The Concierge Life: Mr. Shades "Corey Shapiro"

Name: Corey Shapiro

Age: 26

Occupation: Proprietor of The Company Formerly Known As…

This sassy Hampstead hunk had been running a "collectible sneaker" store on the Main when he one day decided to rifle through his grandfather's drawers only to discover the lovable ol' codger had owned "this huge pair of vintage gold Cazals, just like MC Hammer wore when he was popular." Replacing his grandfather’s prescription lenses with some shades, Corey started "wearing them around everywhere, they became my thing, my fashion statement." So impressed by all the attention his nifty eyewear was garnering, he started travelling the world looking for vintage eyewear inventories from the 1950s-'80s he could pick up for a song and remarket as the coolest, hippest shit any self-respecting fashionista would be happy to pay top dollar to own. "Basically, we bought this dead stock, placed it on my celebrity friends that I knew from my collectible sneaker days, and remarketted it as a hot and precious fashion commodity." His company, which first opened its doors in 2005, now has offices in Montreal, New York and L.A., with said "dead stock" eyewear selling from between $300 and $25,000 a pair. He drives a 2008 Chevy HHR.

A few of his celeb buddies whom he helped convince vintage eyewear was cool: "DJ AM, Steve Aoki, Rick Ross, DJ Clark Kent, DJ Premier, Big Daddy Kane, Biz Markie, you know, old heritage guys as well. You know, you get a guy like Aoki wearing your glasses and you’ve got a million and a half kids seeing his picture every day on Facebook or MySpace or whatever, it creates an incredible buzz."

Does he find most of his customers will wear the most god-ugly stupid-looking glasses if they are unique enough to qualify as cool? "The most important thing is that they’re unique. That’s more important than following what popularity norms will be."

A few exciting celebs who’ve bought their eyewear from Corey: "Jay-Z, Puff Daddy, Beyoncé, Cassie, Ryan Leslie, fuck, I dunno, everyone in the world, man. Nas."

Charles Nelson Reilly? "Ah…no, not him."

What's involved in purchasing eyewear from The Company Formerly Known As…: "First, you're going to know someone who shops with us who can personally refer you, we won't take walk-ins, although we do work with one store in Montreal called Alain Assedo on Sherbrooke in Westmount, which carries some of our vintage line. But when you have an appointment with us, we'll come in, fit your face, try and grasp the era you're going for and give you a history lesson about your eyewear. People are always interested in the history of their glasses because they almost feel like if they get called on wearing these potentially pretty crazy looking glasses, they can say where they come from. Like, 'hey, Run DMC used to wear these, they're Cazals. Man, you just don’t know,' you know?' Contact them via vintageframes@gmail.com or (305) 767-1523.

Childhood ambition: To become a menswear designer.

Last book read: Can't Stop, Won’t Stop, by Jeff Chang.

Musical preferences: Run DMC, Chromeo, Gwar.

Words of wisdom: "To know where you’re at, you’ve got to know where you’ve been."

Here some I would cop: