The Elusive Miss Lou is a uniquely Australian brand with inspiration for its colourful frame designs largely drawn from our local environment. The family behind this boutique eyewear label has incredible pedigree. Louise Sceats is married to, and has worked in partnership with, eyewear designer Jonathan Hennessy Sceats for two decades. Louise’s mother was an interior designer; Jono’s father an optometrist.

Consequently, right from the start, Louise knew she would be able to make a brilliant pair of glasses, no question.

Q. Tell me about the early days of The Elusive Miss Lou.

I started the brand in 2020 with my son Teiger. I had been diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer (seven years now and cancer-free-ish!) and Teiger had just finished his degree at film school. COVID was starting and we wanted to spend time together, so we decided to start The Elusive Miss Lou. I had learnt, from choosing colours and running Jono Hennessy, what worked and what didn’t in the market and always knew we could go further into colourful fabric artworks. Really it came from a place of “I can do that!” and here we are.

Q. What gap had you seen in the market?

Starting The Elusive Miss Lou, I wanted her to be like a band of gold running through rock – a little oasis of colour and fun, in a world of black and tortoiseshell! I could see a gap in the market for high quality, reasonably priced colourful frames, that were limited editions of 80 pieces per colour, with a great story and awesome packaging. We have great fun designing the point of sale, and are always customising it for individual practices. We wholly support independent optometrists, giving them fabulous frames with a great story to tell.

Q. What experience did you have with eyewear design?

I feel I have done at least three university degrees in optical design working with Jono over the years. Do you know, I sold Jonathan Sceats sunglasses in the 80s! However, starting Jono Hennessy together in 2006 was really a “thrown in at the deep end” moment. We went off to SILMO to launch 12 models, and straight away I was dealing with very experienced professionals. I travelled to the factories with Jono, saw how frames were made, how different materials work with different constructions for instance. It really was learning on the job. We then created and built collections together, until I became the colourist for our three brands (Jono Hennessy, Carter Bond, and Zeffer). I have always had a good eye for balance, so now I can look at a frame design and see where it needs changing, reducing etc. I have created my own process for designing and sampling, so I can design up a heap of shapes, cut them out, and play ‘til we have the balance right.

Q. What makes The Elusive Miss Lou stand out within a crowded market?

We have a couple of philosophies when it comes to our brand. Product wise, it’s “quality, comfort, and fit”. That’s quoted directly from my husband Jono. I’ve spent the past 20 years learning from Jono; he has an unmatched eye for design and is a member of the Australian Design Hall of Fame.

The second philosophy we follow is authenticity. We are a small family business, and we want to feel like one. When you call, you speak to Teiger. My parents, Jeannie and Michael, pack the orders, my husband helps with frame designs, and I pour out my creativity. We work with our practices to make sure the feeling is right. From adding sweets, pink tissue paper, and my signature scent to each box, to my hand-painted brand mini canvases and hand-drawn posters of real Miss Lou ladies, it’s all about feeling a part of something personal and real.

I think that’s what makes us stand out. Fantastic quality product with people who care behind it.

Q. You are a colourist at heart – why do you love colour?

Australia is why I love colour. We live in such an amazingly diverse, spectacular country. All you have to do is take a walk to be filled with inspiration. Being totally detail driven, the marks on a tiny leaf get me going.

As well, my mum, who created interiors for hotels and resorts, exposed me to interesting ways to interpret colour in design as a teenager.

I should also say that I am a massive art fanatic. Our house is filled with mad paintings, from Martin Sharp to 18th century portraits. And I have a library of books on artists and designers from around the world, such as Grayson Perry, Matisse, Josef Frank to name a few. I can go to a gallery or look at art online and then be overflowing with ideas to bring into Miss Lou; there are so many perspectives to see and feel that it makes my mouth water.

Q. How did you learn to integrate fabrics and colour into frame design?

Learning to work with fabrics and colour is something I’ve developed over decades of work with Jono. I would pick the Liberty print fabrics for Jono Hennessy back in the day, and I got a great base of experience from that process.

When it came to creating The Elusive Miss Lou, the main driver was to design fabrics detailed enough to be laminated into frames; tiny artworks for your face! We started by screen printing acetate and then moved on to acetate lamination design.

I often test out pattern ideas on canvas first; ideas and colour palettes can be born from painting doodles. And those doodles have grown into a huge collection of fabric designs. It’s always evolving. Art makes art, as they say.

Q. Do you design with a particular or typical customer in mind?

We have a Miss Lou ladies’ section of our Instagram that encapsulates our customer. The Miss Lou lady is someone who is fed up with being put in a box. A person who likes to show the world what they like or who wants to use their glasses as a mask to make themselves feel comfortable. They love craft, appreciate art, and really resonate with authenticity and personal connections.

Q. Where do you seek inspiration for your frame designs?

I observe the world around me – I am always inspired after a show, a trade, or in-store event, watching ladies (and gents!) try on the frames, seeing how they fit etc. I come back to the studio full of “notes to self ”. So, I would say my Miss Lou family genuinely is my biggest inspiration.

Q. Do you have an iconic style?

The Spring and The Runway share what we affectionately call the “face lift angle” that follows the cheekbones up and just looks brilliant on faces. This, paired with the many, many colours that they come in, makes them our flagship frames. But watch this space because we are constantly coming out with new shapes and designs.

Q. If you were in a practice, how would you convince a new customer to give colour a go?

We love doing events in practices – and I am always encouraging our people to just play! Try everything on, be brave and when the right frame is on the right person, you can see it on their face straight away. Their eyes give it away when they see themselves in a new light, so to speak; that sparks my joy.

Q. Any tips for matching colour to the person in front of you?

Tracy the Glasses Lady, and Alisa at Richard McLean helped us with this a lot. They keyed us into people’s seasons: summer, autumn, winter, spring. Most people fit into these categories, and if you can match them up right, your patient will look fantastic. On our website we have matched patterns to seasons to help with this. I encourage practices to have at least one member of their team learn about the colour seasons; it makes a huge difference when styling a patient.

Q. Has The Elusive Miss Lou won any design awards?

We were thrilled to receive an ODMA (Optical Distributors and Manufacturers Association)

award for The Sharp in NYE. This is my more angular version of The Spring, in my NYE (New Years Eve) fabric. I hope it was chosen because the shape is awesome (hehe) and the uniqueness in the marketplace of limited-edition fabric in frames.

Q. Where are your frames made?

I am absolutely thrilled to work with a female-owned factory. We have been working with the mum for decades, and now her daughter is in the business as well. So, the synergy with Miss Lou is there. She is an acetate manufacturer who worked with Mazzucchelli, and many years ago opened her own acetate factory – the same used by Lafont, LA Eyeworks, all the top brands. They understand acetate and are incredibly creative themselves. I adore working with them and we inspire each other, I hope.

Q. What continues to excite you the most about designing eyewear?

The constant opportunity to create something unique and beautiful. The creativity in creating something from scratch, to refine and fine tune until it balances and fits, is such a great feeling for me. To try my samples on all my friends’ faces and see them smiling when they do – yeah, that’s pretty cool!

Q. What do you think will be the new big trend in eyewear?

I can see the narrower 90s/early 2000s profiles coming back into optical. You can see the trend in sunglasses for the past few years, and now it’s trickling into opticals. I have a couple of models like this – The Allo and The Loop; they are really kicking off.

Q. What’s next for Miss Lou?

I recently purchased a vintage pair of lorgnettes that I want to create in Miss Lou fabrics. They are such a cute accessory to pull out in a fancy restaurant to read the menu – that’s the image in my head anyway!

I am finishing the design of our new website, with B2B ordering for our stockists. This should be live at time of print!

We are launching The Elusive Society for a select number of stockists: IYKYK! Plus, a whole range of new designs from large finer profiles, combinations, and more.

Visit: theelusivemisslou.com