Good Luck Makes More Passes at Those in Hot Glasses--Reb MacRath
The club has a long history. Far longer than many might think. Some credit Salvino D'Armate with the invention of eyewear in 1317. Others find references to eyewear as far back as 1000 BC. The evolution continued for hundreds more years for reasons of function, not fashion: Ben Franklin's bifocals...monocles...pince-nez. But all iterations of 'glasses' expressed their own bifocal vision: those who wore them were weak physically and bookish. ( A recent study by the College of Optometrists confirms that today 33% of adults think those in glasses look more professional and 43% think they look smarter.) And no survey was needed to tell that a boy growing up in the Fifties felt more condemned than blessed.
We were called 'four-eyed', bullied on schoolyards, shunned by the cool kids, and turned down for dates. Our Coke-bottle lenses elicited hoots. And we'd have gladly traded the A's on our report cards for 20/20 vision.
But something remarkable happened in 1965. While James Bond was the king of unspectacled studs, another Brit came on the scene. One who couldn't have been more unlike him. This tall, two-fisted middle-class spy wore not a suit from Savile Row or a Rolex watch...but a trench coat and big, bold, horn-rimmed glasses. He donned and doffed those glasses as suavely as Bond did the cuffs of a favorite shirt.
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Caine himself had chosen the Yvan style after seeing it worn by the book's author Len Deighton. Nothing cheap about the Yvan with its 100% high-grade cellulose frame and five -barrel hinges. The specs were the only Bond-like thing about spy Harry Palmer. But Caine's instincts were unerring: as The Ipcress File would launch him on his way to to super-stardom, the Yvan specs would change the way the world thought about wearing glasses.
Consider Michael Caine as the Lincoln of the once condemned who now find self-expression in eyewear.
Celebrities: Elton John, John Lennon, Justin Timberlake, Janis Joplin, Bono, Rihanna, Elvis Costello, Jay-Z, Kit Harrington, Robert J Downey, Jr, , Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Stephen Spielberg, Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, Stephen Colbert, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Julia Roberts, Tina Fey, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Matthew McConaughey, Stephen King, Hugh Jackman, Tom Holland, Kevin Bacon, Tom Hiddleston, Spike Lee, Meryl Streep, Jennifer Anniston, Jennifer Lopez, Steve Carrell, Lady Gaga, Ed Sheeran, Slash, Gareth A Davies (renowned UK fight commentator), Colin Firth, John Oliver
Film characters: 'Eggsy' (Kingsman) Unwin, Austin Powers, Hercule Poirot (pince-nez)
Celebrity eyeglass designers: Michael Kors, Gucci, Tom Ford, Jessica Simpson, Gwen Strefani, Jamie Foxx, Tom Brady, Christian Dior, Elton John
Shop wisely, but boldly. Whatever your budget, a good optician can guide you through such options as Transition and progressive lenses, anti-glare treatment, etc. The right lens and frame combination will overcome the Coke-bottle effect and any suggestion of dullness or geekiness. Most important, whether flamboyant or quietly you, your eyewear choice should tell the world:
'How cool, I get to wear glasses!'
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