Everything Eyewear

[Dropbear]

A thread to discuss prescription glasses, sunglasses, contacts, monocles or whatever.

 

[Dropbear]

I'll start.

I just got my first ever pair of glasses. Feeling pretty self-conscious about it, though I like the design (frames same as my fave sunglasses).

 

[Russell Street]

Those are pretty good as they fit and avoid the major sins I kept finding last round of shopping: sharp angles, very thick temples, narrow lens height or excessive width.

1. Unless you have a really steep correction or truly have concerns about impact resistance, polycarbonate is a waste of money and less optically clear than plastic.
2. I hate Luxottica and their near monopoly of overpriced false options and so-called designer eyewear. They are inescapable at most chains. Avoid. Independent opticians often have better stuff at better prices.

 

[Dropbear]

I HATE the anti glare treatment they want to add.

Why?

 

[Russell Street]

I actually got a set without the anti-reflective coating. You get used to the reflection when light is behind you, but the appearance issue of having a glare on the lens covering your eyes is most unflattering even if you're going for a retro dweeby look.

 

[Russell Street]

I'm a fan of the hefty old 5 or 7 barrel hinges.
http://courtlandeyewear.com/sitebuilder/images/new_7_barrel_hinge-150x108.jpg
Also, the more sizes a manufacturer makes, the better. The mixed blessing is that the makers with the fullest array of available sizes are the ones whose product line has remained constant for decades.
The numbers for size are the lens width, the bridge with and the temple length. They are usually marked somewhere inside the frame.

 

[Betelgeuse]

Nice! I was going to ask for some advice on prescription glasses. Most of the time I use them for when I use the computer or dribing at night, but I think that I need ones that I can use more. But what sytle I should use?

I bought some time ago a Prada frame, and this are the ones that I use, but I don't like them anymore.

 

[Dropbear]

FWIW, I got mine here: http://www.eyeglassboy.com

Courtland 5 barrel frames. The Producer model, which is simply a Tart Arnel clone - same as my Moscot Lemtosh sunglasses, though the frames and lenses work-out a lot cheaper and quality seems every bit as go0d.

 

[Russell Street]

I've read these face shape terms so many times, but finally a useful picture to explain it.
http://www.dressedwell.net/forum/threads/useful-sartorial-images.246/#post-23905

 

[Betelgeuse]

What do you guys think of Persoleyeglasses? I like this ones: http://www.framesdirect.com/framesfp/Persol-palbljq/r.html

 

[Pauly Chase]

I didn't know Persol is that expensive. I recently had lenses put in a pair of Oliver Peoples frame (Ruston) that I bought several years ago when they were still hand made in Japan. Comparing to the currently OP line, the old stock is much much better in quality.

Going to NYC in June, thinking about checking out Moscot and Salt and see what the hype is all about.

Any good frames that can be had under $100?

 

[Grand Potentate]

What do you guys think of Persoleyeglasses? I like this ones: http://www.framesdirect.com/framesfp/Persol-palbljq/r.html

Persol's are excellent, but you absolutely have to try them on to see how they fit.

 

[Allen Smithee]

Going to NYC in June, thinking about checking out Moscot and Salt and see what the hype is all about.
Any good frames that can be had under $100?

Never been to Moscot, but it looks like hipster nonsense and is Chinese made. I've tried Salt at a local boutique and they were nice.
There's that Warby Parker stuff, which is probably okay, and then there is truly vintage (ha!) style stuff where the tooling was paid off decades ago.
http://www.optometristsattic.com/

 

[Russell Street]

there is truly vintage (ha!) style stuff where the tooling was paid off decades ago.

Shuron, made in USA! Skip past the granny glasses and other poorly aging stuff. They have some great classic stuff, much at under a c-note.

 

[Betelgeuse]

Persol's are excellent, but you absolutely have to try them on to see how they fit.

I tried those. But they are almost double in price around here. So I wrote to those guys to see if there are some extra import duties I would have to cover. But they haven't answered.

 

[Pauly Chase]

Those are some good sites that I have never heard of. Will browse. It's hard to find good frames to fit my deformed Azn face.

 

[MFDoom]

I've been a customer of Zenni for a few years now. They make decent glasses very very cheap, which is nice because you have no idea how many times I've had experiments blow up in my face, or timers set wrong when blowing up important buildings. Some days I feel like Buster from Mythbusters. Or worse, BabyDoom grabs them and smashes them to the ground - and srsly how does one vaporize one's own progeny, especially when they show such an aptitude for a lifetime of crime. But I digress.

 

[Robert]

Just bought a pair of prescription sunglasses from http://lookmatic.com for £50!! Including $25 transatlantic delivery. Of course now I'm having second thoughts about the styling, but at £50 to my door with an awkward prescription, I figure it's worth a punt.

 

[Pauly Chase]

Received my Shuron Ronsir in Tortoise today. I think I finally found frames that fit my big head. They are also very very retro.

 

[Allen Smithee]

Received my Shuron Ronsir in Tortoise today. I think I finally found frames that fit my big head. They are also very very retro.

I find that the older styles were designed to work for a much wider swath of head shapes than modern trendy ones. There's a difference in design refinement when the style will be made for decades or 45 days.
Pics?

 

[Thruth]

Man, now I want to wear glasses.

 

[Betelgeuse]

I ended up buying the Persol's.

 

[Pauly Chase]

I find that the older styles were designed to work for a much wider swath of head shapes than modern trendy ones. There's a difference in design refinement when the style will be made for decades or 45 days.
Pics?

Dropped them off at the optician. Will take pic once I get them back.

 

[Betelgeuse]

Fantastic BetelG, great colour!

Thank you!

 

[Russell Street]

I ended up buying the Persol's.

I guess as sunglasses, that bit of bling on the hinge and temple won't be so bad. For daily corrective eyewear, one really has to flee the Luxoticca umbrella to get a nice shape free of visible branding or other strange markings. I just can't help but think these would be better without the visible metal.

 

[Allen Smithee]

What do you think about brightly colored frames, like this?
http://www.muselladembechmilano.com/post/93230892159/gianni-of-passaggio-cravatte-in-our-housecut-db

 

[Pauly Chase]

Not practical at all and looks childish.

 

[Allen Smithee]

Not practical at all and looks childish.

What about darker blues?

 

[Russell Street]

Going back to like the first Bush presidency, liberal weenie Michael Kinsley of Crossfire had these transparent blue plastic frames in a sort of Anglo American style. They were pretty cool, and fixed that problem of clear plastic yellowing. Like this

 

[Pauly Chase]

Persol sunglasses and frames son MyHabit starting tomorrow at 11:00 am central time

 

[Pauly Chase]

What about darker blues?

Spoiler

IMO eyewear should be subtle. Besides functionality, it also serves as an accessory to the over all fit. Too overt appears extremely contrived and ostentatious. Reminds me of those who only wear clothes because of the big logos.

 

[Dropbear]

I have a pair of Ben Sherman aviator frames that I really like. I looked to see if there is a higher-end frame maker that does something similar, but none quite match.

Does anyone know a good online shop who will make RX tinted lenses for customer supplied frames?

I've tried all my local opticians and they won't touch anything resembling custom work

 

[Russell Street]

Does anyone know a good online shop who will make RX tinted lenses for customer supplied frames?

I have no experience, but a search for "existing prescription lens" certainly yields results.
http://www.eyeglassdirect.com/Yourownglass.html
http://www.replacementlensexpress.com/
and so on.

 

[Zé Ferreira]

Eyewear experts, riddle me this.

John Mayer. Grammys. Thought his glasses were awesome. What is he wearing?

Does buying a particular brand/maker of eyewear even matter, or is it more of an overall-vibe thing?

 

[Leitmotif]

Probably Morgenthal Frederics, Oliver Peoples or Persols.

 

[Leitmotif]

I think I'm going to buy the Benardo by Oliver Peoples. Those are fucking sick!

 

[Journeyman]

Does buying a particular brand/maker of eyewear even matter, or is it more of an overall-vibe thing?

For me, at least, it's much more of an "overall vibe" thing.

I pick up glasses when I go to Japan, as there are a couple of businesses there that specialise in decent-quality, cheap glasses with good lenses. For 7900 yen (about US$65), I get a pair of glasses with either anodised aluminium frames or decent-quality acetate frames. If I wanted to pay more, they also have some titanium frames.

The designs range from a bit "out there" (clear frames or brightly-coloured frames, a la Gianni Cerrutti of Passaggio Cravatte) designs to very conservative, 1950s style designs. I veer between the two - I've had some transparent frames, some black anodised aluminium frames, some black acetate or dark tortoiseshell pattern acetate frames.

For me, as long as you like the style and as long as the frames fit your face, the most important thing is the lenses - are the lenses good quality and are they ground well (ie are they properly made to your prescription)? You can also get non-reflective coatings, or coatings that filter out blue light from computer screens and so on, which can be worthwhile.

I know of some people who are willing to pay many hundreds of dollars for frames from Persol or Oliver Peoples or various other makers but, for me at least, I'm happy to go for frames that look nice, without paying a massive premium for a particular name. I guess that the hinges or the acetate used on the upmarket frames might be higher quality but it doesn't seem worth it, to my mind.

 

[Leitmotif]

I go to Edel for some of my sunglasses, very cheap Persols can be found there. I got a pair that I saw in Miami for 480 dollars and they were selling them in that site for 140 dollars and the real deal.

 

[Russell Street]

I'm getting tired of wearing the same sunglasses all the time. Need another pair, but so hard to find a non-luxottica brand, model I like.

It may cost a bit more, but an optician should be able to pop tinted non-correcting lens into any eyeglass frame. Of course you need to visit some small independent shop to avoid the Luxoticca stranglehold.

 

[LelandJ]

It may cost a bit more, but an optician should be able to pop tinted non-correcting lens into any eyeglass frame. Of course you need to visit some small independent shop to avoid the Luxoticca stranglehold.

Problem is almost all regular prescription frames are smaller sized than sunglasses so they shield out less of the sun, impractical.