Contacts and glasses and clothing, oh my!
Did you know that contact lens technology has finally caught up with us high prescription, high astigmatism glasses wearing babes?!! I just found out a few weeks ago from my friendly optometrist, Dr. Burgess at Blink! Optometry in Yaletown, which means I too can become one of the ranks of soft contact lens wearers. Now, I’ve worn contacts before, the rigid gas permeable kind that really do feel like a piece of glass stuck in your eye. You get used to it, but they aren’t really the most comfortable thing in the world, so once I discovered high index glass lenses that allowed me to have cool glasses (and the smaller lens trend helped too), I stopped wearing my contacts and wore my funky glasses more often. I have two or three pairs that I can wear with different outfits; glasses are one of the best accessories for your face!
I don’t anticipate dropping my glasses entirely, since they are so much fun to wear. In fact, your glasses can say a lot about your personality at the same time they match your bone structure and face shape.
Here are my top five tips for choosing exactly the right frame for you:
- Choose frames that match your natural colouring. This means working within your colour palette, or looking for something close to your eye/skin/hair colour. This ensures your glasses won’t grab all the attention away from you.
- Choose frames that match your bone structure – if you have small bone structure, a lighter, thinner frame will be more harmonious; if you have stronger bones, you can handle the heavier weight plastic frames that are so popular right now.
- Choose frames that align with the shapes and lines in your face. If you have curvy lines in your face, look for a frame with curves as well. Straighter or more angular faces look great in more squared off shapes.
- Look for frames that express your personality too. If you are a bit creative, a stronger colour, more pattern/ texture or a trendy, larger frame might be fun. If you’re more
conservative, one of the simple titanium styles in an interesting, but not obtrusive, shape would be good. - Take a camera (or use your phone) so you can get an idea of what the frames look like – if you have contact lenses, wear them so you can see the effect of the various frames for yourself. It’s tough to rely just on the opinion of a friend or sales associate, as they might have their own preferences.
It’s important to balance out the priority of the top five tips as well. Personally, I always want to make sure the glasses are comfortable (because my lenses are usually heavy), but aside from that, the personality piece and self-expression of glasses sometimes ranks higher than the technical line/shape/weight pieces. Others might rank colour first, or bone structure first or shape.
For example, I chose two new pair of frames for myself from my good friend Wendy Buchanan of Perceptions Eyewear. I wanted something creative, on trend and fun. I can’t go too far into the large lens trend because of my prescription, but found a couple of pairs that were a little larger and fit the other criteria too, as well as being comfortable on my face. One was a translucent turquoise plastic, slightly rounded, with a purple stripe on top. The other was a light purple translucent pair with gray tortoiseshell on top – the important thing about this pair was that it felt great and felt like me, even though it was a bit more angular than I would wear based on my the lines in my face. (I’m a bit rounder these days). I managed to get consensus from five of my image consultant friends, so I knew both frames would be a hit!
At the same time, I’m enjoying the benefit of these new soft contacts – they figured out how to put a bit more weight in the bottom of each lens so they sit the right way on corneas with astigmatism, so I can actually enjoy the comfort of softer lenses (and then I can play with the very large glasses trend, since my lenses there wouldn’t need to be prescription!)
My latest theme in clothing is ‘funky, chunky, romantic’ (i.e. more feminine while still creative – more on that later) and these new eyewear options will fit right in. If you’re choosing frames, give some thought to which element is most important to you and start with that.
Never before have wacky colors for sunglasses been more on trend. It simply has to be a consideration when shopping for the perfect pair(s). If you feel drawn to a color that goes beyond the basic black, brown, and tortoise shell, think about the undertone coloring of your skin. If you’re cool-toned you need to wear cool-colored shades like those in the blue, gray, and silver families. Black is definitely your color too. If you’re warm-toned, check out glasses in warm sunny yellows, golds, browns, and earthy greens.
Hi Callie, I agree on checking out the undertone when shopping for sunglasses and regular frames too. If people are drawn to trends and that resonates with who they really are, then by all means they can search for something ‘on trend’. Luckily these days there are a ton of options when it comes to eyewear, for everyone’s preference, trendy or not. Thanks for commenting.
It is worth considering the amount you spend on contact lenses and glasses,
and that laser eye correction surgery will remove this continued expenditure.
It’s true that laser eye surgery will correct vision; if someone does not enjoy wearing glasses and does not wish to use them as an expression of their personal style, this would be a viable option. For those who enjoy wearing glasses, or for those whom laser surgery is not an option, paying close attention to the frame choice is a must.