand to mingle with journalists and bloggers.

After quite a delicious meal (I chose the french toast), Leight and his CEO David Schulte discussed the optical lifestyle brand with an informal Q&A. I learned that Leight considers the O’Malley frame the “most Chicagoan” and that Chicagoans “have good faces” for sunglasses. We also listened to Schulte discuss how the company had been planning to open a Chicago location for years but patiently waited until the right space opened up. Coincidentally, their Chicago location was built specially for them inside of the former Barneys loading dock in the building that now houses the Hermes flagship. As Leight himself mused, “it doesn’t get any better than saying, ‘You know Hermes? Yeah, we’re in that building.'”