For over 30 years, I’ve gotten my eyeglasses from sunglasses. It started in the early 70s, with Ray-Bans. I had a pair of yellow-lens “shooter” aviators, in gold. They were a fashion statement, somewhat restrictive, but a hell of a lot of fun. I relinquished them a few years later in favor of tortoise-shell Ray-Ban Wayfarers, which lent themselves more readily to everyday wear.

Here’s what you do: find a great pair of sunglasses, high-end and good quality, that look smashing on you. Get the optician to pop out the lenses, and then try the “glasses” on to get a sense of what they’ll look like with clear glass. If they work, have the optician mount prescription lenses in those frames. Get polarized lenses that darken outside – sunglasses!

Lately, I’ve run into opticians who insist that only certain frames are suitable. I don’t know where that idea springs from. Any good quality frame should work.

Here’s Carole Lombard in a pair of aviators that look a lot like the ones I had.

Of course I don’t look like Carole Lombard, but …oh well!

Just remember that the right glasses can be positively transformative.

(Thanks @ Mental Phonics blog post for sparking this entry.)

PS: I originally wanted to include a picture of me wearing my glasses, but couldn’t find one. Updating Skype this morning, I realized that there is one online, taken about 4 years ago. Clearly, my current glasses fall into the Carol Channing category: wide-eyed and maybe a bit dizzy (even though I’m resting my chin on my wrist, bored):

I think my next glasses should have a different flavor: sharper, more focused, signaling precision. …At least that’s what I think I want.

See how complicated glasses really are?

Posted: 03|31|10 at 12:26 am. Filed under: fashionable_life, just_so.
Tags: eyeglasses, eyewear, ray-ban
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