The Glasses Trend: Why Spectacles Are Cooler Than Contacts
Silent movie star Harold Lloyd knew how to make a spectacle of himself, hanging from the minute hand of a giant clock, high above Hollywood traffic, his trademark round tortoiseshell glasses firmly in place.
He was the first star to recognize the power of glasses as accessory and he sparked a twenties craze for tortoiseshell specs. Of course, he didn’t need them, in fact the ones he wore on set didn’t even have glass in them, they were pure accessory.
Glasses Make Your Look
Movie spectacles became an accessory for all seasons: they could signify loveable nerd, think Jerry Lewis or Woody Allen or they could signify smouldering sensuality, check out Marilyn Monroe’s use of nerd-chic glasses way before it was fashionable.
They’re a gesticular prop for profs and their slow removal a sultry signal that the temperature is rising as the prim librarian unbuttons her top button.
The Mystery of Sunglasses
As for sunglasses, they’ve been around since prehistoric Innuits wore flattened walrus ivory specs as protection against snow glare. Where would rock stars and poolside divas be without them? Whole careers have built on the mystery they bestow on the wearer.
Whether you need them or not there’s no doubt that specs have never been cooler, so rest assured, when you pop on those aviators, no one’s going to be shouting ‘Hey, four eyes’ at you.
Spec fashions come and go but in this glorious post-modern bazaar that we live in there’s no such thing as out of fashion, there’s just another retro look waiting to be disinterred. You want oversized seventies gogglers, go for it and surely it won’t be long before some star is sporting the pince-nez of a fourteenth century monk.
The likes of Eddie Redmayne and Kit Harington positively revel in their specdom and so can the rest of us. If your eyesight is poor, you no longer have to pretend it’s twenty twenty by inserting slivers of lens onto your eyeballs each day. So, celebrate your infirmity, flaunt those specs.
Stop thinking of them as a utility item, like a toothbrush and enjoy their infinite variety. There are actually some practical reasons why you might choose specs over contacts, quite apart from the fact that those irritatingly fiddly little things are a recipe for bad temper.
The increased popularity of prescription sunglasses is in part due to the recognition that the wearing of contact lenses on the beach or in the sea can pose a high threat of eye infection. Spectacles are actually so much more convenient than contacts and let’s face it, if you are laying out some hard-earned cash you want some enjoyment for it, not something which is invisible to everyone else.
When you buy a pair of specs you open up a whole new avenue of enjoyment to saunter down. So, go on, reinvent yourself and splash out on a range of specs to suit your mood, be it nerd-chic or super cool, it’s your call.