Wearable Visions: Eyewear Rewrites the Rules
DaTE 2025 brings the boldest and most creative side of fashion to Riccione.
Not just an accessory, but an aesthetic and cultural manifesto: eyewear took center stage at DaTE 2025, the independent salon that in recent days lit up the iconic pyramid of Cocoricò in Riccione. An evocative setting for an event that is not a traditional trade fair but a true laboratory of visions, where fashion and design converse freely.
The new campaign Every Line Tells a Story defines the 2025 communication: lines traced across faces become graphic signs, traces of lives lived and new possibilities. Symbols of emotions, creative paths and connections that transcend individual boundaries. A celebration of eyewear as a universal language, capable of telling stories of experience and identity.
DaTE chose a location that symbolizes Italian creativity to kick off its new itinerant format: after Riccione, other cities will host the event. The first, announced by President Davide Degl’Incerti Tocci, will be Naples from September 12 to 14, 2026, confirming the fluid and innovative spirit of the event. The goal is clear: to present eyewear as artistic and lifestyle expression, not just a product.
Vision and language
The 2025 edition posted strong numbers: over 1,000 visitors, mostly from Italy but with a significant presence of buyers and opticians from across Europe – Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland and Spain – confirming DaTE’s ability to attract an international gaze on the most visionary side of Italian design.
“Simply saying we are satisfied doesn’t capture it – commented President Davide Degl’Incerti Tocci. The numbers speak for themselves, but even more so the energy we breathed over these days: enthusiastic companies, curious visitors, the press and social media following us with attention, and a cohesive, passionate team. It was clear that DaTE needed to evolve: the market is different, the times have changed.”
More than 110 Italian and international brands were selected for this edition, each with its own vision of the future. Independent collections daring to break the rules, research on materials and forms ranging from bio-based innovations to hi-tech alloys, contaminations with art, architecture and technology. Eyewear-sculptures playing with extreme volumes, essential lines celebrating design purity, jewel-glasses shining like couture objects.
In this plurality lies the strength of DaTE: a privileged observatory of contemporary trajectories, where the boundary between fashion and research becomes increasingly blurred and each brand asserts its distinctive vision. It is the triumph of eyewear as artistic expression and aesthetic code, destined to stand well beyond seasonal fashion.
Trend preview
The trends revealed at DaTE 2025 are a journey between boldness and refinement. Volumes take center stage, with bold, sculptural frames that become true architectures for the face: from geometric black to oversized acetate pieces, up to playful “statement” models that look like pop art objects.
Color is a protagonist: palettes range from vibrant reds to electric blues, from brilliant violets to transparent frames with pastel accents. Classic tortoiseshell and sophisticated neutrals remain, but the clear trend is to use eyewear as a chromatic accent capable of lighting up an entire look.
Material details focus on texture: glossy resin effects, translucent acetates, matte-gloss contrasts and metallic inserts reminiscent of fine jewelry. Eyewear thus becomes a tactile object as well as a visual one.
There is a strong revival of iconic decades: round, ironic shapes recalling the ’70s, alongside squared, futuristic lines nodding to the ’90s. In parallel, hi-tech minimalism emerges, with lightweight frames, essential profiles and a functional approach that never sacrifices elegance.
The result is a mosaic of visions, where irony and rigor, color and transparency, lightness and sculpture coexist. A collective narrative that mirrors the plurality of the contemporary, turning every pair of glasses into a personal style manifesto.
DaTE thus confirms its experimental vocation and avant-garde role: an event that goes beyond presenting collections, placing contemporary eyewear at the center as a cultural and fashion experience. Here the trends we will soon see in the streets and on runways are anticipated, transforming glasses into the most desired, photographed and talked-about accessory of the season.
