Seoul-based eyewear brand Gentle Monster has unveiled Intelligent Eyewear, its first smart glasses collection, developed with Google and Samsung, in New York. The brand hosted the launch night on the evening of Tuesday, November 10, 2026, at the historic 23 Wall Street building in Manhattan. Pre-orders opened on November 12 on the brand’s website; according to Gentle Monster’s own announcement, pre-orders are currently available in the US and South Korea. A public preview runs in New York from November 13 to 23; attendance requires online registration.
The face of the collection is Oscar-winning actor Joaquin Phoenix. The campaign film was shot by director Jonathan Glazer, known for Under the Skin and The Zone of Interest. In the film, Phoenix plays a traveling salesman who loses his way in a strange hotel; he communicates through the glasses with the mysterious figures he meets in red-lit corridors. The brand shared a first excerpt from the film on November 6, and the full film is expected later this month.
See Gentle Monster's campaign film starring Joaquin Phoenix on Instagram
What’s inside the glasses?
Intelligent Eyewear brings Google’s Android XR platform and AI assistant into Gentle Monster frames. Gentle Monster leads the design, while the technology was developed through the partnership with Google and Samsung. Google showed the first prototype frame at its Google I/O conference in May. In July, at Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event in London, audio-only models and a second, boxier black design were introduced.
According to Hypebae, the glasses offer features such as live conversation translation, directions, short summaries of incoming messages, note-taking and sharing footage from a first-person point of view. They work with iPhone and Android phones. Samsung says battery life should be around nine hours. Pricing has not yet been announced.
See Gentle Monster's Intelligent Eyewear models on Instagram
A style note from the launch night
Among the guests at 23 Wall Street was actor Rooney Mara. As reported by W Magazine and Red Carpet Fashion Awards, Mara stood out in a sheer black skirt, a lace bra visible underneath and a strapless black top slipping off the shoulders; the designer of the look was not disclosed. Phoenix opted for a black sweater and slim-cut trousers. W Magazine wrote that the pair wore the brand’s smart glasses on the night.
See Gentle Monster's New York preview on Instagram
Why it matters
The smart glasses market is growing fast, and fashion brands are right in the middle of the race. As FashionUnited reported based on IDC data, shipments of display-less smart glasses in the first quarter of 2026 rose 167 percent year on year to roughly 2.25 million units. The market leader is Meta, which works with EssilorLuxottica, the owner of Ray-Ban and Oakley. Google’s purchase of a 4 percent stake in Gentle Monster for about 100 million dollars in June 2025 is also seen as part of this competition.
Gentle Monster’s approach is different: instead of demonstrating the product’s features directly, the brand builds a narrative around Glazer’s cinematic world and the art installations in its own stores. It is an attempt to sell technology as an accessory and a cultural object. Seen from Turkey, the question is clear: will smart glasses become a device like the phone, or a fashion piece like sunglasses? Gentle Monster is clearly choosing the second path.
Sources
- FashionUnited — Gentle Monster’s campaign film and pre-orders
- Hypebae — Gentle Monster, Joaquin Phoenix and Intelligent Eyewear
- W Magazine — Rooney Mara at Gentle Monster
- Red Carpet Fashion Awards — Gentle Monster NYC launch
- Gentle Monster — official Instagram announcement
Image: The 23 Wall Street building in New York, where the launch took place (representative image) — ChrisRuvolo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
The Instagram posts in this article are official posts by the respective accounts and are published using Instagram’s embed tool; image rights belong to their owners.