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The Montrealer - Meet A Montrealer: Corey Shapiro

The Montrealer - Meet A Montrealer: Corey Shapiro

Another cool article came out today about Corey Shapiro and The Vintage Frames Company. This time, it's from our home town of Montreal. Although our business is only based in Montreal, it primarily operates on an international level. It is always nice to get recognized in our own city. The full article on Corey Shapiro from Tourisme Montreal can be found after the jump...

 

MEET A MONTREALER: COREY SHAPIRO

Posted by p_gajo

 

Montreal’s Corey Shapiro is the unofficial sunglasses supplier to the stars. He and his Vintage Frames Company have outfitted such celebs as Lady Gaga, Perez Hilton, Diddy, Jay-Z, Rick Ross and many, many more…

These days Shapiro is also a star, now that he’s filming a reality TV show with Amber Rose (Kanye West’s now ex-girlfriend) called “Behind Her Shades”. In-between outfitting celebs for the Grammys and working with almost every hip-hop artist on this side of the Atlantic, Shapiro is also newly engaged. He and his fiancé are expecting the arrival of a baby boy this month. They’re going to name him Cash. I guess you could say Shapiro is cashing in…

BACKGROUND

Who are you? I am a purveyor of designer vintage sunglasses and I cater to an elite and celebrity clientele around the world. I get flown to their homes or their sets, or they come to Montreal on tour.

What do you do? Myself and my staff travel around the world and amass collections of unique eyewear. We curate collections for fashion and optical boutiques around the world or for our own Vintage Frames webstore.

Tell me some of the celebrities you’ve worked with Well, the Grammys were a Vintage Frames advertisement: Lady Gaga, Perez Hilton, Will.i.am, Quest Love and the guys from the Roots.

Why did you choose Montreal? Our home base is in Montreal. I’m from here originally. I grew up in the Montreal West, NDG and Hampstead area. My grandparents are still alive and live here, as well as my fiancée’s grandparents. It’s one of the only places in the world where you can have a great quality of life and like actually save money.

What makes Montreal special, in terms of the work you do? When artists come to Montreal (from New York, L.A. or Tokyo) my products are just as exclusive there as they are here in Montreal.

A

MONTREAL FAVOURITES

Casual diner: What’s causal to me and casual to others is open to debate, but I like Joe Beef. St-Viateur bagels on Monkland is also just down the street from me. So I can be in and out in 20 minutes.

Fancy restaurant: I like Queue de Cheval or 40 West, which is like the West Island chapter of Queue de Cheval. I order as many shrimp cocktails and crab claws as I can eat before passing out.

Bar/Lounge: Blue Dog Motel on St-Laurent. I’ve been going there since I’m a kid and my friends in the past three or four years have purchased it and I like to support my friends. It has a grungy, hip-hop feel to it.

Nightclub: I don’t really go to nightclubs anymore. My fiancée frowns upon me coming home without my shirt on, which has happened.

Boutique/Store: I wear Montreal brand Naked and Famous jeans almost always- my friend owns it. You can get them at Three Monkeys. Another Montreal company called Bjorn Borg sends me boxers and socks. For shirts, I order 30 to 50 a month from Uniqlo in New York. I wear one a day and then once a week drop them off at a charity place. I’m that kinda dude. I’m always fresh, one way or another.

Festival: The Jazz Fest. Also Under Pressure, the Graffiti Arts and Life festival.

Neighborhood: Lower Westmount, which is probably an odd choice, but I like the vibe of it. There’s a restaurant Wellhouse that’s really good and baby shops like LMNOP. I got a Canada Goose snowsuit for my kid that matches my Fendi diaper bag. My fiancé (Jenn Finkelstein) is a well-known stylist. We have two very different styles- we’ll have to take turns dressing the baby.

Park: Beaver Lake on the mountain. I like it up there because it’s peaceful. I also like the dog park in Westmount in Murray Hill. I have two wild English bulldogs, Tiffany and Dreidel Balls.

QUICKIES

Which glasses are you wearing? I am wearing Ultra Goliath 2. Jenn’s favourites are a pair of vintage Gianfranco Ferré. She’s very fancy.

Besides selling vintage frames, you also make your own line? I have a sunglasses collaboration with Rick Ross and I do different collaborations with companies I respect (like Cazal, Ultra and Caviar). We do revivals of vintage models that were produced in 70s and 80s in a limited edition run and release them under the Dr. Shapiro Collection.

Where can you buy your glasses in Montreal? Alain Assedo, Editorial and Three Monkeys (in Les Cours Montreal).

And what’s this about a reality show with Amber Rose? Amber is a friend and a fan of our work and basically she asked us to be on the show. It’s about her and I opening a vintage glasses store in L.A. It’s gonna be called “Behind her Shades”. It’ll be on VH1 starting late summer, I guess. We started filming already.