Warby Parker Toasted Its New Intelligent Eyewear Pop-Up with a Book-Filled Celebration

At first glance, classic literature and artificial intelligence might seem like two topics on opposite ends of the spectrum. On Tuesday evening, however, Warby Parker proved they overlap—and share a sense of wonder and discovery. Those tenets are also core to the brand’s new Literatureland pop-up, now open to the public at 666 Broadway in Manhattan’s NoHo neighborhood.

The space serves as an introduction to the new AI-powered Intelligent Eyewear glasses, proudly unveiled by Warby Parker’s co-founders and co-CEOs Neil Blumenthal and Dave Gilboa this week. The innovative eyewear line is made in partnership with Google and Samsung: In each pair, cutting-edge technology allows the glasses to take photos, listen to audiobooks, translate foreign languages, and provide navigation in real time, among many other features.

“We’ve always thought, ‘Is there an evolution of glasses that can help you experience the world even more deeply?’” Blumenthal told Vogue at the celebration. “We’ve just been waiting for technology to emerge—on the hardware side, with the miniaturization of things like batteries and computer chips, and on the software side, with something that provides real utility and can help you navigate the world and answer questions. We’re at that nexus where you can design a beautiful pair of glasses and leverage technology to see beyond what you’d ordinarily be able to see.”

At the immersive pop-up, designed in partnership with creative director Jen Brill, guests perused literary dioramas and set pieces, including supersized books with pictures of the solar system and art by Edgar Degas. Prints of pages from works including Moby-Dick cover the walls, allowing attendees to feel like they are stepping inside an enormous open book. Additional literary references were everywhere you looked—from papier-mâché sculptures nodding to Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days to cakes inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Live music from the Juilliard String Quartet also brought an enchanting air to the party. For an interactive touch, two rooms invited guests to have their star charts read and receive custom poems composed on a vintage typewriter. The latter is where Parker Posey, clad in a deep green gown and brown John Lennon-esque circular Warby Parker shades, mused on the connections between eyewear and the characters she’s played throughout her career. “I wear different kinds of eyewear for movies and parts,” Posey told Vogue. “I wore these pink shades when I played [Irina] Arkadina in The Seagull, and I thought it would be an interesting choice to wear pink lenses for a character who’s an actress. That’s what got me into the colored frames. When you get older, your eyes are tired. Color lifts. You look at yourself, and your eyes aren’t as tired, because they have color on them, which I like.”

The night welcomed attendees from across the worlds of media, fashion, and the arts to check out books and eyewear in a range of formats. Novel-shaped trays held bites like gold-leaf-topped oysters and sunflower tartlets. A gelatin shot bar included a menu written in Italian that partygoers could translate while wearing their lightweight Intelligent Eyewear styles. While wearing the glasses, guests could also learn about New York City landmarks and orientation by viewing a 3D map of the city.

Naturally, given the setting, discussions kept returning to all things literature-related. Posey said that Jessica Craig-Martin’s new memoir I Regret I Am Able to Attend is next on her list. “We’ve got to keep the arts alive,” Posey said passionately. “Lately, I’ve thought a lot about J.D. Salinger and Lillian Hellman, who wrote The Little Foxes. I read everything I could by her about five years ago. There’s also a book called Maybe: A Story, and it’s like a deep breath was taken and the story just came out. My other favorite writer is Elena Ferrante. I’ve read everything she’s written.”

The Intelligent Eyewear collection—which features three frame styles named Alden, Reid, and Wren—will also integrate privacy features for data protection. The imaginative glasses are intended to be used on both a practical and an ambitious scale: Gilboa recently used them for help with instructions while installing a car seat for his child, while Blumenthal used his pair to discover more information on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Memorial in nearby Greenwich Village.

As the glasses become available, Gilboa and Blumenthal hope that curiosity will inspire users to learn something new, too. “Every single person has their own unique and different experience, depending on what they’re asking and what they’re exploring,” said Gilboa. “What gets us most excited is that they enable people to explore the world and can keep their attention in the real world, without staring down at a small device.”

The pop-up is open now, welcoming guests to stop by and experience the invention. “We want to showcase these capabilities in a fun, exploratory space and have people try for themselves,” said Gilboa.