Buying Eyeglasses

If you wear glasses, the frames you choose can make or break your appearance. The fact that they are worn “front and center” on your face makes them conspicuously visible to all those with whom you interact. They could be considered the most important item in your wardrobe.

Shape: What is your face shape?

Just about every face shape will fall into one of the following categories: oval, square, circle and heart. Instead of matching your face shape, your frames should contrast with your face shape.

• Oval

People with square faces already have a strongly-defined facial shape, so their glasses should be either oval or round. Thicker frames work well for this face shape as it helps to give shape to the cheekbones.

People with round faces should choose glasses that give their face structure and definition. Avoid thick-framed glasses, as well as glasses with a circular shape – these will make your face look large and undefined. Instead, opt for either angular or rectangular glasses with narrow wire frames.

Oval glasses frames look great on faces with a heart shape. They aid in softening and balancing facial angles so that they more closely resemble a base-up triangular face. They also don’t run the risk of highlighting your cheekbones too much as they aren’t as tall as round eyeglasses

Fit: Once you’ve determined which frame shapes complement your face, take a look at how the glasses fit on your head. The best policy is to try a bunch of glasses on in person at a local optician to get a feel for which measurements are right for you, but some online glasses retailers like Warby Parker provide free home try-ons. Note that the virtual mirror try-ons can be helpful in determining which shapes you like, but are inaccurate with regard to sizing.

• Your pupils should be centered as much as possible within each lens. This is important not only for aesthetic purposes, but for vision considerations as well, A centered pupil reduces the necessary overall thickness of the lens. The pupillary distance (PD) measurement should be taken when you get your prescription, ask for it.
• Eyeglass frames should be approximately as wide as your face. More specifically, the outer edges of the frames should fall somewhere in between your cheekbones and the very sides of your face, looking straight on. (and this is why dievca’s Dragon beach sunglasses – they float – look a bit weird on her because they are too small for her face…but, again – they float.)

With a measurement like 54-20-140, the numbers refer to lens width, bridge width, and temple length, respectively.

Color: Is very personal. A suggestion: The color of your frames should bring out your best facial feature. For some people this may be their hair for others it may be their eye color, etc. Purple frames may make green eyes pop! When in doubt though, black and tortoise are classic and timeless colors with which you can’t go wrong.

Lenses: Its an important that you consider anti-reflective/anti-glare coating on your lenses. This will prevent your eyes from being obscured by reflected light (especially when flash photography is involved) and assist with night driving. If you spend a lot of time looking at a computer screen the coating could also help reduce eye strain.

When you buy glasses, you have the option of choosing conventional (1.50 refractive index) or high-index (1.60+) lenses. For our purposes, these numbers mostly affect the thickness of the lens relative to its power, with higher-index lenses being thinner. Your prescription (sum of sphere + cylinder) will usually determine the type of lens you require, as follows:

• CR-39 (standard plastic): 0.00 to -2.00
• Polycarbonate: -2.00 to -4.00
• Trivex: -2.00 to -4.00 (to be used with rimless glasses)
• Hi Index 1.60: -4.00 to -5.00
• Hi Index 1.67: -6.00 to -8.00
• Hi Index 1.74: -8.00+

dievca has to choose Hi-Index lenses, as she would be wearing “coke bottles” otherwise.

Eyeglass Brands:

A non-comprehensive list of quality brands to consider:

• Oliver Peoples
• Coach
• Cutler & Gross
• Ralph Lauren
• Persol
• Barton Perreira
• Burberry
• Gucci
• Ray-Ban
• Skaga
• Mosley Tribes
• Vogue Eyewear
• Paul Smith
• ProDesign Denmark
• SALT Optics
• Le Specs
• Selima Optique
• Persol
• Robert Marc
• OPO
• 2.5 Eyephorics
• Linda Farrow
• Alain Mikli
• Laura Ashley
• Mykita
• Prada
• IC! Berlin
• Warby Parker
• Kio Yamato
• Versace
• Shuron
• Spy Optic
• Moscot
• Tom Ford