« The hunt for glasses: Part I | Home | Pre-party cleaning »
The hunt for glasses: Part II
By Meg | May 28, 2007
Unless you are wearing contacts, the obvious problem is how do you try on glasses and still see well enough to tell if you like them. Obviously, it helps to have a second opinion if you can bring someone along with you (hopefully someone with a great sense of style and very honest). However, Deb Richardson on Red Shoe Ramblings mentioned a so-great-why-didn’t-I-think-of-that solution in her post Do You See What I See? - bring a digital camera! That way you can see yourself in the frames, compare them easily, and even compare between stores.
Now, while you could just try on every pair of glasses in every store until you found a pair that makes you go, “Yeah!”, it’s probably a good idea to have some idea beforehand of what might look better. That brings us to frames and lenses. When it comes to frames, you have to decide whether you want them to be more or less noticeable. If you want them to be noticeable, go ahead and try on thicker, wilder shaped, or variously colored frames. This is a time to express your personal style, and maybe you have money to get more than one pair if the first pair you choose just doesn’t work with everything you wear. However, if you want something less noticeable go for a thinner frame and check out rimless or partially rimless frames. When it comes to color, look at muted finishes rather than shiny ones, and try to find frames in a color that complements your hair color. For example, if you’re blonde you might look into light gold or bronze frames whereas if have black hair you might try dark gray (or “gunmetal”) frames. Just make sure that if you go rimless that the frame color and style does not make you look like you have no glasses and then a big hunk of metal over your nose.
When it comes to lenses and overall shape, there are plenty of articles out there on how to balance out your face shape with the right pair of glasses. Here is one from entitled Tips on Choosing Eye Glasses Frames, and another from FashionInc entitled The Best Sunglasses For Your Face Shape. Before you panic, though, about whether your face is more oval or round, just remember this - if you want to downplay straight lines and chiseled features on your face, go for rounder glasses. The lenses don’t have to be circles, some gentle curves will work fine. If, however, like most people you want to give your face more definition and make it look less round, go for glasses that have straighter edges.
When it comes to size, bigger is not always better. Please leave the old-man owl eye-glasses. I’m also not personally a big fan of those huge rounded sunglasses that make people look like bugs or aliens. That’s not to say that itsy-bitsy granny glasses are always the answer. In general, when you look in the mirror the sides of your glasses should end somewhere near the sides of your face. If the glasses come down too low or ride too high up your nose, ask the salesperson if they can be adjusted.
Well, hopefully I’ve given you some things to think about. As for my husband, yesterday he did find two pairs of glasses, at Sam’s Club of all places. One has a light, muted gold frame that is rimless on the bottom. The other has a dark gray frame with dark gray lenses. It actually came as a normal pair of glasses with a sunglasses clip-on, but we opted to just have the lenses tinted because it looked better than the clip-on and the frames didn’t look right on him without tinted lenses. Both have nice straight lines to emphasize his masculine face. And in case you are curious, I also have glasses - a pair of rimless glasses with gunmetal gray frames and rather rectangular lenses. Even though everyone seems to love them, I tend to wear contacts most of the time because they are just easier for me. I do love my sunglasses, though. I have two pair of rather large, rhinestone sunglasses - one pair in black, the other in brown. Both of those also have rather straight edges on them.
Tags: Fashion, Spending Money
Related Posts:
Comments